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Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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CONTENTS 9

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47

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Digitalization: a fresh idea for the fruit and veg supply chain

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MPOC signed MoU with Mumbai Dabbawala Association & SEA of India

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Cosmo Films launches Universal Printable Coated Synthetic Paper

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Cereal and nut bars: healthy and convenient snacks on the go

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Bosch extends Sealed Paper Packaging portfolio at Interpack 2017

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FSSAI shall collaborate with global, desi firms to raise food safety levels

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Rs 6000-cr ‘SAMPADA’ scheme for food processing to be launched

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

EDITORIAL

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A EDITOR Manzar Aftab Naqvi GROUP EDITOR Firoz H. Naqvi firoz@advanceinfomedia.com CONSULTING EDITOR Basma Hussain Associate Editor Glenes Bothelo glenes@advanceinfomedia.com Graphic Designer Naved H. Kazmi naved@advanceinfomedia.com Advertisement Execultive Anjali Mane anjali@advanceinfomedia.com Circulation Seema Hayat Shaikh seema@advanceinfomedia.com Delhi Sayyed Shahnawaz +91-8375034558 Gujarat Brijesh Mathuria +91-9924546999 Genreal Manager Gyanendra Trivedi Marketing & Circulation Office 121,1st floor, Rassaz Multiplex, Station Road, Mira Road (E), Dist. Thane- 401107 Telefax : +91-22-28555069, Tell.: +91-22-28115068 Mob.: +91-9867992299 E-mail: info@agronfoodprocessing.com sub@advanceinfomedia.com Vol 12 Issue 06 April 2017 Annual Subcription Rs.950/By Normal Post Add Rs. 400/-For Courier Charges Add Rs. 50/- For Outstantion Charge Overseas $80 By Air Mail Email:sub@advanveinfomedia.com Single Copy Cost Rs. 100/Printed, Published & Owned By Manzar Aftab Naqvi RNI No. MAHENG /2005/15987 Postal Regd. No. THW /50/2017-2019 Regd. Office Advance Info Media & Event 103,AmarJyot Apartments, Pooja Nagar, Mira Road (E) Dist Thane-401107(Mumbai) Printed At Rolleract Press Services A-83,Ground Floor, Naraina Industrial Area Phase-1, New Delhi -110028

The views expressed in this issue are those of the contibutors are not necessarilly those of the magzine. though every care has been taken to ensure the accuaracy and authenticty in infomation, "Oil & Food Journal" is however not responsible fordamages caused by ministerpretation of infomation expressed and implied with in the pages of this issue.

All disputes are not to be referred to Mumbai Jurisdiction

safe global food supply can only be achieved through development of effective food safety management’’ Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) is on a spree of implementation, execution and upgrading. Every alternate day we read, see, and hear about new enactment being announced by the food regulator. One after another policies are being rolled out in an extravangza. Well what is the reason?Is it because of a parliamentary panel that has asked the health department to take necessary measures to arrest underutilization of funds by the country's food safety regulator FSSAI and ensure strengthening of the food testing system in a timebound manner?

It said the safety and standardisation of food is a “neglected” area in India and the health department, under FSSAI falls, needs to focus more on this field. The panel has emphasised the need for ample provisioning of mobile food testing labs which would go a long way in ensuring awareness regarding precautionary measures so that diseases spreading through contaminated and sub-standard food are minimised.

FSSAI is promoting food fortification in a big way it has issued standards for fortification of salt with iodine and iron, of vegetable oil and milk with Vitamin A and D, wheat flour and rice with iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin A and some other micronutrients. Market leaders like the ITC, General Mills, Hindustan Unilever, Patanjali, and Cargill have agreed to start fortification of their flagship brands of wheat flour (Atta) respectively. Also, major edible oil manufacturing and processing sector have decided to fortify the edible oil with vitamin A and D within the next three months.

To add further, FSSAI aims to improve the quality of food sold through online channels, after consumers complained about expired food products being sold on e-commerce sites. In doing so, the regulator has adopted a two-pronged approach e-commerce entities selling packaged food that will have to register with the regulator. All e-commerce companies selling cooked food will have to take licences.

The regulator has also tied up with Coca-Cola India to train 50,000 street food vendors over the next three years and plans to rope in other players like ITC and Mondelez under its 'Clean Street Food' campaign. FSSAI is also looking to bring other companies such as Yum Restaurants, Tetra Pak under the project.

Latest on its itinerary is an agreement with US-based Decernis Ltd which will enable it to access various international regulations. With this tie up, the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) would get access to database of over 70,000 standards for food additives, food standards, food contact and contaminants from over 170 countries.

Reckitt Benckiser Group is considering a sale of its food business, which makes French’s mustard and ketchup, to help pay for the $16.6-billion acquisition of infant-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition. Reckitt Benckiser has owned French’s, whose primary market is the US, since the 1920s. The brand competes with Kraft Heinz’s signature ketchup, and could attract interest from other trade buyers as the industry comes under pressure to reduce costs through consolidation.

On GST shadow, Federation of Biscuit Manufacturers of India (FBMI) is insisting that biscuits should be put in the lowest slab under the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in a bid to encourage ease of doing business and liberal FDI policy. As putting it on higher slab would result in cutting down on procurement of raw materials by biscuit manufacturers that would adversely impact farmers across India. Lower demand will also negatively impact investments, exports, and employment in the food industry.

To make India a World Food Factory, the government will soon launch a revamped National Mission on Food Processing. The revamped mission will be called SAMPADA or the Scheme for Agro-Marine Produce Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters. It will complete the on-going Mega Food Parks and take up more cold chain projects. The mission will also involve launch of three new schemes – Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities, New Agro-Processing Clusters and Backward and Forward Linkages.

The 'SAMPADA' mission will have an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore, and it will integrate current and new schemes. It will be implemented by 2019-20 fiscal.

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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Food Politics

Health the new Mantra

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f the 20th century was the age of mealpreparation convenience, promised by canned and packaged food, the 21st appears to be the age of healthier food.

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the long-term health risks of consuming processed, packaged foods, and manufacturers are pulling out all stops to cater to new and growing demand for “packaged fresh”—healthier, packaged options that provide ready-toeat or ready-to-prepare convenience.

Food companies improved the health profile of about 180,000 products in 2016 and the most common improvements

were sugar and sodium reduction, as well as the addition of whole grains and vitamins.

Companies have been under pressure for years to improve the health profiles of their products, but many have chosen to do so quietly, without making these changes public. After all, changing the recipe of well-loved products has often come with customer backlash. CocaCola, for example, ended up going back to sugar in Vitaminwater after customers rejected a lower calorie sugar-stevia blend.

And although consumers claim they

prefer healthier foods, their buying habits may not match their intentions. In the minds of consumers, healthy food often means less tasty food, with ‘less salt’ in particular linked to ‘less flavor’.

The tide may be turning on this trend, however. Last May, Nestlé announced a wide-ranging sodium reduction strategy and then asked consumers whether they would be more or less likely to buy Nestlé products as a result. The majority (81 per cent) said the change would not affect their purchases, 15 per cent said they were likely to buy more, and only 4 per cent said it would make purchases less

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Definitions Most people tend to use the terms “organic” and “natural” synonymously with regard to food products, but these words have different meanings, and regulations regarding their use on product labels and packaging vary across the globe.

In today’s market, it’s hard to think of a more dominant food and beverage trend than the decisive consumer shift toward healthier, better-for-you products. From start-ups to large-scale operations with established big-name brands, companies are formulating new products, and reformulating existing ones, to get a slice of the rapidly growing business. likely.

Focusing On Food: The Importance Of Eating Right Millennial consumers—those born between 1980 and 2000 appear to be driving demand for healthier and more natural food. The abundance of information available via the Internet in their formative years has helped make them a more informed consumer base, and has shaped their decisions regarding health, wellness, and food. In short, these are the main trends among millennial grocery shoppers: • Healthy options: Most millennials think factors associated with healthy food choices are more important than previous generations thought they were.

For instance, in their food and beverage purchases, millennials tend to give more importance to an “organic” label than older customers do.

• Information: The accessibility of information is important to millennials in deciding what food to buy. In the US, 80 per cent of millennials value having access to information about how their food is produced.

• Labels: Many millennials consider food labels a valuable tool for informing their purchasing decisions. According to a survey by Euromonitor International, 40 per cent of millennials in the US look for limited or no artificial ingredients when reading food labels, compared to 33 per cent of baby boomers.

• Snacks: Snacking, or grazing is very much part of the lifestyle of people

aged 16–36 who tend to eat outside regular mealtimes more often than other generations do. More than half of US millennials snack at least once per week, according to Euromonitor International, compared to only 20 per cent of baby boomers.

• Guilt-free food: Many millennials pay attention to what they eat even when snacking, and snacks that are marketed and perceived as healthy tend to attract consumers in this age group. For instance, highprotein snacks have been particularly successful, as protein is possibly the only nutrient that has never been questioned by mainstream media, unlike sugar, fat and carbs. In the US, the market for high-protein snacks has grown substantially.

