Sunday, December 09, 2007
By Charley Hannagan
Staff writer, Syracuse Post Standard

In an old potato chip television commercial, the pitchman winked at the camera and said, "Bet you can't eat just one."

But what if the chips tasted great, yet were made in such a way that fewer of them filled you up, and gave you energy for a long period of time?

That's the concept behind CarboStar, a food processing method developed by Dhyaneshwar Chawan, 67, of Clay.

CarboStar is the main product of Saatwic Foods, a company started by Chawan and his son, Ajay Chawan.

"The overall goal of the company is to provide people with better health through nutrition," said Ajay Chawan, the company's president. "We wanted to find ways to make foods that people already enjoy eating better for them without sacrificing taste."

CarboStar is a blend of plant extracts that - when mixed with any product made from corn, potatoes, rice or wheat flour- slows the rate at which carbohydrates burn.

"What it does is it basically encases the carbohydrate in a layer of armor, turning a fast-burning carbohydrate into a slow-burning carbohydrate," Ajay Chawan said. "It will make you feel fuller. You'll be energetic for a longer period of time, as well."

Dhyaneshwar Chawan, 67, is the company's chief scientist. He spent more than 30 years in food research and development for Borden Foods before the company moved its research center from Syracuse to Columbus, Ohio. He also is the founder of Srim Enterprises LLC, which develops and ensures the quality of food.

He developed CarboStar in Clay.

Ajay Chawan, 33, has an engineering background and built trucks at Ford Motor Co. When he learned about his father's invention, he decided to go to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University to get a master's degree and to develop a company around the product.

After graduating from business school in 2003, Chawan found an angel investor who contributed $600,000 to start up the company. He moved Saatwic to Nashville, Tenn., to be closer to the investors, Chawan said.

The company expects to have sales of $896,000 in 2008.

Saatwic is a Sanskrit word that "encompasses the elements of food, health, and life," according to the company's Web site, www.saatwic.com. It describes food "that increases life, purity, strength, joy, cheerfulness, and well-being," the site said.

This year, Saatwic Foods came in second in the Fortune Small Business magazine business plan competition. Its CarboStar product has been a part of pilot studies with General Mills, Heinz and Kellogg's. The product is still in evaluations, Chawan said.

"Anything made from CarboStar you simply add a dash of our ingredient, along with the other stuff and the rest of the manufacturing process is the same," he said.

It also doesn't change the taste of the food's ingredients, Chawan said.

Studies of the product show that foods with CarboStar contain 56 percent more fiber, 50 percent fewer calories from carbohydrates, and a glycemic impact that is 35 percent lower than conventional products, the company's Web site said. CarboStar does not require FDA approval for use in food because the ingredients are already used in the food industry.

"Glycemic impact" is a hot topic in nutrition these days. A system called the glycemic index categorizes carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar compared to pure glucose, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Studies have linked diets rich in high-glycemic index foods to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

CarboStar is designed to help athletes who need energy for long periods of time, people to feel more full in order to eat less and lose weight, and diabetics who want to eat foods that won't spike their blood sugar levels.

The product could go into cakes, pies, rolls, pasta, pizza crust, pretty much any food that uses a flour.

"Another benefit of this is all of the ingredients we use are listed in the Natural Organic Program list by the FDA. So at the end of the day you could make organic food using CarboStar and you could sell them in stores such as Whole Foods," Chawan said.

"It's like what Splenda did for sweetener, is what we want to do for carbohydrates," Ajay Chawan said.

You can contact Charley Hannagan at 470-2161 or channagan@syracuse.com.

February 8, 2006
By Kenn Peters
Staff writer

Danny Chawan, of Liverpool, is the founder and owner of Srim Enterprises LLC, a company that helps develop and ensure the quality of food.

Chawan, a scientist with more than 30 years of research and development expertise in the food industry, lists accomplishments that include:

• Quality control test procedures to assure consistent quality of pasta imported from Italy.
• Nine product and process patents for pasta and cheese.
• Unique quality control methods to tackle stickiness problems in the manufacture of marshmallows and caramel-coated popcorn.
• Testing and processing procedures to control sediment formation in bottled citrus juices.
• Training of domestic and international personnel in quality control and quality assurance, services.

