By Eriah Lule
With the increasing number and variety of snacks on the market every day, many are termed as unhealthy due to preservatives , food coloring, and production processes that expose the food to many unhealthy conditions before it reaches its consumers.
A group of students pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at Uganda Christian University (UCU) sought to address the challenge through their project, Eden Natural and Organic,where they dry fruits and pack them for long-term consumption.
Dr. Donald Mutatina, from Mulago National Referral Hospital, recommends consumption of dry fruits because they are rich in a variety of food values,boost immunity and prevent lifestyle diseases like cholesterol and diabetes .
“Dried fruits are excellent and a healthy substitute for daily snacks,” he said.
The group not only looked at the health side of the story but came up with a solution to decrease the wastage of fruits on the market and sustain the supply during off-season.
Mildred Malinga, the group leader, has siblings who suffer from chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes. This led her to think of another way to boost their immunity through food.
‘Dry fruits’ was her solution, a project she pitched to her group mates who had embarked on plastic recycling.
” Most of my group members appreciated the idea. We all decided to put a halt on recycling and carry on with dry fruits,” she said.
A taste of the dry pineapple snack is relieving, for it brings back that memory of tasting food on visitation day while in boarding school. This brings back all the home memories backed by a smile and a few tears.
Dry fruits, which is a booming underground snack business flourishing among university students every day, have appreciated the final product.
“When we paid a visit to Nakasero market, our assumption was justified by the large quantities of rotten fruits that were in the market, and this actually was a go-ahead for us to push our project,”he said.
“The demand from customers exceeds our supply. We have now resorted to carrying out production whenever we get free time since the whole process takes 8–16 hours,”she said.
They earn 80,000 shillings on a daily. However, their progress is hindered by the lack of an equipment that helps to boost the production process.