“Organic” And “Natural” Food – A Few But in order to be labeled “organic,” a food must be produced without the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, synthetic substances, genetic engineering, and other chemical/ artificial means.A food product is labeled “natural” when it has been minimally synthesized or when fewer preservatives and additives are used in its production. But there is no regulation on the use of this term, so its usage is inconsistent. Packagedfood makers may label a product “natural” even if its ingredients have been produced with the use of synthetic

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

According to a 2016 Nielsen survey of 30,000 people, 90 per cent of shoppers are willing to pay more for the added quality and benefits.

These healthy foods and drinks are on track to hit $1 trillion in sales by 2017, predicts Euromonitor International, spurring innovative new products in nearly every industry sector. This even

holds true for the confectionery sector, where companies are touting healthierfor-you snacks such as whey-protein energy gummies, gluten-free licorice and countless dark chocolate, fruit and nut combinations.

Innovating And Reformulating For Health What’s driving these healthier products shift? For starters, there has been sharp billion drop in market share for traditional packaged goods companies alone. The loss is squarely tied to the consumer shift to fresher and more natural food in its article “The War on Big Food.”

Faced with falling profits and shrinking market share, companies currently not

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following the trend are quickly developing relevant products while taking a hard look at legacy brands.

In some cases, the products that companies are developing to satisfy specific consumers now also appeal to the masses as overall interest in healthy living has increased. For certain consumers, this broader dietary interest comes from personal health conditions or ones observed through family and friends.

Others are driven by a desire for longevity and illness prevention while for many it is simply about well-being. Regardless of motivation, these preferences now present opportunities for food and beverage companies to meet consumer demand.

Consumers’ focus on health has extended across genders and generations. Many millennials are becoming parents and are demanding healthier products for their children as well, which is driving another significant wave of formulation and reformulation. Carbonated soft drinks remain the most popular non-alcoholic beverage but their sales have dropped down due to parents seeking healthier alternatives.

Danone, which already makes a drinkable yogurt for kids, recently moved to make it even healthier by lowering the sugar content. Although sugar may have once mattered mainly to those with illnesses

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rapidly growing segment, which appeals to at least 30 per cent of consumers.

analyse some major companies who went on to pledge to go healthy all the way;

More consumers read labels when they shop. In some cases, these shoppers want maximum health benefits, via vitamins and antioxidants, with minimal unnatural ingredients and fewer components overall. This has led to the development of “cleaner” labels, such as those found in certain premium teas consisting of only tea and water.

Nestle adopts health mission to make their products healthier

Consumers want to be able to understand lists of ingredients without having to decipher them. One report from Research and Markets recently discussed how consumers want ingredients to match “what they can find in their kitchens,” reflecting their hesitancy toward ingredients that sound like engineered chemicals. Natural colors fit nicely into this paradigm, and food-coloring providers such as Sensient Colors are seeing “double-digit” growth in that portion of their business.

So what should companies consider to effectively provide clean labels? One clear option is stating what a product does not have, like messages indicating glutenfree, no MSG or no high fructose corn syrup may be effective to help companies clearly make promises to consumers concerned about those ingredients.

Steve Jobs once famously stated: “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.” And he’s right: The best-positioned companies today are those that saw this change well in advance and have led the charge.

Companies that continue to envision and act upon evolving consumer demands will be successful. In the end, this growing trend is driven by increasing consumer desires for healthier lifestyles and results in purchasing decisions increasingly driven by heightened holistic wellness benefits. These shoppers will certainly continue to demand expanded choice, and food and beverage companies that successfully address this demand will be rewarded.

Less sugar, less salt, fewer calories: Nestle is on a health mission. The world’s biggest foods company is reducing salt and sodium content in its Maggi noodles, cutting sugar by about 10 per cent in KitKat chocolate and dairy products, and stepping up portion control in Munch chocolates, extending to India its ambitious commitment to make healthier products.

The Swiss company, which made Maggi India’s staple snack-food in the 1990s, will extend its ‘health drive’ to other product categories as well: For dairy items such as yoghurt and infant cereal Cerelac, Nestle will now make low-sugar and low-salt variants.

such as diabetes, today the broader population is paying closer attention to sugar content in its diet.

Another aspect of this healthy foods trend is removing ingredients or additives from formulated food products. Although this began in response to medical concerns, it has further evolved to attract overall health-conscious consumers.

One example of food companies’ response is development of gluten-free foods, a

In response to these consumer concerns, some companies are streamlining their ingredients. For example: the six neon, artificially colored balls in Trix cereal will give way to four, tinted with turmeric, annatto and fruit and vegetable juice, and also General Mills plans to clear its entire cereal portfolio of artificial colors by 2018.

Adapting Is Not Optional Agro& Food Processing went on to

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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share gains, with focus on innovation and brand equity.

Nestle India,Managing Director Suresh Narayanan stated that 2017 was likely to be good for the company since it is positioned for a big urban play. Earlier, the level of innovation was low, maybe because the market was not ready for the products. Now, innovation has been stepped up in a meaningful way as many matrices such as premiumization, urbanisation, dual working families and health indulgence are favourable.

The 151-year-old company, based at Vevey in Switzerland, is working on its commitment to provide consumers choices for balanced diets and active lifestyles. The company is working to improve the nutrient profile of our products, and proactively reducing sodium, salt, sugar, saturated fats and trans-fats across relevant product categories through ongoing product reformulations.

Maggi instant noodles, Nestle’s biggest brand had been taken off the shelves by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in the summer of 2015 over allegations that it contained lead beyond permissible limits and for mislabeling of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate.

While Maggi noodles returned to stores after five months, the category lost salience and rivals such as ITC’s Sunfeast Yippee and HUL’s Knorr gained market share in the interim. However, the brand still has a 60 per cent market share in instant noodles.

Nestle has announced a series of global commitments to reduce sugars, sodium, saturated fats and trans-fats, introduce nutritious products, step up food fortification, remove artificial colours, restrict marketing to children, step up nutrition data on packs at points of sale and online, and disseminate information on portion control.

The Indian unit reported a decline of 8.66 per cent in net profit to Rs 167.3 crore in the December quarter, the fall paced by demonetisation. Edelweiss Securities wrote in a report that “Nestle is transforming from a bottom line focused company to one which also lays emphasis on healthy top line growth and market

Child-centric cereal brand Ceregrow, fortified with iron and fruit, and Milo health drink with less than 10 per cent sucrose per pack are being placed in stores now. The company is working on similar options in other product categories.

Nestle is looking for fortification in their mass consumption products as well and are committed to removing artificial colours, like on the Maggi, the company has fortified seasoning with iron and iodine. They are also providing consumers with nutrition information on food labels, guidance on daily intake for energy and key nutrients and portion guidance.

The Nestle website said the company will gradually increase guidance on portions through products, packs, and dispensers.

They will extend their guidance on portions to their consumer recipes, and relevant teenager and adult products by 2020. It also said that by the same year, it will remove all artificial colours from its products.

Nestle has said that over 99 per cent of fats and oils in its foods and beverages, starting January 1, 2017 will not contain trans-fats across products and markets.

By 2020, Nestle will reduce added sugar by 5 per cent and sodium by 10 per cent.

PepsiCo’s Promise to Get Healthier Is Paying Off PepsiCo is a Big Food manufacturer that keeps getting bigger.The massive food and beverage manufacturer finished 2016 with strong fourth-quarter results, due to particularly strong growth for the company's North America operations, especially for the Frito-Lay and beverages portfolio. That helped offset the challenges that PepsiCo and other international firms have faced as a stronger dollar has put pressure on revenue incurred from markets abroad.

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

In the home market, PepsiCo continues to outperform rivals. CEO Indra Nooyi told analysts during a conference call that while the company represents less than 10 per cent of retail food and beverage sales in the U.S., it drove 18 per cent of sales growth for the category last year. That compared to a net decline in sales for all other food-beverage makers that generate $5 billion more essentially the pool of Big Food manufacturers PepsiCo most aggressively competes with.

PepsiCo's new Tropicana Essentials Probiotics is a bet on the health and wellness space.

Nooyi touted efforts by PepsiCo to boost both marketing behind the company's brands and research and development.

The pipeline of innovation from PepsiCo including new Tropicana Essentials Probiotics, expanding the Sabra hummus brand into other food categories like salsa, and Quaker Breakfast Flats are all helping PepsiCo boost sales.

When it comes to transforming their portfolio, PepsiCo is making significant progress. The transformation to make PepsiCo's portfolio more healthy comes at a time when Big Food executives say they believe consumer-driven shift toward fresher, cleaner foods isn't a

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categories. Naked Juice is on its way to becoming the company's next $1 billion brand. Globally, the Pepsi cola trademark accounts for 12 per cent of net revenue. But 25 per cent of revenue comes from so-called everyday nutrition products that include bottled water, foods and drinks that are packed with grains, fruits, and vegetables.

fad—it is a permanent shift in spending.

As a result, big brands are remaking themselves through reformulations or adding new products to tackle new food and beverage trends. The launch of Tropicana Essentials Probiotics, for example was a move to tackle the rapidly growing functional juices category. New reduced sugar sodas from brands like 7Up are also on trend as consumers look to cut back on their sugar intake. This year, PepsiCo is poised to generate millions from the company's new premium water brand LIFEWTR. Though carbonated soft drink sales have been declining, the two largest soda manufacturers—PepsiCo and rival CocaCola are both continuing to grow in their key home market. Coca-Cola reported stronger North America results that were fueled by bottled water Smartwater, flavored water Vitaminwater, the dairy brand Fairlife, and energy drinks.

