Sridevi Ashala is the Co-Founder and CEO of TummyFriendly Foods based in Bangalore. TummyFriendly Foods is a certified organic baby food with no pesticides or chemicals. TummyFriendly Foods offers maximum nutrition from real food, bio-available nutrition, no harmful ingredients, is age-appropriate, and is made fresh in small batches.

TummyFriendly Foods

Sridevi Ashala, the co-founder and CEO of TummyFriendly Foods was the head of technology in a German Company before starting her own venture TummyFriendly Foods. 

90% of illnesses are because of adulterated food, lifestyle, chemicals & pesticides not just in food but everywhere around us. Packaged food, especially baby food from MNCs is highly processed and loaded with all sorts of chemicals in the name of fortification and shelf-life. She was very much passionate about the family’s health and nutrition. She used to spend some hours of her daily life doing research and exploring knowledge about food and nutrition. Thus, she thought of doing something to address the consent for the benefit of the family’s health as well as society. The two daughters are her biggest motivation.

TummyFriendly Foods was started 3 years ago in 2019. The initial year was fully dedicated to research and product development. It’s been 2 years since launching the product and getting positive customer feedback.  

USPs of TummyFriendly Foods

Nutrition is a vital part of children’s growth and development. TFF uses whole grains, fruits, and vegetables to prepare ready-to-cook healthy mixes. TFF is certified by various bodies like FSSAI, USDA Organic, India Organic, Jaivik Bharat, ADITI. 

Apart from baby foods, they have products in other food segments also, health and nutrition mixes, adult foods, etc. 

TFF Specialities

• Bioavailable nutrition
• Certified Organic
• Premium Ingredients
• No extracts and No additives
• No chemicals and No preservatives
• Maximum possible real nutrition
• Age appropriate
• Freshly made in small batches

The USP is Bioavailable nutrition. It is the maximum possible nutrition from real food. They have in-house labs to test the product. They design the product keeping the requirements in mind (amount of protein or calcium they want). They don’t design products that contain attractive packaging but solve the purpose of right nutrition for babies. 

Sridevi expresses, “We do a lot of research before developing a product. We have certain criteria for developing the product. We try to achieve the desired nutritional level from the respective product. To get the maximum possible nutrition from real food, the ingredients should be such that they get easily absorbed into the body. Thus, we sprout most of our ingredients as sprouting gives maximum nutrition which is easily absorbable.” 

Sprouts are Sattvic Food. It is nature’s way of fortifying food. Sprouting multiplies the nutritional content of the food and makes it completely bio-available.

The number of malnourished children in India has increased significantly between the time 2015-2020. India, as per the Global Nutrition Report 2021, has fallen behind on five of the six maternal, infant, and young children nutrition targets aimed at reducing stunting, wasting, anemia, low birth weight, and childhood obesity. Maternal undernutrition is estimated to account for 20 percent of childhood stunting.

The customer base of TummyFriendly Foods

The startup has over 50,000 customers so far and most of them are repeat customers. 

Earlier, the team used to send their composition to an outside lab to check the nutritional content. Then they set up their own in-house labs to check whether the product meets the BIS standard or not, and hence trying and testing gets easier. Research and development is a continuous ongoing process for them. 

The packaged food for babies, available in the market is often highly processed and loaded with chemicals and other ingredients to increase the shelf life. Most of the products residing on the market shelves are not as nutritious as they claim to be. It’s high time that we spread awareness among the common masses about the harmful effects of these wrongly claimed, under nutritious food products. Awareness through media is the need of the hour. 

Sridevi emphasizes, “baby’s stomach is so small. You need to fill your baby’s stomach with some nutritious foods and not with fillers or any synthetic harmful chemicals. It can have long-term damaging consequences. Give them nutritious food and refrain from unhealthy under nutritious food products available in the market.

Sridevi explains, “There is a lot of market research required for product development. We can’t just launch the product into the market without prior trials. First, we have to identify the problem, try to develop the product, clinical tests, and trials, and have to meet the rules and regulations of Govt of India for baby foods. We are focusing on preparing guilt-free tummy-friendly nutritious snacking options for children and adults.” 

A Piece of learning

Try to identify the problem first and then try to solve it. Have faith in your product. Be strong and persistent. 

(Edited by Renu Gupta)