The food processing sector is a key sector for India’s economy and can be leveraged towards addressing several sustainable Development Goals such as Zero Hunger by improving access to foods and reducing wastages; No Poverty & Decent Work and Economic Growth given its employment intensive nature and linkage between agri and industry; and Good Health and Well Being by allowing access to nutrition.
Given the importance of the sector, the “National Food Processing Conclave 2022” was organized by CII’s Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence, in New Delhi on Friday 2nd Dec 2022. The conclave was conceptualized around the very pertinent theme of “Food Processing Industries 2.0: The Next Growth enabler for India@100” with the focus on Millets for Year 2023 being declared as International Year of the Millets.
Addressing the opening session of the conclave, Mr Parameswaran Iyer, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog urged Food Processing Industries to leverage the focus on Millet-based food and come up with inputs and ideas to magnify the efforts of the government.
Towards recommending actionable steps to achieve the vision for Food Processing, CII developed a White Paper on Food Processing Vision 2047, which was launched at the Conclave.
Stressing on the criticality of the Food Processing sector, Mr Suresh Narayanan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing Industries & Chairman & Managing Director, Nestle India Ltd, said “The sector is critical to India's economic & social growth, as it allows better price realisation for farmers, provides employment and enables nutrition delivery.
Speaking about opportunities for Industry, Mr Minhaj Alam, Addl. Secretary, MoFPI, mentioned, “Food Requirement if expected to skyrocket in the coming years, which will provide a lot of opportunity for industry innovations in Food Processing Sector to meet demand supply gap”
“Innovations in Food Technology are critical to the growth and development of the Food processing sector as they support and enable the various components of the Food value chain from the farm to the fork” mentioned Mr Mayank Jalan, Co-chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing Industries & Chairmen and Managing Director, Keventer Agro.
In the segment of innovation, the Conclave witnessed participation of the next generation food companies, which included Wholsum Foods, Sresta Organics, Good Dot Enterprises, Sattviko (Rays Culinary Delights Pvt. Limited).
Ms Shubha Thakur, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, in her keynote address stresses that “The Government is keen to facilitate the solutions for current challenges in processing of Millets along with R&D and innovation”
Supporting this, Mr Piruz Khambatta, Chairman & Managing Director, Rasna Pvt Ltd, mentioned “It is critical to continue increasing the production of millets while simultaneously mainstreaming it to the consumption basket and it is here that the role of Industry comes in”.
Food processing can also be leveraged towards reducing food waste, which currently at an epidemic level. Towards reducing food waste, food donation is a key means and FSSAI in partnership with CII FACE launched the Safe Food Share Food initiative during the conclave towards the same. The initiative aims to bring together relevant stakeholders like governments, corporates, food businesses, recovery agencies and CSOs for operating in a coordinated manner to prevent food loss and distribute the surplus food to the needy population to mitigate malnutrition.
Growing consumer focus on health and nutrition is also a key trend shaping the sector’s future. The Food Processing companies in India have already shifted their focus to enabling access to nutrition with more prominence on lowering nutrients of concern, improving micronutrient access through fortification, enabling protein intake through innovative products etc.
In his keynote address Mr S Gopalakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI mentioned, “Initiatives like Eat Right India aim to spread awareness about Food Safety, Quality and Regulations at the grassroot level and educate people to make healthier food choices.”
Towards enabling MSMEs for formulating healthier food product options for consumers, CII-FACE designed an e-course with the support of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which was launched at the Conclave by Mr S Gopalakrishnan.
The Conclave saw the participation of CEOs and top executives from prominent food and related sectoral companies, along with Think Tanks and Academia.
The Conclave also had an exhibition of innovative millet-based products developed by Industry.
2 December 2022
New Delhi