PepsiCo is seeing similar success in tilting the portfolio toward healthier beverage

The pivot toward health isn't always a smooth one.

Regarding Diet Pepsi, Nooyi admitted that the company had "a bit of a hiccup" after the company changed the beverage's formula to ditch aspartame—an ingredient that some consumers are wary of. PepsiCo later reversed course a bit by maintaining a classic Diet Pepsi sweetened with aspartame, keeping the new Diet Pepsi with sucralose and Ace-K, and renaming Pepsi MAX to Pepsi Zero Sugar to make it clear to consumers that the beverage had no calories.

In India, PepsiCo has pledged to help digitisation in grocery stores as well as set up new facilities. PepsiCo has been showing an increased focus on healthy products, in line with a growing consumer demanding the country too.

The new products will be launched at the end of this year and in early 2018.

PepsiCo announced that it will launched Quaker Nutri Foods and Tropicana Essentials to help contribute to healthier breakfasts. The Quaker Nutri Foods range is made up of healthy breakfast options like idli, dosa and khichdi made with 40 per cent oats content and vegetables.Meanwhile, the Tropicana Essentials range will feature vegetable juices infused with important nutrients.

Coca cola going the healthy way In its path to make a healthy relocation, Coca-Cola is preparing to launch packaged coconut water in India, as increasing consumer preference towards non-sugary drinks take the fizz out of cola sales.

Coke is test marketing Zico, a US coconut water brand it acquired in late 2013.

Packaged coconut water is one of the fastest growing beverage categories in

the world and the 2013 deal has given the company the top position in the segment.

Positioned as a ‘natural replenishment’, brand Zico has been gaining traction in world markets, information posted on its website said.

Though brands such as these are niche, Coca-Cola has to prepare the decks and hedge bets, as the backlash on cola consumption and health activism is gaining ground in the country. Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Coke Life - CocaCola is on a continuous mission to make its soft drinks healthier.

And now the latest in the list, however, is seriously unusual. Coca-Cola Plus is essentially Coke with added fibre. The drink is sugar and calorie-free and contains five grams of indigestible dextrin, which was created as a supplement for people with fibre deficiencies.

Coca-Cola Plus was actually first launched years ago but was taken off the shelves.

Now, it’s back. And Diet Coke addicts are rejoicing. Some people are calling it the healthiest Coke variant ever and there’s a lot of excitement about the claim that the fibre could reduce fat absorption from food, if drunk whilst eating.

In fact, Coca-Cola Plus is being marketed as the first Coke drink that actively improves your health. What’s more, according to Coca-Cola, drinking one bottle a day with meals will help control the levels of triglycerides in the blood after eating.

Mondelez health plan Mondelez International is also in plans to tap into the desires of healthconscious consumers by launching a new dedicated “well-being” brand. Mondelez International is going through some “dramatic changes” according to its CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, who said consumer trends towards healthy eating is driving the need for a new type of snack.

And so the confectionery giant continues to look at new products that are aligned with modern perceptions of well-being and healthier alternatives.

Off the back of its previously launched skinnier version of its infamous cookies, Oreo Thins, Mondelez launched Good Thins, a savory snack without artificial ingredients.Now the company claims 2017 will be “an unprecedented year of well-being innovation.

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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New launches include Véa, a new wellbeing ‘power brand’ in the savory cracker segment, featuring bold regional flavors, such as Thai coconut or Peruvian sweet potato. Véa crunch bars, world crisps and seed crackers recipes are on-trend in every way: no artificial ingredients, colors or flavors, no trans fats, Non-GMO project verified.

Véa truly underscores the best of our growth capabilities, including breakthrough product and packaging innovation, real-time data analytics, and comprehensive distribution across multiple growth channels and fearless digital marketing. Véa will be available across grocery, club stores, convenience stores and eCommerce channels as of July 2017, with other global markets following over time.

Mondelez wants to make its brands accessible to consumers whenever and wherever they shop. It's improving their presence in high-growth channels like e-commerce, discounters, convenience stores and traditional trade. In the online arena, Mondelez International is building an industryleading e-commerce snacks business by investing in capabilities and infrastructure and enhancing its online product assortment.

Confectionery giant Mondelez has launched high fibre biscuits and is actively looking at launching India specific products. "For example, they have breakfast biscuit globally, belVita. It is one of the company’s popular products.

They have also launched light coloured cream biscuit -- Golden Oreo made with

skimmed milk with added health.

smart to give consumers what they want.

The Morning Snack?

According to Mondelez 'Morning' is the single largest biscuits consumption occasion in India. Nearly 50 per cent of biscuits consumption happens in this occasion. Bournvita as a brand has always been a 'morning' beverage. And taking on this opportunity with biscuits Mondelez went to leverage this symbiotic relationship and launched the new product launch backed by a TVC targeting the morning segment and positioning the brand as a morning product with a tagline, 'Subah ka Biscuit'.

Agro& Food Processing Insight: Food manufacturers have focused many of their reformulation efforts on food products. As consumers move away from three meals a day toward more frequent snacking, the food industry has been under pressure to respond. Another focus is making their products healthier and more wholesome by removing a range of additives. Consumers increasingly are checking ingredient lists, scanning them for unfamiliar or unnatural-sounding items.

Snacks are a major target for sodium, sugar and fat reduction. Research suggests

So Bournvita Biscuit is positioned as a purposive morning snack that has the Bournvita Pro-HEALTH Vitamins and signature taste of Bournvita. The large 'Morning' occasion needs are met by several snacking categories. Biscuit is the largest packaged foods category within the morning snacking occasion and Mondelez is confident about Bournvita biscuits potential to deliver a healthy and tasty snacking option.

Kraft Foods cooks up 'cleaner' snack labels Kraft Food Ingredients, a division of the recently combined Kraft Heinz, is working on new clean label snacks, showcasing a range of healthier product concepts at Snaxpo. The merger has boosted development of clean label snacks, according to the company.

Kraft used dairy ingredients to cut hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils from cheddar-flavored potato chips, parmesan popcorn and cheeseburgerflavored puffs. The cheese ingredients come in a range of sodium levels. The company also is exploring natural and organic options.

Cheese products are growing in popularity. People are not going to stop eating cheese but what they don't want is eating cheese full of ingredients they can't pronounce.

Kraft Food Ingredients’ latest cheesebased snack concepts, the company said its intention was to follow the clean label trend. Although consumers may not see cheese as particularly healthy, they see it as a “permissible indulgence”, according to the company’s head of marketing. Consumers want to know what ingredients their cheese is made of.

Kraft and other food manufacturers are

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these efforts could save thousands of lives each year. One study found reformulation could reduce deaths from diet-related diseases by as much as 5.5 per cent, with the greatest benefit for those on low incomes.

Several of the biggest names in food have targeted a specific category for reformulation. General Mills has focused on cutting artificial flavors and colors from its fruit-flavored snacks and cereals, while Nestlé has simplified the ingredients in more than 100 ice cream brands. Its changes include removing high fructose corn syrup, GMO ingredients, artificial flavors and colors, reducing sugar, and using milk from cows not treated with BST.

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Agro & Food Processing April 2017

MEAT POLITICS

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Meat Freeze in Uttar Pradesh A Rs 15,000-cr industry that employs 25 lakh people

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urrent government statistics The Centre has been encouraging the meat industry and the food processing ministry by providing aid of up to 50 per cent of the cost of setting up a unit. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 50 per cent of India’s total meat exports and

more than 25 lakh people are associated with the industry directly or indirectly, according to the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

declared that during April-January period of the 2016-17 fiscal, the country exported nearly 11 lakh tonnes of meat for Rs 22,074 crore. While meat exports stood at Rs 27,610 crore in the financial year 2015-16, Rs 30,201 crore in the 2014-15 and Rs 27,720 crore in 2013-14 As per the current foreign trade policy,

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all export oriented meat processing establishments are required to be registered with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

There are 81 companies engaged in meat processing and its exports and the inspection of these processing units is being done by an inter-ministerial

committee. The panel comprises representatives from animal husbandry departments of the central and state governments, Export Inspection Council of India, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), reputed veterinary scientists and food safety experts. During inspection, the committee focuses on hygiene and sanitary standard, ante-mortem and post mortem inspections, infrastructure, laboratories

facilities and record maintenance among others.

“The government has introduced 'meat.Net' software to facilitate issue of health certificates through the system’’ Meat Industry in Uttar Pradesh (UP) Uttar Pradesh is the market leader in production and export of meat in the country. There is no record of illegal animal slaughter and the quantity of

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

MEAT POLITICS

18 of right-wing Hindu causes, it has rarely made such a stark choice between them. The state’s new leaders promise more meat factories will be shut in the coming days, and they say the blow to the economy is less important than the principle of protecting the cow.

meat produced from animals butchered illegally but rough estimates suggest that 140 slaughterhouses and over 50,000 meat shops don’t have permission. As per an APEDA report, UP is the highest producer of meat with 19.1% share, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 15.2% and West Bengal at 10.9%. From 200809 to 2014-15, the state produced 7515.14 lakh kg of buffalo meat, 1171.65 lakh kg of goat meat, 230.99 lakh kg of sheep meat and 1410.32 pork meat in the year 2014-15, data from the state’s animal husbandry department show.

