iD fresh business model ..

It is great to see iD fresh has come a long way. They have set up a INR 50 crore plant in Anekal.

In the processed food industry which is bound to have excellent growth in the coming decades.

Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industrial methods used to make convenience foods. Wikipedia

Click here  for a Harvard uty doc on why processing of foods is done, the different types of processed foods, advantages and disadvantages etc .

Idfresh idli dosa vada batter does not have any added preservatives and has to be used within 3-4 days and is to be stored in controlled refrigerated environments. Storage and transportation is a problem which prevents the massive growth of this business model. 

 

Processed food is any food that’s altered during preparation to make it more convenient, shelf-stable or flavorful. Some foods are much more processed than others. 

 

There are lots of discussions on what foods are better - minimally processed ones or the maximally processed. Without any extra reasoning, it can be concluded, if you read the following passage.  

Minimally processed food vs heavily processed food

A bagged salad or pre-cut green beans technically count as processed, but it’s only minimally processed because its natural state hasn’t changed. 

In other words, it looks pretty much the same as you’d find it in nature. Bottled water is minimally processed.

A box of macaroni and cheese or a microwavable dinner or biriyani on the other hand, are considered heavily processed (also called ultra processed) because they’ve been chemically altered with artificial flavors, additives and other ingredients. A bottle of coke or Pepsi on the other hand is heavily processed - ihsfna.org

George 

How to stay positive ?

Daily we hear or read lot of messages that exhort us to be positive. Deep, hard core research work carried by some of the best behavioural scientists from around the world reinforce the fact that positive thinking besides giving us good health and glad tidings, exhort and motivate us to be positive and remain positive. 

 

The three main points in this direction are given here.

1. Separate fact from fiction / weakening negative thoughts

2. Identify positive thoughts / actions and pursue them

3. Develop a sense of gratitude to others / God

Click here for the April '16 Forbes article by Travis Bradbury 3 ways to stay positive. 

I wish to add a couple of powerful points to this from my life experience of 50+ years ... 

1. Do something positive everyday. for example send a whatsapp goodwish query or an Amazon gift.

2. Think twice before you act, is it positive or negative.  If negative, postpone it for another time and think again,  is the action positive or negative  ?

3. Promise to talk only good things about others. 

All the religious scriptures, traditions and customs teach and exhort us to stay positive..

Practice makes perfect.

George 

Another great opportunity to serve humanity..

Money makes Friends, Blood Makes Brothers"

"The only postive thing about me is my Blood group" 

Last evening, 3 Nov '21, when I contacted Dr. Sitalakshmi, St Johns hospital in Bangalore, she asked me to get ready for a voluntary apheresis procedure this morning. It was a great God given opportunity this morning to voluntarily donate platelets through an apheresis procedure for 2 kids aged 4 and 12 suffering from critical bone marrow illnesses. 

Click here for my earlier posted detailed researched explanation of the apheresis procedure, what it is and how safe it is ..

3 months back I had donated whole blood, my 41st donation. Since then every two to three weeks I have been doing platelet apheresis, where the whole blood is passed through a centrifuge and only platelets are separated, about 200ml or 3x10 ^^11, and the blood is sent back to the body. 

Today a 4 year old kid and 12 year old kid, waiting for bone marrow transplants at St Johns Medical college Bangalore benefitted from 100 ml each of my platelets.

From a whole blood donation, they get 70 ml platelets, but from each platelet  apheresis they collect 200 ml platelets, equal to about 3 whole blood donations. More effective and productive. To the donor it makes more sense. Since my last whole blood donation, after three months the next whole blood donation would have helped just one patient,  but the four platelet apheresis procedures have benefitted at least 8-12 needy patients.

The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of any voluntary blood donation is the number of critically ill patients who have benefitted. 

My friend Sandra from Goa had this to say, " You should create awareness as  more people can benefit. A person like you creating awareness and a hospital creating awareness is very different. More people will come forward when people like you tell others....and, do  not create awareness under the umbrella of any hospital".

My only fear is awareness creation should not be misconstrued as selfish image building. Being a socially beneficial activity,  I request more people to come forward and donate blood or specific blood components.

I have no words to thank and appreciate the blood bank department from St. John's MC Bangalore, led by Dr. Sitalakshmi and her capable team of senior residents and others, who have been a humble and selfless source of inspiration for the donors. A big thanks to all of you .. 🙏🙏

George