Minister: Manufacturers' responsibility to push food safety awareness

This is according to India’s food and consumer affairs minister as he once again put food safety—and the role of manufacturers and consumers in safeguarding it—on the anvil at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi.

"Industry should invest a certain percentage in consumer awareness about food safety​," said Ram Vilas Paswan, though he declined to suggest exactly how much investment this should involve.

The minister said he has also written to state governments and held discussions with street vendor associations to promote safe food.

Turning to consumer empowerment, he also suggested that they should use personal testing equipment to check for adulteration in food products, especially in the most common groups such as milk and water, and during festivals when adulteration is especially rife.

"In India, people will not believe that any food product is without adulteration​," Paswan said, noting that the challenge was greater in India than many other countries.

Paswan is something of a crusader against adulteration, an ever-present problem in India. Recently, he announced that the government was planning to amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to safeguard consumers.

"The trend of packaged and fast food has caught up in India. There is a need to prevent adulteration of such eatables. The Centre will bring amendment in the law to ensure that consumers get adulteration-free food​," he said at the policy launch in June.

This month, the ruling BJP-led government specified that it would fast-track measures to tackle milk adulteration in particular, after high-profile Congress MP Shashi Tharoor cited an official survey that found that "over 60% of the milk produced in India is adulterated, 8% by detergents​”.

"We have urea, starch and formalin, all of which are going into our milk. Milk is drunk by children, pregnant women, by elderly people. It is a matter of national concern​," Tharoor told parliament as he alleged inaction by the government in improving standards.

Also speaking at the Delhi event, Pawan Agarwal, chief executive of India’s food regulator, said that the FSSAI had been developing new food safety standards in recent months while also building capacity at state level to ensure their effective enforcement.

He also spoke about the need for changing public perception about food safety. “Food safety and nutrition should be integral part of people’s daily life​,” he added.

More stories from South Asia…​

Paper Boat invests in R&D for more trendy beverage flavours​

Hip beverage brand Paper Boat has budged INR130m (US$2m) for research and development at a new science and technology facility in its native Bangalore.​

The company, whose start-up parent, Hector Beverages, is backed by Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital, has already broken ground on the R&D centre, which is expected to become fully operational in the next few months.

In just three years since it first entered the market with traditional Indian non-carbonated beverages, Paper Boat has established a strong following as a fashionable, natural beverage brand in its home market, as well as in Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. 

Its sales make up some 75% of total revenues for Hector Beverages, which also produces Tzinga, an energy drink. Following an investment round worth nearly US$30m by investors Advent Management and Hillhouse Capital last year, the brand was valued at over US$100m.

The company has faced considerable challenges in its ability to source sufficient quantities of ingredients to create and market new flavours to go alongside its current lines, which include Aamras, Jaljeera, Jamun Kala Khatta, Aam Panna, Kokum, Golgappe ka Paani.

Having until now focused solely on developing recipes, sourcing ingredients and manufacturing beverages, Hector hopes its new R&D centre will allow it to conduct research into new flavours at a faster rate. It previously relied on external agencies and universities for research on food science and technology. 

“We want to do our own research on the science of food. We are moving from just recipes and chefs to food scientists, who can research on things like what effect chlorophyll has on oxidation​,” said Neeraj Kakkar, Hector’s chief executive.

The facility will be able to solve some of its current quandaries, he added, such as being able to make lemon juice—a delicate ingredient to handle—with natural flavours.

“People usually make its juice with artificial flavours to increase shelf life. And Paper Boat will research on offering this and similar natural products without compromising on the shelf life​,” Kakkar added. 

Paper Boat is presently available at 100,000 retail points, and aims to double this number within a year. At the same time, its R&D team intends to develop 35-40 new products to go alongside the 10 lines currently in production.

Vegetable prices soar as wholesale-retail price gap reaches 80%​

Limited distribution of commodity vegetables has translated to substantial price rises, with no improvement in sight, according to an Assocham study.​

The report, by the apex industry representative body, found that prices of potatoes, cabbages, chillies, tomatoes, cauliflowers, brinjal and okra have witnessed price rises of 20-100%, hit by low harvest arrivals to mandis ​(wholesale markets) over the April-July period. 

Most worrying is that the trend will remain visible during the peak season of production, Assocham’s comprehensive study on vegetable production noted. 

At a retail level, potato stores more than doubled over this period compared to the same months last year, while cabbage and chilli stocks were up by almost a half. Stores of the all-important tomato and potato crops increased by around 25%.

The study, which surveyed a number of mandis​, said the trend “indicates a worrying situation where market arrivals of vegetables have recorded contraction despite being peak season for production​”. 

“In the shorter horizon, there will be more pressure on the market arrivals of vegetables as production season eases​.” 

DS Rawat, secretary-general of Assocham, highlighted the “huge gap​” between retail and wholesale price of vegetables. 

“On an all-India average, retailers are selling at more than 52.7% of wholesale prices​,” he said. 

In some cases this gap extends to over 75% for some brinjal and 62% for tomato. In Mumbai, Delhi and Patna, the study found the gap to be well over 50%.  

“Lack of basic infrastructure puts further strain on the arrival of vegetables, which results in more wastage of vegetables during peak time of production, and because of their perishable nature producers have to sell immediately​,” the report said. 

“The government should improve infrastructure facility by encouraging PPP initiatives for the development of cold storage. Also there is need to develop infrastructure that could be directly accessible to the farmers and bridge the gap between fields and markets​,” it added.

Huhtamaki snaps up second Indian packaging company​

Finnish packaging firm Huhtamaki has acquired a majority stake in Valpack, a privately held paper cup manufacturer based in Mumbai. ​

The acquisition, which will allow Huhtamaki to enter India’s growing foodservice packaging market, was for a debt-free price of around EUR2m (US$2.23m). 

Many of the Finnish company’s customers are already present in India, Huhtamaki said in a statement.

"Many of our global and regional customers have plans to grow in India. With Valpack, a well-established company with high manufacturing standards, we're able to serve them locally​,” said Eric Le Lay, Huhtamaki’s regional executive vice-president. 

He added that the company planned to invest in additional capacity and extend its range of foodservice packaging for the Indian market.

Operating with some 100 staff in Mumbai, Valpack has achieved annual net sales of around EUR4m (US$4.46m) in recent years. The business will become part of Huhtamaki's Europe-Asia-Oceania foodservice business segment.

The deal marks Huhtamaki’s second acquisition in India after being Mumbai-based Positive Packaging, which makes flexible packaging products in India and the UAE, in 2014 for EUR247m. 

A manufacture of packaging products for food, beverage, non-food and consumer products, Huhtamaki Group has 72 factories and 23 sales offices in 34 countries. It employs around 17,000 employees and registered net sales of EUR2.7bn (US$3bn) in 2015.