IIT-D wins UNDP’s contest with plant-based mock egg to face malnutrition

NEW DELHI: A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi (IIT-D) won a contest named ‘Innovate4SDG’ for a plant based mock egg. The contest of innovation was organized by United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Accelerator Lab-India. The IIT-Delhi team was awarded a sum of $5,000 for creating a plant-based mock-egg. UNDP said, “The mock egg innovation is a perfect innovation that will help in accelerating progress towards the SDGs.” UNDP also assuringly added that the development of the mock egg meets the protein needs of the diet-specific, health-conscious, vegan, and vegetarian people. This innovation addresses SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and 3 (Good Health & Well Being).

Kavya Dashora, Centre for Rural Development and Technology, IIT-D, led the winning team and described that the mock egg has been developed from simple farm-based crop proteins which not only looks and tastes like an egg but is also very close in nutritional profile to a poultry egg. She added, “It has been developed with an aim to address the longstanding battle for malnutrition and clean protein food for people.” She also informed that the team has developed meat analogues for chicken and fish from plant sources using fruits and vegetables as well. According to the team, the products have been tested on various parameters which included appearance, taste, texture, aroma, flavour, shelf life, nutritional profile and customer preference.