How the Lakshmi Centrifugal Kattha Separator eliminates volatile oils, microscopic grit, and FSSAI compliance risk 

The Quality Crisis Hiding in Your Kattha

India’s pan masala and mouth freshener market reached INR 48,455.9 Crore in 2025 and is on course for INR 67,034.8 Crore by 2034, growing at a 3.51% CAGR. The fastest-growing tier is premium where consumers demand exceptional sensory consistency, smooth texture, and visual brilliance in every pouch.

Yet, many kattha (edible catechu) processors continue to rely on traditional bhatti boiling and gravity-settled muslin filtration — a method that has not fundamentally changed in decades. This is not just a quality problem. In 2025, it is a business-ending regulatory and commercial risk.

Why Traditional Bhatti Processing Is Failing Quality Audits

Whether your feedstock is Acacia catechu heartwood or the increasingly popular cashew nut testa (kaju ka chilka), the crude boiled extract coming off the vat contains the same spectrum of destructive impurities:

• Volatile oils and sticky plant resins — oxidize rapidly, causing rancid off-notes and a gummy texture that causes clumping during pan masala blending
• Microscopic wood fibers and cellulose — below 10 microns in diameter, invisible to muslin cloth, yet detectable on the tongue as grittiness
• Sand, soil, and carbon soot — introduced through open-air bhatti firing, directly raising acid-insoluble ash levels above FSSAI limits
• Colloidal tannin particles (cutch) — scatter light and produce the characteristic muddy, low-luster appearance that signals inferior grade to any experienced buyer
• Gambier contamination risk — traditional processors blend non-edible Gambier (Uncaria gambier) to inflate yield, a practice under active FSSAI surveillance.

Traditional plate-and-frame filter presses and muslin cloth cannot capture sub-10-micron particulates. The result? Finished kattha that routinely fails the FSSAI’s physicochemical benchmarks and is rejected by premium pan masala buyers.

Key FSSAI Compliance Checkpoints (Regulation 2.11.2):

➤ Under FSSAI Regulation, edible catechu must meet two ash standards: total ash on dry basis must not exceed 8%, reflecting the risk of overall mineral contamination from open-air bhatti boiling; and ash insoluble in HCl must not exceed 0.5%. This is the stricter test for sand, grit, and silica that manual filtration consistently fails. Notably, Bhatti Katha is permitted up to 1.5% acid-insoluble ash, meaning machine-processed catechu must achieve a standard three times tighter than bhatti output — a gap that only centrifugal separation can reliably close.

Non-compliant factories face product recalls, heavy fines, and suspension of manufacturing licenses. FSSAI Food Safety Officers have the legal authority to enter your facility, collect samples, and submit them to NABL-accredited laboratories for testing without advance notice.

Introducing the Lakshmi Centrifugal Kattha Separator

Chadha Sales Pvt. Ltd., an ISO 9001-2015 certified engineering company founded in New Delhi in 1948, has spent over seven decades developing high-speed centrifugal separation technology trusted by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and international dairy cooperatives.

Drawing on this deep centrifugal engineering heritage, Chadha Sales has developed a purpose-built solution for the kattha industry: the Lakshmi Centrifugal Kattha Clarifier and Polishing System.

The machine features a forged SS304 or SS316 food-grade stainless steel bowl, balanced to 100% precision, rotating at 6,000 to 8,000 RPM to generate intense, continuous centrifugal force. In a single inline pass, it performs three critical purification tasks simultaneously:

1. Liquid-Liquid Separation of Volatile Oils and Sticky Resins

The Lakshmi Separator exploits the fundamental density differential between the water-soluble catechin phase and the lighter lipid/oil phase. Under high G-force, oily resins and volatile fractions migrate toward the center of the rotating bowl for continuous discharge, while the denser catechin-rich aqueous phase is driven outward — delivering a clean, oil-free, stable extract.

The active polyphenolic monomers (catechin and epicatechin, present in a 4.2:1 ratio) are thermally stable up to approximately 190°C, meaning the physical separation process preserves 100% of the active ingredient value while stripping out everything that degrades quality.

2. Solid-Liquid Clarification and Sedimentation of Fine Particulate

Flow-formed stainless steel discs inside the bowl maximize the effective settling area. Under extreme G-forces, fine insoluble grains, mineral ash, wood fibers, and sand sediment rapidly against the inner bowl walls. The highly purified liquor exits the system continuously — reducing water-insoluble residue and acid-insoluble ash levels far below the FSSAI thresholds of 25.0% and 0.5% respectively.

This is what muslin cloth and manual plate filters will never achieve: sub-10-micron clarification on a continuous, industrial scale.