Of the 72 government-approved abattoirs across the country, 38 are in Uttar Pradesh, according to UP Pollution Control Board based on NoCs issued. This includes four government-run of which only two – Agra and Saharanpur are functional. The remaining two are proposed in Lucknow and Bareilly. Hind Agro IMPP in Aligarh is one of the first plants set up in 1996.

Most of the 38 slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh cater to exports. The buffaloes slaughtered in India are in demand in Gulf countries because of two reasons -low cost and the assurance that buyers in Muslim countries are assured it is halal, slaughtered in a manner Muslims consider ritualistically appropriate. Under these circumstances, the local demands are met by illegal or standalone slaughterhouses.

On an average, 300 to 3000 livestock is slaughtered daily at these abattoirs depending on their capacity and permission. The abattoirs slaughter buffalo, sheep and goat, which have become ‘spent’ for their owners/farmers, mostly Hindus, and are procured by a group of traders from regional weekly ‘mandis’ (village markets). The average cost of a buffalo is around Rs 20,000.

A minimum of 10-acre plot of land is needed to set up an IMPP at a cost of

Rs 40 to 50 crore. The slaughter houses in the state have permission to kill a bull which is more than 15 years or is of an unhealthy breed.

Havoc caused by politics In recent years, as demand for cheap protein raged in China and the Persian Gulf countries, India quietly became the world’s largest exporter of meat chiefly flash-frozen water buffalo, which approached $5 billion in exports in 2015.

Slaughterhouses proliferated in the west of Uttar Pradesh, and the surrounding villages underwent an economic transformation. Children raised on plain roti began to eat lentils twice a day. Life for meat traders had changed drastically with the advent of the meat factories a decade ago, people here said. Mud huts that routinely collapsed during the monsoon had been replaced by solid brick buildings. Men working in the factories had begun to invest in motor scooters.

Women had been pulled into the work force, abruptly doubling family incomes.

But that spurt of prosperity came under threat, when a new Hindu-right government in the state, led by the fiery cleric Yogi Adityanath, began shutting down parts of the Muslim-dominated buffalo meat industry.

Hindu activists say the industry conceals the illegal slaughter of cows, which are sacred to Hindus.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing party has long balanced its commitment to export-driven development against its embrace

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

Uttar Pradesh is India’s largest meatproducing state, with 41 of the country’s 75 licensed slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, according to the Commerce Ministry. Scores more operate without licenses and an exhaustive list of laws govern the slaughter, transport and sale of meat, so the government can easily find a pretext to shut even licensed businesses.

District officials sealed several factories in the Uttar Pradesh citing irregularities in paperwork. The police were ordered to patrol the plants and search vehicles for cows, so frightening suppliers that they stopped delivering buffaloes.

“Most Indians were not aware that buffalo meat overtook rice as the country’s largest food export in 2015’’ The industry’s growth has gone unnoticed mainly because of religious sensitivities: Meatpacking, like leather, is a sector dominated by Muslims, who make up around 19 per cent of this state’s population. Though it is legal to slaughter buffalo when they are old and can no longer give milk, right-wing Hindu groups have long suggested that cows were being spirited into the facilities, and they have routinely intercepted supply vehicles for aggressive searches.

In January, in its manifesto ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s state elections, the B.J.P. promised to take a step further: to shut down “all illegal slaughterhouses” and

MEAT POLITICS

19 restrict mechanized ones. It was not clear whether that campaign would extend to the largest meatpacking businesses, which are licensed by the government and bring in vast amounts of revenue. Some people in the Muslim neighborhoods dependent on meat processing said they doubted that it would.

In 2015-16, more people per 1,000 were unemployed in Uttar Pradesh (58), compared to the Indian average (37), and youth unemployment was especially high,

social systems not just in Uttar Pradesh, but nationwide. Here is a look at the three industries that will be most affected by the campaign.

with 148 for every 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 years unemployed, compared to the Indian average of 102.

Meat: UP accounts for 43% of India's buffalo-meat exports Illegal slaughterhouses being targeted by the government dominate the meat market in India: 4,000 are registered and more than 25,000 are not, among units that cater to the domestic market, according to APEDA. Even in the export market, registered and unregistered slaughterhouses both produce meat, APEDA acknowledges.

Creating unemployment The closure of Uttar Pradesh's slaughterhouses could leave a couple of million people jobless in the state, affect its allied industries and choke small but important revenue streams for its poor farmers, especially in droughtprone areas, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of available data on India's meat, leather and livestock industries.

The drive against slaughterhouses could impact three critical industries: Meat packaging, livestock and leather. With some of the worst development indicators, stagnant agriculture and industry, India's most populous state is also one of its poorest with the second-highest unemployment rate after Jharkhand among eight most socio-economically backward states. ‘’With a population of 200 million people, equivalent to the population of Brazil, the state's economy is the size of the tiny middle-eastern country of Qatar, which has 2.4 million people, the same as the town of Bijnore’’

Meat-packing and leather industries make up the major share of India's export earnings, with Uttar Pradesh contributing significantly. It accounted for nearly 43 per cent of buffalo-meat exports in 201516, the highest among all states, according to data published by the Agriculture and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA). Leather ranks eighth among India's top export earners, with about 46 per cent of what is produced being exported, according to the Council for Leather Exports (CLE). A third of these exports go from Kanpur in UP, a city where the leather industry is already in crisis.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) election manifesto for the assembly election had promised to shut all illegal slaughterhouses in the state.

But ‘over-enthusiastic’ officials who appeared to be acting indiscriminately, shutting down even abattoirs with licenses are now being reined in by the government.

Research shows that the slaughterhouse ecology is complex and supports diverse, rural, and urban economic and

Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of meat in India, according to the Agriculture Statistics Report, 2015.

In 2014-15, it contributed 21 per cent of the meat produced in India. Of the 75 slaughterhouses registered with the APEDA for meat export, as many as 49 are in Uttar Pradesh. This means the state is likely to have the large number of slaughterhouses, many illegal.

Buffalo meat is a major export from India, going to more than 40 countries.

In the 2015-16, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest buffalo meat export, followed by Maharashtra. In 201516, India exported 13.14 lakh metric tonnes (MT) buffalo meat of worth Rs 26,685.42 crore.

There is no reliable estimate of people employed in Uttar Pradesh's slaughterhouses and meat shops, but it is likely to be in tens of thousands. Around 6.7 million are employed in the country's food-processing industry, which includes slaughterhouses and meat processing

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

MEAT POLITICS

20 units, according to the Agriculture Statistics, 2015.

The issue of illegal abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh is not new. The erstwhile Samajwadi Party government had also issued a government order in June 2014 to probe their operations. In May 2015, the National Green Tribunal ordered the state government to act against illegal slaughterhouses to curb the pollution caused by them. The BJP government's move goes a step further, banning not only illegal slaughtering but also licensed mechanical operations, which are mostly legal and focused on exports.

Previous governments, acknowledging the advantage of mechanized slaughter technology over traditional methods in increasing and improving output for the export market, had offered financial assistance for upgrades.

Livestock: UP recorded 14% growth, indicating economic dependence Meat production is entirely dependent on livestock, a sector that contributed nearly 4.11 per cent to India's GDP at current prices in 2012-13. It also contributes nearly 25.6 per cent of output, by value, at current prices in the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors, according to the Livestock Census Report, 2012.

India houses a significant percentage of the world's livestock. A comparison of the last two livestock censuses reveals a 3.33 per cent decrease in livestock in 2012 compared to 2007. But Uttar Pradesh, along with Gujarat and Assam, registered growth (14 per cent), indicating the economy's dependence on livestock and allied businesses.

Livestock are an important economic resource, especially in rural areas. Cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep are maintained by agricultural families, mostly those with small land holdings, and by landless laborers who use them primarily for milk and also meat.

Cattle are also loaned for agriculture and transportation. Poor families sell stray cattle to butchers. In drought-affected areas, such as parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, cattle are often sold to tide over economic crises.

Leather: Majority of employees from disadvantaged communities In 2014-15, India leather exports were valued at $6.4 billion (Rs 39,097 crore) and in 2015-16, at $5.8 billion (Rs 38,396 crore), according to Council for Leather Exports data.

The Indian leather industry provides formal and informal employment to 2.5 million people, mostly from disadvantaged communities: A third of leather workers are women and a fourth are scheduled castes and tribes. Leather workers who are not from traditional tanning communities or are not Muslims come from poor agricultural families, according to a study by the Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), an advocacy.

documents relating to the layout of the premises, no objection/clearance certificate from the state pollution control board, permission from the municipal authority to operate the unit.

Issue of certificate may be refused or cancelled or suspended because of many reasons including, if the processing unit does not conform to prescribed standards which may include violation of the foreign trade policy, adverse reports from the banks violation of quality and food safety norms/pollution control board guidelines.

