Bengaluru, Sep 7 (PTI) The Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, Karnataka’s flagship life-sciences incubator, has developed ready-to-eat energy bars using pulses grown in Kalaburagi under the Kalyana Karnataka Bio-Economy Mission, officials said.
The energy bars were developed in association with the Karnataka State Department of Agriculture under the Kalaburagi Pulses initiative, they said.
The new range comprises six variants based on toor dal, black gram, green gram and Bengal gram, along with a multi-pulse variant and a higher-protein formulation, officials said.
According to a statement, the Kalyana Karnataka Bio-Economy Mission is developing a region-specific bio-economy roadmap based on the agricultural strengths of the region, with a focus on tur, red banana and sugarcane.
“The initiative seeks to address a larger challenge facing pulse-growing regions such as Kalaburagi: much of the produce currently leaves the district as raw grain, while higher-value processing and margins are captured elsewhere,” it said.
The Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, established in 2014 by the Department of Electronics, IT & BT, Government of Karnataka, is exploring how locally grown pulses can be converted into shelf-stable, plant-based protein products, creating a higher-value food chain, officials said.
Speaking about the initiative, Karnataka Home Minister and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge said, “Karnataka has strong agricultural production, but the next opportunity is to create more value from what we grow.” “Innovation is not just about developing new products; it is about understanding what we produce, recognising emerging market and consumer demand, and finding new ways to present our agricultural products so that they can reach more consumers and increase consumption,” he added.
“This initiative is an example of how Bengaluru’s innovation ecosystem can work with Kalyana Karnataka to turn locally grown pulses into higher-value products, while creating opportunities for farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations and local enterprises,” he said.
The single-pulse variants contain approximately 4 grams of protein per 30-gram bar, along with around 122-123 kcal and 1.8-2 grams of dietary fibre per serving.
The higher-protein FOS variant provides approximately 4.85 grams of protein per 30-gram serving.
Nutritional claims are subject to final accredited-laboratory validation and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India declaration, the statement added. PTI AMP SSK
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