Chawan began his business after having worked for the Borden Foods research centers in Syracuse for 30 years. Even then, he might not have, if Borden hadn't moved its research center to Columbus, Ohio. . "I didn't want to shift my family to Columbus and sell the house, so I said, 'I think I'll start my own company,' " he said.

Like many entrepreneurs, Chawan said, he discovered that going into business for one's self often is easier said than done. First, there was a question of money, which he had to borrow, including using home equity.

Once in business, Chawan had to establish himself by solving problems to the satisfaction of the customers.

Having done that, Chawan said, he realized that great satisfaction comes from meeting customers' expectations.

"And once you have the satisfaction of having done things right, you never have to think, 'I shouldn't have done that,' " he said.

Chawan said his advice to budding entrepreneurs is to understand they won't have a steady source of income, at least at the beginning, and to know their strengths before going into business.

"That is the basic thing for any entrepreneur to be aware of," he said.

SRIM ENTERPRISES
President: Dhyaneshwar (Danny) B. Chawan, Ph.D
Phone: 457-9425
Web site:www.srim.com
Product: Technical services to the food industry
Employees: 1
Accomplishments during 2005: Srim developed a spice blend for vegetable pickle; developed calibration standard for non-invasive blood glucose analyzer; developed mushroom shakes (mushroom based seasonings); developed a youth nutrition bar ; and developed a fruits and nuts snack

January 05, 2003
By Elizabeth Doran
Staff writer

Whether it's gritty pasta or mushy kasha, Dhyaneshwar "DB" Chawan's specialty is solving complex culinary conundrums.

Chawan, a Liverpool resident, runs Srim Enterprises, a small company providing consulting and technical services to the food industry. Chawan's niche is helping food companies solve quality-control problems.

"I love figuring out the problem, and I really like the science of it," said Chawan, who often travels to the manufacturer's plant to analyze the problem and identify a solution.

Before starting Srim in fall 1997, Chawan worked as senior project leader in science and technology for the Gail Borden Research Centre, part of Borden Inc., which at the time was based in Syracuse.

When Borden moved its Syracuse plant to Ohio, Chawan started his own company.

One of Srim's first projects was for a pasta-making plant in Lisbon, Portugal. The manufacturer struggled with the uneven quality of the pasta and couldn't figure what was going wrong. Recommended by the International Executive Service Corps, Chawan flew to Portugal to determine what was going wrong.

Chawan spent a month at the pasta manufacturer analyzing the process and running tests before determining the root of the problem: The plant was buying tainted wheat.

"The wheat they were buying was contaminated by a fungal disease," Chawan said.

Chawan helped plant operators develop methods for testing the quality of the wheat they purchased and trained quality-control personnel in ways to grade semolina.

For his consulting services, Chawan charges $1,000 a day plus expenses. He brings to the job 25 years of expertise in the food-product development field and especially relishes uncovering the culprits behind quality issues.

"I love food processing and chemistry," Chawan said. "Everybody loves to eat good-tasting food, and its my specialty to determine what makes food taste good, and what makes it not taste so good."

Chawan came to the United States from Hyderabad, India, at age 28 and studied food science at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his doctorate degree in food science from Ohio State University in 1973 and then went to work for Borden.

His former boss, Carl Merritt of Remsen, said Chawan is skilled both at developing products and determining what might be compromising food quality.

"He is very strong in organic chemistry," Merritt said, which helps him analyze food and processing techniques,

Chawan has secured eight U.S. patents, including one he worked on at Borden that resulted in the commercial product Pasta Anytime, now owned by Kraft Foods, Chawan said. This product is ready-to-serve pre-cooked pasta that doesn't have to be refrigerated.

Officials at Rich Products in Buffalo found themselves frustrated at the inconsistent quality of their frozen bread dough, which they were selling as part of their restaurant service division.

"Sometimes when they baked it, the bread would turn out fluffy, and other times it wouldn't," Chawan said.

To solve the problem, Chawan spent three months observing the operation, taking samples, duplicating the problem and running tests. Using scanning electron microscopy, he determined the dough's cell structure was unstable when frozen, leading the inconsistent texture.