In the end Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party appointed Adityanath after winning Uttar Pradesh in a landslide, handing the reins of India’s most important state to an ideologue known for his inflammatory rhetoric against Muslims.

Modi has sought to keep his party’s Hindu nationalism at arm’s length since taking power in 2014, but the slaughterhouse crackdown has raised doubts about his proclaimed commitment to economic growth and job creation.

What does the law say?

Keeping aside the meat jinxed with religion politics, there is a law that should be followed by the slaughter houses in India.

In 2012, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to constitute committees for monitoring modernization and relocation of slaughterhouses in every city and ensure appropriate measures to deal with their solid waste and pollution.

According to the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, the local municipal bodies are mandated to ensure that fresh and hygienic meat is provided to people while keeping a tab on operation of slaughterhouse within city limits. The Act also lays down rules for functioning of slaughter houses, sale of animals and control of private slaughterhouses.

Any slaughterhouse can come under the authorities’ radar over the source of meat.

Plus the plant needs to have approval from the concerned development authority after which registration certificates are issued. The owners are bound to furnish

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

The country is set to be the world’s sixth-biggest beef consumer this year, with domestic demand surging more than 30% in the past decade, according to USDA data. Exports in the period have more than doubled, with growth in shipments to Vietnam, China and Africa.

Indonesia last year allowed imports of buffalo meat from India, spurring concern in Australia’s beef industry.

It will be really unfortunate if the Uttar Pradesh government puts a ban on legal licensed abattoirs as it has almost taken 20 years to reach world standard in quality by spending on in-house facilities and laboratories.

According to the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association, a ban on meat exports would mean a loss of at least Rs 11,350 crores of revenue for the state, as per estimates, meat exports account for Rs 26,685 crore annually. And if it persists for next five years, then the revenue loss can mount up to Rs 56,000 crore. In the year 2015-16, UP exported 5, 65,958.20 metric tonnes of buffalo meat.

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NEW TREND

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Tilapia is the next big thing in fish processing A fast-growing freshwater fish sometimes dubbed “aquatic chicken”

Tilapia as a nutrition source for the masses is an idea floated by the Indian government and its fisheries department.

The species is easy to farm, resistant to most diseases, and requires little antibiotics.

Tilapia farming is not new. Just ask the Egyptians, who’ve been farming these fish for thousands of years. Tilapia was referred to (probably) in the bible as the fish that fed the multitudes.

food are numerous. As well as tasting good, they are relatively hardy and can tolerate a range of conditions (though they don’t like it chilly - not such a problem in tropical Africa and Asia, however).

Indeed, the Nile tilapia is still a prominent fish in aquaculture today. From North Africa, it was also introduced to Asia, where fish farming is quite a booming business. China remains the biggest player in tilapia farming, producing over a million tonnes a year though Egypt is not far behind.

As such, government programmes have overseen a steady growth of the tilapia industry in countries such as Egypt and Nigeria and Asia, while this has had positive effects not only on increasing food production but has brought with it considerable socio-economic gains.

The benefits to rearing this superfish for

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

Tilapia is a fast-growing freshwater fish sometimes dubbed “aquatic chicken”, is

NEW TREND

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Some state governments provide further subsidies. the next grandiose thing in fish processing in India. Tilapia is finding favour across India as it is rich in protein, breeds quickly, and is cheap to farm.

“The common man can’t afford chicken or red meat. Tilapia, therefore, would be a revolution’’ To be clear, tilapia as a nutrition source for the masses is an idea floated by the Indian government and its fisheries department.

The species is easy to farm, resistant to most diseases, and requires little antibiotics. More significantly, it sells for as little as Rs 100 per kg—chicken can be Rs 50 more, and prawns sell for Rs 700 a kg, if not more.Therefore,authorities provide easy access to finance through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to set up fish farms.

The domestic market has enormous potential. India is among the top three seafood producers in the world, but consumption lags way behind. Over 900,000 tonnes of seafood worth $4.7 billion (Rs 29,689.9 crore) was exported in FY16, according to the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

In contrast, the per capita consumption of fish protein stood at less than 2 grams a day, the same as landlocked Chad in Africa.

farming in 1959 in a bid to protect lakes and indigenous fish because it was crowding out other species’’ Between then and now, however, tilapia has grown in popularity in the world market. It is valued second only to salmon in the U.S., where it is one of the most popular fish on dinner tables. While India

“Tilapia is not new to India. It was introduced in 1952, but authorities banned tilapia

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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kept away, Taiwan, China, and Indonesia became the largest producers of the fish, accounting for much of the 5 million tonnes produced annually.

The growth was largely due to the development of a genetically improved strain of tilapia, called GIFT tilapia.

Developed in 1988 through selective breeding—by international fisheries research organisation World Fish and its partners from the Philippines and Norway—the genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) was less nutrient hungry, and easy to farm.

The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), the Chennai-based research and development wing of MPEDA, has succeeded in raising its own GIFT tilapia, and provides farmers with the seeds.

The regular tilapia is ferociously carnivorous, it is a fish that causes a lot of trouble but GIFT tilapia, however is different. It can be fed small fish as well as plankton and soy.

Despite growing competition, industry experts see enormous potential for freshwater farming in India. If one considers only 10% of this suitable for aquaculture and if 1% area of this reservoir is allowed for fish-cage culture, India is geographically poised to be the world leader in the fisheries sector.

Being the biggest peninsula in the world, with its vast coastline of 7,517 km and EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) of 200 nautical miles, network of lakes, rivers, and numerous other inland water bodies, it can easily surpass any

India could yield 45 lakh tonnes of fish per year.

A vast population, especially the young generation, in rural India can be deployed in the fishing industries. This sector has tremendous employment opportunity.

Over the years, exports of Indian seafood have been on the increase with many Indian brands in the preferred list of Europe, America, and other highly developed nations.

The Indian seafood exports reached $5 billion in 2014.

The poverty-stricken and protein-deficient population in our country can find an income source and maintain healthy life as well from fish farming. The nutrition value of fish and other marine products has been measured and proven to be one of the highest, as compared to any other commonly available food products.

The present market demand globally and in India is for processed seafood. Once the source has been taken care of, processing and value addition can be carried out in MSME units.

Tilapia farming has now become the most profitable business in most countries.

Tilapia has become the second most popular seafood after crab, due to which its farming is flourishing. It has entered the list of bestselling species like shrimp and salmon. The largest producer of tilapia is China. Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Taiwan also supply maximum tilapia in the global market. Tilapia is being

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

farmed in about 85 countries, and about 98% of tilapia produced in these countries is grown outside their original habitats.

The most common breed of tilapia farmed around the world is the Nile Tilapia/Nile Perch, which accounts for roughly 75% of farmed tilapia. Tilapia is tolerant of a variety of aquaculture environments; it can be farmed in brackish or salt water and in pond or cage systems.

Tilapia is seasonal. It can survive and breed only in warmer water. The ideal water temperature for a tilapia farm is 82-86 degree. Fish will start dying below 55 degree, and you will see a drop in the growth rate. Hence, India is suitable for tilapia farming.

Tilapia starts breeding three months before being big enough to eat. It has an extremely high breeding rate. An adult tilapia female fish can produce up to 100 fries per week. Many breeders manage the breeding by making use of hormones to breed male tilapia. Most farmers choose to keep only male tilapia in the growout stage. Male tilapia has proved more profitable as they grow bigger and are more time and energy-efficient. Female

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Tilapia eats plants, loves protein-rich duckweed (equal in protein to commercial fish feed) and filters algae from water using tiny combs in its gills. Combining duckweed and commercial fish feed is good, but tilapia grows ok on duckweed alone.

tilapia tends to waste energy and time due to breeding.

Tilapia is the second most farmed fish in the world and, but the commercial farming of tilapia is limited in India.

Even though this fish was introduced in India long back (in 1952) and there was a ban on tilapia in 1959 by the fisheries research committee of India, recently tilapia farming was approved with certain conditions in some States. Genetically improved tilapia (GIFT) farming was approved with some guidelines.

The Nile Tilapia was introduced to India during late 1970s. In 2005, river Yamuna harbored only negligible quantity of Nile Tilapia, but in two years’ time, its proportion increased to about 3.5% of total fish species in the river. Presently in Ganga river system, proportion of tilapia is about 7% of the total fish species. For tilapia farming in India, the optimum temperature for best growth is 15 degree Celsius to 35 degree Celsius. However, tilapia can survive in 10 degree Celsius to 40 degree Celsius.

The biggest challenge in tilapia farming is different aged and sized tilapia fish in the same pond due to their unconditioned propagation. As male tilapia grows faster compared to female tilapia, one should consider raising male tilapia by separating females which is known as “monosex tilapia fish farming”.

As the demand for fish is increasing, diversification of species in aquaculture by including more species for increasing production levels has become necessary.

Introduction of tilapia in our culture systems is advantageous because it represents lower level in food chain and, thus, its culture will be economical and eco-friendly. Mono sex culture of tilapia is advantageous because of faster growth and larger and more uniform size of males.

