Adoption of fermented vinegar making technology – An assessment

Vinegar is a fermented product from sugary raw materials like fruits and sugarcane etc. It is an important food additive, preservative, disinfectant and a health tonic. Fermented vinegar has immense health benefits over the synthetic vinegar. Indian markets are flooded with synthetic vinegar prepared from acetic acid. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has come up with a culture defined, short duration and economical process of fermented vinegar making process. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala has imparted four trainings on fermented vinegar making to eighty four participants from 2015 to 2018. The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge gain, adoption and constraints in adoption of this technology as enterprise during these four trainings. Maximum adoption at commercial scale (8.33%) and domestic scale (47.36 %) was observed in the year 2016-2017 and 2017-18 respectively. Aspect of quality and safety issues was least understood by the participants (18.45%) followed by bottling, labelling and storage (29.76%) and acetic acid fermentation (43.45%). Hence, more emphasis needs to be given on these aspects during future training courses. As perceived by 84 participants, Testing of Fermented/Synthetic Vinegar (71.60%), Legal Risk (71.42%), testing of Alcohol and Acidity (71.60%) and Marketing (59.25%) were the major constraints reported by the respondents in adoption of this technology.