3. Optical Polishing for a Premium Reddish-Brown Luster

Raw, unrefined kattha contains a high concentration of colloidal suspended particles and macromolecular tannins (cutch) that scatter light, giving the product a dull, muddy appearance. By precipitating this colloidal haze through centrifugal polishing, the machine fundamentally alters the refractive index of the liquid.

The result: a highly clarified, visually vibrant, lustrous reddish-brown kattha that imparts the premium optical finish which buyers at DS Group, Manikchand, and other major pan masala brands demand as a baseline requirement.

The Missing Step in Cashew Kattha Processing

As cashew nut testa (kaju ka chilka) has become the dominant feedstock for budget and mid-range kattha production — valued for its high catechin content and lower cost versus Acacia heartwood — a critical processing problem has entered the supply chain that most manufacturers ignore entirely.

Cashew contains significant natural oils. The kernel itself is approximately 47% fat, and the testa and shell carry a viscous, dark Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL). When cashew husks are boiled to extract catechins, these oils leach directly into the kattha liquor. Left unremoved, they create three compounding problems that destroy product value:

Suppressed Astringency (“Kat”). Oil coats the tongue and physically blocks active catechins from reaching taste receptors. The result is a muted, slow-acting astringency — the very quality that premium pan masala buyers pay for. Residual oil does not just reduce purity; it dilutes the core sensory experience that defines kattha’s value.

Rancidity and Fungal Contamination. Vegetable oils oxidize on exposure to air and moisture, turning sour and producing off-odours. In packed kattha pastes, oil residues actively promote fungal growth — a direct FSSAI hygiene violation and a commercial catastrophe for any supplier whose product spoils in transit or storage.

Inconsistent, Sticky Consistency. Oil causes kattha paste to curdle, separate, and cling to vessel walls during blending. Pan vendors and pan masala manufacturers find oil-contaminated kattha difficult to apply uniformly — it patches, separates, and leaves residue rather than forming the smooth, velvety paste that professional use demands.

The Lakshmi Centrifugal Separator eliminates all three problems in a single pass. By exploiting the density differential between the water-soluble catechin phase and the lighter cashew oil fraction, the machine continuously discharges the oily layer toward the center of the rotating bowl while the pure, clarified catechin extract is driven outward. The output is genuinely de-oiled kattha — not filtered, not settled, but mechanically separated at the molecular level.

The commercial positioning this unlocks is immediate: zero-oil kattha commands premium pricing, carries a longer shelf life, and delivers the sharp, instant astringency that wholesale buyers and pan masala manufacturers recognize as the mark of a serious, quality-controlled supplier.

Lakshmi Centrifugal vs. Traditional Bhatti Processing

The Financial Logic: From Commodity to Premium in One Step

The economic case for upgrading is straightforward. Traditional ‘Bhatti’ or ‘Desi’ kattha — dull, sticky, laden with sediment — struggles to command commodity prices of Rs. 650 to Rs. 750 per kilogram due to its inconsistent quality.

Refined, polished, and standardized ‘Machine Filter Kattha’ commands a significant premium, selling for Rs. 1,000 to over Rs. 2,580 per kilogram.

Beyond the per-kg premium, the operational math is equally compelling:

• Labor costs fall as automated, closed-loop stainless steel operation replaces multiple manual workers per batch
• Floor space requirement drops to a compact 500 sq. ft. footprint vs. large open-air bhatti setups
• Production cycles shorten from weeks to hours, enabling manufacturers to scale rapidly to meet seasonal demand peaks without increasing raw material footprint
• FSSAI rejection and recall costs eliminated — consistently compliant output in every batch

Designed for quality-conscious kattha manufacturers, the Lakshmi Separator helps QA teams, plant managers, process engineers, and new investors eliminate impurities, improve compliance, increase throughput, and consistently produce higher-value premium-grade kattha.

Conclusion: Manual Processing Is No Longer a Viable Business Strategy

The FSSAI is intensifying nationwide enforcement and surveillance. Premium pan masala brands are tightening their raw material specifications. The Lakshmi Centrifugal Kattha Clarifier and Polishing System is not an equipment upgrade. It is a fundamental repositioning of your product from a regulated commodity to a high-margin, premium-grade ingredient that commands loyalty from India’s largest pan masala manufacturers. Processors who make this transition now will lock in long-term supply agreements with premium buyers. Those who delay will find themselves competing solely on price  in a market where FSSAI non-compliance can suspend their license overnight.

Contact Chadha Sales Pvt. Ltd. in New Delhi to schedule your custom processing trial today.
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