Only four fish farmer groups, Aresen Bio Tech, AP, Vijayawada; Ananda Aqua Exports, Bhimavaram, AP; Indepesca, Mumbai; CP Aqua (India), Chennai; and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), the R&D arm of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), are already permitted by the Government of India for the seed production and farming of tilapia (mono sex and mono culture of Nile/GIFT/ golden tilapia) in accordance with the guidelines for the hatchery operation and farming of tilapia, developed by the SubCommittee under the National Committee on Introduction of Exotic Aquatic Species into Indian waters.

Mono sex tilapia fish farming business

is increasing rapidly day by day because it’s very profitable. If you are planning to go for tilapia fish farming on large scale, there are subsidies available for commercial farming.

Nile tilapia is a tropical species that prefers to live in shallow water. It is an omnivorous grazer that feeds on phytoplankton, periphyton, aquatic plants, small invertebrates, benthic fauna, detritus, and bacterial films associated with detritus. Sexual maturity in ponds is reached at an age of 5-6 months. Spawning begins when the water temperature reaches 24°C. The female incubates the eggs in her mouth and broods the fry after hatching until the yolk sac is absorbed.

Fecundity is proportional to the body weight of the female. A 100-g female will produce about 100 eggs per spawn while one weighing 600-1000 g can produce 1,000 to 1,500 eggs. Nile tilapia can live longer than 10 years and reach a weight exceeding 5 kg.

The main advantage of ponds is that fish can be grown very cheaply through fertilisation. Many distinct types of ponds are used for tilapia culture. The most widespread but most unproductive are low input ponds with uncontrolled breeding and irregular harvesting; yields are typically 500-2000 kg/ha/yr of uneven sized fish. If mono sex fish are stocked and regular manuring and supplementary feeding is practiced yields can be up to 8,000 kg/ha/yr of even sized fish.

Poly-culture of tilapia with other native fishes in freshwater ponds is also widely integrated with agriculture and animal farming.

As the male tilapia is well-adopted to supplementary feeding and due to its rapid growth, there is a huge profit in commercial tilapia farming.

This fish has a very high demand in local as well as international markets.

Providing nutritious food in commercial tilapia production is very important for quick growth and higher body weight of the fish.

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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HI-TECH

Smart Manufacturing, Internet of Things -Vital Pillars of Business Agro & Food Processing April 2017

HI-TECH

M

achines featuring hygienic design in the industry are constantly being optimized to make them as easy to clean as possible.

But the increasing variety and consequent frequent change in products often mean there are downtimes for cleaning purposes.

CIP processes (Cleaning in Place) i.e. cleaning without having to dismantle

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Glenes Bothelo

the machine are being continuously developed to prevent unnecessarily elaborate cleaning processes while still ensuring utmost safety is provided.

CIP sensors indicate when cleaning is required; this mainly conserves water, cleaning agents, and energy. In turn, this protects the environment, lowers costs, reduces downtimes, and increases

the level of efficiency without any compromise on safety. Traceability is also possible with the data being saved in the control systems and the operating data collection can be used to track the complete process.

Today modular machines quickly help to integrate the required additional

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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Internet of Things (IoT) also known as Industry 4.0 has almost made its mark in nearly all the industries today. The digitalization of production, the networking of components, machines and systems via the internet is steaming ahead. The focus of IoT is to optimize production processes and utmost efficiency particularly in matters of energy usage and raw materials. The main factors are software, sensors, data, networking, and intelligent components with systems that provide high-performance, compact computers to organize production independently. equipment.

Automatic technique management with continuous flow of information and connection to the control system provides for highly automated production processes, regardless of the product/industry.

It is anticipated that IoT provide advanced connectivity of devices, services and systems which goes beyond machineto-machine (M2M) communications and covers a range of protocols, domains, and applications. It is estimated that in the future, companies will be able to increase their revenue through Internet of things by creating new business models and improve productivity and innovation, and transform workforce. The growth potential of implementing IoT could generate $12 trillion of global GDP by 2030.

Internet-connected automation has entered a plethora of new application areas, IoT is also expected to generate substantial amount of data from diverse locations, for quick aggregation of the data, and an increase in the need to index, store, and process such data more effectively.

Internet of Things can greatly help monitor the goods transportation process.

The concerned party can keep a track as to where the product consignment has reached. IoT can assist in integration of communications, control, and information processing across various transportation systems. Application of the IoT extends to all aspects of transportation systems (i.e. the vehicle, the infrastructure, and the driver or user).

Agro and Food Processing magazine

got around the corner to know how ‘smart manufacturing’ has helped several companies in the industry to gain faster output and efficient results. Machines are equipped with sensors, radio modules, and measuring instruments.

This data helps to monitor and control the production processes. Intelligent sensors wirelessly transmit measurement data about a machine's status via an app.

This makes maintenance work easy to schedule, but can also be initiated from anywhere. The aim is to meet individual customer requirements at a low cost. The information obtained by these people clearly proves that if a certain, different, innovative method is adopted and followed to enhance production results then the company will achieve best results within short span of time.

Smart Manufacturing The perspective of smart manufacturing varies from person to person. Not necessary that a specific meaning holds true for all. Here is what Saurabh Lodha – Technical Director of MB Sugars & Pharmaceuticals Ltd said about smart manufacturing. It is a process of visualising, optimising and achieving a goal using elevated level technological adaptability in the automation process of manufacturing a product with increase in productivity. In simple words, it is nothing but blending more of technology and using the right amount of intellectuality of the operator and making the process more clean, efficient, and sustainable. It is about embracing technological advancement to one’s conventional process and constantly evolve the manufacturing process.

Sunil Bhat who is Director, Business Development & Corporate Relations of A.K. Engineering Industries stated that manufacturing processes are done with innovative planning. It starts from raw materials, plant & machineries, and its capacity utilization in manufacture process. Manufacturing process can be divided in three ways depending on space, production capacity utilization and complete process. (a) Manual Process at all stages (b) Semi Automation process (c) Complete Automation Process.

As per Director of Coldrush Logistics, Kartik Shah, technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.

Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, or it can be embedded in machines which can be operated without detailed knowledge of their workings. Smart manufacturing is a broad category of manufacturing with the goal of optimizing maximum output with minimum resources, concept generation, production, and product transaction.

Head-Manufacturing at Cosmo Films, Awadesh Pathak defined smart manufacturing is the use of real-time data and technology to run your plants better. It is manufacturing in which all information is available when and where it is needed and in the form, it is most useful to drive optimal actions and responses. It involves the following practices: (i) generating and orchestrating the use of sensor-based, data-driven manufacturing intelligence, (ii) applying integrated performance metrics constructed for real-time action, (iii) reusing, scaling and repurposing integrated practice using a common infrastructure.

Proprietor of Vishnupriya Foods, Ayush Garg said that, “for me, smart manufacturing is not just relying on the machinery or computerised data handling but at the same time keeping an eye on the production manually for a proper product and better customer satisfaction as hands-on effect is extremely important for an FMCG organisation.” Smart manufacturing for an organisation or a

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company is extremely important as it saves time and the product turns out to be accurate. But at the same time while using the smart manufacturing technology like machinery, industrial connectivity devices and services one should not lose focus from the goal. While manufacturing products in the company, one should keep an eye on the production and even work on the product to give the best of it.

data and technology when, where and in the forms, that are needed by people and machines. But, if you are looking for more comprehensive definitions, there are two from leading organizations.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Manufacturing systems that are ‘fullyintegrated, collaborative manufacturing systems that respond in real time to meet

Benefits of smart manufacturing surely will have numerable advantages hence that’s why it is called smart manufacturing. When a person uses ideas or methods that enable faster production results, it is due to the several benefits received after implementing it. Lodha claimed that there are both long term and short term benefits. “Short term benefits include that of like saving of time and energy. While long term benefits are increase in productivity, reduction in cost of manufacturing process, a more stable, sustainable, and robust process to name a few.” Bhat is of the view that intelligent technology is being used in innovative way. The benefits are that cost of processing is saved by reduced shifting. handling time, quality standards etc.

If you haven’t noticed, everything today is ‘smart.’ We have our smartphones, smart TVs, and smart watches. It seems to make sense that we also have ‘smart manufacturing.’ Shah explained that smart manufacturing, or SM like everything else that’s smart, utilizes

A. People are the players Intelligent workplace is designed only for the people to use latest ideas and increase innovation as well, thereby increasing individualisation. Which means every person works on his own, taking forward their own innovation.

B. Decentralisation or distributed intelligence Smart manufacturing also triggers decentralisation of authority or can say distribution of intelligence equally as different softwares perform their own work. Decentralisation results in more effective results and there is very less chance of mistakes.

C. Flexibility Smart manufacturing softwares are very advance. We can change the configuration and system as and when it is required or if the work demand changes software tools, functioning tools, and operational system can be changed. Hence smart manufacturing has this feature of flexibility.

D. Accuracy It is one of the most important feature or attribute of smart manufacturing that it reduces any complexity or confusion as the work is already delegated to different softwares and the results are very accurate.

Factors attributed What are the factors that will help to better understand the concept of smart manufacturing? To this Lodha answered, “I believe in 3 A’s i.e. Analyse, Assess and Apply. Firstly, it is always about analysing your process and finding possible areas which can be targeted upon. Secondly, it about assessing the options available and finding the right one suitable for the job. And thirdly, it is about applying and integrating the option chosen and making it work. It is not that the solution available in the industry will work for you. You will have to compare, choose, and correct it for your product/process.”

