New Delhi: In a big relief for diabetic patients with high levels of blood sugar, the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) on Saturday launched a wide range of 100% natural and gluten-free millet products and ready to eat products at an affordable price. APEDA, which is the nodal body for promoting the export of processed and ready to food items, launched these millet and ready-to-eat products for all age groups at affordable prices ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 15 at the AAHAR food fair, which is Asia’s biggest business-to-business (B2B) international food and hospitality fair.
All the millet products launched by APEDA are gluten-free, 100% natural and patented. These products include cream biscuits, salt biscuits, milk biscuits, ragi peanut butter, jowar peanut butter, jowar upma, pongal, khichadi and millet malts (jowar, ragi, bajra). The state-owned organisation also launched a variety of 'millet in minutes' products under the category of ready-to-eat (RTE) such as upma, pongal, khichadi, noodles and biryani, which is a breakthrough in the food sector as its the first RTE millet product in the market to cater to the fast-paced world at their convenience in a healthy way. According to officials, all the ready-to-eat products are vacuum processed, do not have any additives, fillers and preservatives and their nutrition value is retained as original with a shelf-life of 12 months in an ambient temperature.
Nutritional value of millets
In view of the nutritional value of the millets, the government has notified millets as nutri-cereals in April 2018. The millets (jowar, ragi, bajra) are a rich source of protein, fibre, minerals, iron, calcium and have a low glycemic index. In March, 2021, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Because of initiatives of the government, production of millets increased from 14.52 million tons in 2015-16 to 17.96 million tons in 2020-21 and the production of bajra has also increased from eight million tonnes to 10.86 million tonnes during the same period.
Gluten-free products and diabetes
According to health experts, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, is not necessarily harmful to people with diabetes, and most people will not need to follow a gluten-free diet. However, a gluten-free diet may provide benefits for some people with diabetes and celiac disease. Over time, the immune reaction to eating gluten creates inflammation that damages the small intestine's lining, leading to medical complications. It also prevents the absorption of some nutrients leading to their malabsorption. APEDA also displayed 33 agricultural products from 12 states with geographical identifier tags at the AAHAR food fair.
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