He then concentrated on stabilizing the cell walls using additives such as guar gum. Chawan was able to determine how much stabilizer to add, when to do it and how best to process it.

"They were then able to correct the problem," Chawan said.

Chawan also was hired by Cornell University's Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station to help solve the problem of mushy cooked kasha.

Cliff Orr, vice president of marketing at Birkett Mills in Penn Yann, said his company looked to Geneva, which enlisted Chawan's help, to help eliminate the mushiness associated with cooking roasted buckwheat, or kasha.

"Because there is no gluten in kasha, the broken kernels get mushy if you don't add an egg or egg white," Orr said. "We wanted to figure out a way that consumers could cook the kasha simply, like you do with rice."

Chawan worked on the project, and determined that applying a spray coating of egg white or soy protein would prevent the mushiness, or the kasha could be coated with water while it was being roasted, which also worked to stop the mushiness.

Chawan just signed a year-long contract with a Swiss enzyme manufacturer to help them develop a line of healthy breakfast cereal and snacks. He is partnering on the project with a food engineer from Auburn.

Chawan also is working to file a patent for a method of processing foods by stabilizing the starches in them as a means of obesity control. He's working on this project with students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

When he's not consulting, he's working on his own specialty food line with two partners in North Carolina. So far, he's developed a ginger spread made from shredded ginger and zesty soy sprinkles that can be used as an accent to pasta and other foods.

Chawan also loves to cook and prides himself on his lasagna. He makes his own pesto using his homegrown basil and makes a special macaroni and cheese dish with Alfredo sauce.

"My specialty is Italian food," he said. "I love food processing and chemistry. Everybody loves to eat good-tasting food, and its my specialty to determine what makes food taste good, and what makes it not taste so good."- Dhyaneshwar "DB" Chawan owner, Srim Enterprises

by Adam Rombel, Journal Staff

02/06/04: LIVERPOOL — Dhyaneshwar (Danny) B. Chawan, Ph.D., a 30-year, veteran food-industry scientist has nine patents to his credit, but his latest may be the most timely and promising yet.

On Jan. 5, Chawan received patent approval from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a technology that processes cereal-grain-based foods, which results in the human body digesting them at a slower rate, thus decreasing blood sugar, carbohydrate, and caloric intake by up to 40 percent. The process cuts the absorption of processed complex carbohydrates in snack foods, breads, pastas, and other foods.

The invention, which Chawan has worked on for three years, is aimed at helping people who have type-2 diabetes, are on diets requiring them to monitor and limit strictly their sugar intake, or just want to take some pounds off, says Chawan, owner and president of Srim Enterprises, a food consulting and research firm he runs from his Liverpool home.

Type-2 diabetes, also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes, may account for about 90 percent of the roughly 20 million cases of diabetes in the United States. It’s closely associated with being obese or overweight, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 31 percent of U.S. adults are obese and another 33 percent are overweight, according to the CDC. A CDC study published in the January issue of Obesity Research magazine estimated that obesity cost the United States $75 billion in 2003, with taxpayers picking up half the tab.

To be sure, the 63-year-old Chawan, a former head of research and development at Borden Foods, expects it could be years before his patented food processing technology comes to market.

“Unless it goes to market, it’s no good to me,” he says.

But Chawan has taken steps to help make that happen. He has an agreement with Nashville–based startup Heartland Health Solutions to market products made by his processing technique. The company is run by Chawan’s son Ajay Chawan, a June 2003 graduate of the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.

While at Northwestern, the younger Chawan and four student colleagues and partners won a $250,000 offer of funding for Heartland Health Solutions by taking third place in a business-plan contest hosted by New York City venture-capital firm, Carrot Capital LLC. More than 2,600 business students at 175 colleges and universities entered the competition.

In a 2003 article on the Kellogg School of Management Web site, Ajay Chawan said his father’s invention could be implemented, with little to no investment, into any of the food processing methods currently used in the U.S. The younger Chawan said, “When you think about the marketing opportunities, they’re enormous.”

Danny Chawan says the next steps in bringing his patent to market are: conducting more testing on his process method to confirm his results, further refining the business plan Heartland Health put together, and most importantly, finding outside investors. Ajay Chawan couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com