Shah said that, it is the use of real-time

changing demands and conditions in the factory, in the supply network, and in customer needs.’ Whereas Pathak quotes that dynamic plant configuration and readiness, dynamic product component/ material configuration and dynamic inventory minimization & management in response to the above question.

Smart manufacturing helps to know about the potential of the company, how it can work in different work environments with different technologies and machines.

Garg states that “smart manufacturing is the life blood cell for an organisation or company.”

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connectivity and real-time access to data to improve a process. “If you’re looking for a more in-depth definition, the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) defines smart manufacturing as the ability to solve existing and future problems via an open infrastructure that allows solutions to be implemented at the speed of business while creating advantaged value.”

There are numerous benefits of smart manufacturing for whatsoever industry the company caters to.

From a supplier’s point of view, if they have information on what the

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31 but look at the monetary charts, then does it add or reduce in the overall cost. Lodha feels that initially there is addition to the capital investment when adopting smart manufacturing. But if you look at the bigger picture there is cost reduction.

Bhat added that, “in monetary terms, as capital cost is too high it gives additions to cost which is not competitive for SME’s.

If planned for long terms then only innovative intelligent technical process is feasible.” There are several factors that affect the cost price. Every person works to earn profits and tries to keep additional expenses at bay.

manufacturer needs and when, then they can work better with their products.

Suppliers usually ship to more than one company, so if they have this information from multiple businesses, they can be more responsive to all their partners. They both win if they can get the B2B relationship established and the information shared in an appropriate way.

Pathak said that manufacturers can provide customers better pinpoint track and traceability when there are issues.

In general, customers become a strong voice in establishing features and manufacturing processes so that the entire value chain needs to be responsive. When responsive, it becomes a competitive advantage for the manufacturer. “With the ability to display more accurate information to consumers, customers will make better decisions using their purchasing power. Using the concept of demand dynamics, a more informed value chain can provide the products that the customer / consumers are demanding.

Knowing that their needs can be addressed quickly, customers are able to purchase with more confidence. Furthermore, this can benefit manufacturers as this type of customer-satisfaction driven focus can help build better brand loyalty.” For both the supplier and the manufacturer, the benefits result in more efficient and effective communications. The stage is set for greater product transparency and track and traceability. One can now see ways to use models to predict needs and mitigate product variations between the supplier and the manufacturer.

Smart manufacturing is extremely important for an upcoming or developing

organisation or company. Garg notes the following advantageous use of SM method: (a) Improved Productivity or production: Smart manufacturing machines supply what’s needed, reducing waste. This means whatever is required can be used accurately and the productivity can be improved with the help of it. (b) Minimise wastage of excess raw material: It minimises the wastage as the machine uses the raw material as and when required. (c) Innovation: this is a result of smart manufacturing as we can produce new products by using the smart machinery in several ways. (d) Time saving: smart machinery is a timesaving technique and for a developing organisation is very important. Smart machinery or manufacturing saves our time. (e) Reduction in energy consumption and optimum utilisation of energy: Energy consumption gets reduced as less physical energy is used and only optimum utilisation of electricity is done which further again reduces wastage of electricity.

Smart manufacturing – cost addition or reduction?

No doubt, the benefits of SM is several Smart manufacturing is a broad, complex subject. It is the integration of all facets of manufacturing with the use of information and communications technologies (ICT).

It seeks to integrate all aspects of manufacturing, regardless of level of automation, and all the individual units of an organization to achieve superior control and productivity.

Shah elaborated that it can give everyone in the organization the actionable information as and when they need it.

Coldrush Logistics Pvt Ltd founded in October 2012.

India’s leading service provider company and pioneer in Cold Chain Logistics & Cold storage warehousing. They have a fleet of 122 vehicles PAN INDIA from vehicle type 6ft to 30ft. State-of-the-Art Technology world class cold storage in Indore M.P with the capacity of 1500 pallets & in Ahmedabad with the capacity of 4500 pallets. Complete end-to-end cold chain distribution solution provider to frozen food and chilled food segments, both of which require high degree of technical expertise. The Company’s top line has grown at an impressive CAGR of 58 per cent over the last years, maintaining a healthy EBITDA margin of 23 per cent.

So that each person can contribute to the optimal operation of the enterprise through informed, data-driven decision making. “With smart manufacturing, energy can be saved at each level of automation. Starting at the device level, replacing an inefficient device such as a motor with a more efficient one will save energy. Ultimately the entire manufacturing facility operates more efficiently, and the entire manufacturing supply chain produces only the items requested by customers.”

Pathak said in monetary terms there is a cost reduction due to optimized and cost efficient process. “Smart manufacturing process can deliver financial benefits that are tangible and auditable. More importantly, smart manufacturing transitions the production function from

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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32 one that is capacity-centric to one that is capability-centric and able to serve global markets and discerning customers.” For Garg, smart manufacturing is a neutral method that has both cost addition and reduction. “Yes, smart manufacturing results in cost reduction because with it, there is less requirement of manpower or labour for the production and manufacturing processes. A machine or automated work is done easily and faster.

Cost addition would be there but if it is one-time investment and providing longterm benefits. For smart manufacturing machines, some maintenance costs must Established in 1981, today Cosmo Films Limited is one of the global leaders and manufacturers of Bi-axially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films used for packaging, labels, and lamination applications. The company is the largest exporter of BOPP films from India and is also the largest producer of thermal lamination films in the world with plant cum distribution centres in India, Japan, Korea & the U.S along with global channel partners in more than fifty countries. be incurred but it's worth it!

transparency and quality of the process.

Lodha proudly said that, “Our factory is audited throughout the year by wellknown pharmaceutical as well as food companies. We are always on a lookout for innovative technologies that we can adapt to our manufacturing process. I am proud to boast that we have some of the most unique and technological advanced process and equipment in our field. We have always believed in automation and there is always something new and better coming up. So, we must be smart and make our process smart enough by taking all the parameters into considerations before taking that big step.”

Anticipated Plans Every company does chalk out plans for marketing and growth, hence to survive in a competitive industry today, they should play smart. When innovative ideas are executed, it brings forth best results which in turn leads to higher growth achievement. MB Sugars & Pharmaceuticals Ltd always believed in

A.K Engineering Industries utilizes hightech manufacturing process with the use of semi-automatic, automatic, and even manual process as per need of the product. Bhat emphasised that smartness is not in the technology or process, it is the mindset which every person should develop within themselves. Whether it is an innovation, technologies, systems

for any of the manufacturing or service industries or aviation or defence or Civil (civic Services) etc. Director of Coldrush Logistics who are service providers for refrigerated logistics & cold storage warehousing, Shah said the company uses latest technology automation from the market. Like latest technology vehicle navigation system, GPS trackers, latest vehicle maintenance technology, latest technology stacker lifts used in cold storages, dock shelters, dock levellers, palletised system.

Pathak is glad that Cosmo films is in the transition period as they have several methods that provide efficient results.

Following is the list of IT-enabled manufacturing practices: • • •

•

• •

•

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Automation in BOPP manufacturing process, Non-contact type thickness measurement & control in close loop Complete synchronization of manufacturing from raw material feeding to final mill roll production Inventory management through barcoding & RFID which helps to reduce the loading & unloading time of materials and provide with its complete traceability Abundant usage of PLC, sensory measurement, HMI, SCADA, Profibus etc for automation of mfg process Enhanced machine productivity with in-house machine upgradations Automation & sharing of all key performance indicating reports such as conversion ratios (input v/s output), handovers, downtime, and overall customer delivery time system with the concerned teams Implementation of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system which provides customers with

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MB Sugars & Pharmaceuticals Ltd started in 1997 is known for its world class expertise in manufacturing ‘Sucrose’ that is an excipient to pharmaceutical industries. Registered under Drug Licence, MB also holds US-DMF, US FDA, KOSHER, and HALAL Certifications. They have developed the perfect control over Sucrose production & marketing, that has been globally appreciated & accepted by the pharmaceutical industry. MB’s product range includes Sucrose IP, BP, EP, USP & JP, Sucrose AR/LR, Compressible sugar, Confectioners’ sugar, Low Endotoxin sugar, Sugar Globules, Sugar Spheres, MCC Spheres, Mannitol Spheres, Tartaric Acid Spheres etc. MB products are exported to 25 countries all over the world.

•

complete visibility of stage-wise progress of order from Order Receipt to Cash Availability of all decision enabling business reports with the help of Business Intelligence Tool which help in real time decision making

•

•

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Effective Online supplier performance evaluation through SAP for better and consistent product quality and services On-going process of implementing the planning automation tool including the raw materials requirements

A.K Engineering Industries is a SME and in the process of manufacturing castors, wheels & trolleys etc. Now in addition to it by diversifying in to the polymers processing has created its sister arm to manufacture polymer wheels and all types of polymer packaging semi-automatic and automatic machines.

•

On-going process of implementing the Manufacturing Execution System(MES) which will provide all the real-time controls to the run the lines with maximum throughput

Everything is smart nowadays, there are smart phones, smart watches etc and hence people should make use of smart technology. Garg concludes that

his company is at the initial phase of development, “for us it is very important to be equipped with latest technology and services. We are trying our level best to use the resources or smart machinery we have and the results are being greatly encouraged by our customers.

Furthermore, in future we will expand our business and shall invest more in smart Vishnupriya Foods is a Health Foods and Snacks company committed to offer varieties of health drinks and roasted namkeens that are of the traditional origin but are preferred by cultures of the society for their delicious taste. Product portfolio includes health drinks like chana and barley sattu, roasted chana, roasted snacks, roasted dryfruits and traditional sweets and a lot more to be introduced. Overall, Vishnupriya Foods have come a long way today to Delhi and NCR successfully transforming itself from being a family run business to a professionally managed enterprise.

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BIG PRODUCTION IN A SMALL FOOT PRINT

A FREIGHT FARMERS JOURNEY: AGORA GREENS high-volume, consistent harvests.

With innovative climate technology and growing equipment, the perfect environment is achievable 365 days a year, regardless of geographic location.

I

an Brown and David Pendergast founded Agora Greens in the beginning of 2016 and quickly began building a successful business growing fresh produce year-round in Walpole, Massachusetts. Using the Leafy Green Machine, the two grow a variety of lettuces, herbs and specialty greens for local restaurants, country clubs and farmers markets.

Built entirely inside a 40’ x 8’ x 9.5’ shipping container, freight farms are outfitted with all the tools needed for

Let’s start with the basics: Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil.

Instead, a nutrient rich water solution is used to feed the plants, and there are many ways that this nutrient solution can be supplied to the plant roots. Here’s the breakdown of the most common hydroponic systems, and a look into some of the techniques used at Freight Farms: Ebb and flow system: Plants grow in a bed that periodically floods and drains with the nutrient

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rich water solution. The seedling station in the Freight Farms’ LGM uses this system.

A shallow trough, holding up to 12 trays of seedlings, is pumped full of water and then allowed to drain several times each day. This timing provides just the right amount of water for the seedlings to grow.

Drip System: Emitters drip the nutrient

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35 back to the plants. This cycle of irrigation, collection, and irrigation again continues until the plants have consumed the water.

No weeds. Do you know how much time farmers spend combating weeds?

No? It’s a lot. Weeding is one of the most back breaking and time consuming tasks of anyone growing plants in soil. In hydroponics, there’s no seeds from other plants in the growing medium so there’s no weeds growing and fighting against your crop.

No herbicides. Since there’s no soil and no weeds, farmers have no reason to use toxic chemicals like herbicides to fight unwanted vegetation. The absence of these chemicals helps you grow cleaner food.

rich water solution onto a growing medium where the plant roots are located.

In the Freight Farms’ LGM, emitters drip water down the vertical grow tower using only 10 gallons of water daily to grow over 4,000 plants. A wicking material helps draw the water to the roots growing throughout the tower. The water that isn’t consumed by the plant flows out the bottom of the tower and is then recirculated right back to the emitters.

Water efficiency at its finest!

Deep water culture: Plants are supported on a floating material while their roots hang below in the nutrient solution.

natural resource, operational, and quality benefits to hydroponics that make it the right choice for different types of farmers.

Below are just a few that have resonated with the mission and vision of our many freight farmers.

At the top of the list is water efficiency.

Hydroponic systems use significantly less water than soil based farming and allow you to recycle the water you give to your plants. Instead of having it drain down through the soil and away from the roots of a plant, it’s collected and pumped right

Fewer pests. Soil based farming is vulnerable to attack from a vast number of unwanted pests that can destroy a season of hard work over night - birds, squirrels, gophers, deer, groundhogs, the list goes on. Hydroponic systems can be set up in places where these pests don’t exist or where you’ve created effective barriers, like four walls and a roof.

Quick turnover. With hydroponics, there are no seasonal limits or restoration periods required for the farm. Once a plant is harvested, the next can be planted in its place allowing for maximum yield be square foot.

Precise control over the nutrients your plants need to thrive. By using plantspecific nutrient formulas and daily monitoring, the farmer has control over what their plants are getting and how much nutrients are getting.

Nutrient Film Technique: The nutrient solution is pumped through a channel in which the plant roots lie.

Aeroponics: Plant roots hang suspended in the air and are periodically misted with the nutrient solution.

Each of the above systems defines the way in which the roots of a plant are supplied with life supporting water and nutrients.

Other important variables like light, air flow, CO2, and whether the growing is taking place inside versus outside is all up to the grower to decide and figure out.

So why use hydroponics? There are many

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For people that are interested in using hydroponics to increase food access in their communities and start a small business farm, there are several different ways to get started.

By providing plants with exactly what they need to grow and develop to their full size, there is little risk of poor crop quality or quantity.

Ergonomic design. Hydroponic systems can be set up and placed at more accessible heights. Because you’re not limited to growing on the ground, the labor of planting, transplanting, and/or harvesting can be done more comfortably and have less impact on a farmer’s body.

Freedom to grow just about anywhere.

Commercial hydroponics doesn’t have the limitations of being held to rural agricultural land. Being able to grow closer to the people eating your crops increases accessibility and eliminates the need for complex distribution networks that take away profits from the farmer.

Ability to grow year-round. Growing hydroponically allows you to grow yearround, and supply local produce 365 days a year regardless of the season. Being able to grow year-round helps farmers eliminate business risks of a poor crop season and helps increase local food access in the community.

We hope this gives you a better understanding of this method of growing food and its benefits. Hydroponics isn’t a new farming technique there’s evidence that hydroponic growing methods were used as early as 600 B.C. in Mesopotamia at the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon! Over the last 300 years, scientists and farmers have experimented with several different ways of growing plants without soil. Today, hydroponics allows farmers and gardeners to grow large amounts of food, with fewer natural resources, and very little labor compared to soil-based farming.

The team at Freight Farms has been helping farmers get growing without soil or previous growing experience, and just an interest in becoming.

Operating requirements: To keep operations running smoothly and to ensure successful harvest, a freight farmer will need the following items: seeds, nutrient solutions, and supplies.

These items and more can be purchased directly from farmhand shop.

Water The LGM uses an average of 10 gallons of water per day, and both municipal and well water will work in the system.

The dehumidification system can reduce water consumption up to five gallons each day by pulling the excess moisture out of the air and filtering it back into the tanks.

The LGM is capable of automatic tank level management.

The water source should be within 50’ of the farm. Water can be supplied to the farm through either a hard or a soft plumbed line. Farms located in climates that get colder than 32°F need to insulate or heat the water feed to prevent freezing.

Other Additional monthly expenses that should be considered are insurance, farm site rent, product packaging, marketing materials, and internet connectivity.

Site The LGM dimensions are 40’ x 8’ x 9.5’.

Allow for 1 foot of space around the perimeter and a minimum of 5 feet

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at the front of the container to access the man door, electrical panel, condenser and propane cage.

Farms can be placed in alleyways, parking lots, and other under-utilized spaces - we suggest placing the farm on either trap rock, railroad ties, sonotubes, or a 45’ x 10’ concrete pad.

Electrical The LGM requires a 60 amp, 120/240 volt single phase connection (120/208 volt three phase is also acceptable). If you choose to hardwire we recommend hiring a licensed electrician for installation at the time of delivery.

What Can be Grown in LMG The LGM is built and optimized for the growth of a wide variety of lettuces, herbs, and hearty greens. Smaller, compact crops with a high turnover rate, like leafy greens, are what we recommend farmers grow.

What does the company do?

Freight Farms manufactures high-volume crop production units made from upcycled freight containers. Using advanced growing technology and automation, it’s easy for anyone looking to grow a local food economy to get started – no matter their background or geography.

What is a Leafy Green Machine?

Also known as the LGM, the Leafy Green Machine is a pre-assembled hydroponic farm inside an up-cycled freight container.

It is capable of producing yields at commercial-scale in any climate and any season.

As for the water, no hard-plumbing is necessary — just access to potable water (via garden hose, water jugs, etc.) is all

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annually. Electricity consumption can vary based on the climate that the LGM is operating in.

Does the Leafy Green Machine operate using solar power?

It's possible, yes!

While we do not offer a solar option, some freight farmers are powering their LGM via solar energy.

you need.

Do the plants get sunlight?

No (well, not in the traditional sense).

The LGM provides high-efficiency LED lighting with deep red and blue hues to mimic sunlight.

How much energy does the Leafy Green Machine use?

The LGM consumes on average 100 kWh of energy per day, or around 36,000 kWH

The lights automatically cycle on and off to simulate periods of day and night for the plants. Both the spectrum of light and day/night periods are optimized for

healthy and vigorous plant growth.

Plant Varieties And Yields What can be grown in the Leafy Green Machine?

A variety of leafy greens can be grown inside the LGM unit: Herbs (mint, basil, oregano); Lettuces (bibb, romaine, arugula); Brassica (cabbage, mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, kale). And more!

On a weekly basis you can expect to harvest over 500 full size heads of lettuce, or over 1,000 baby heads of lettuce.

From where to get supplies ?

With the farmhand SHOP app, one can purchase all growing essentials — fertilizer, nutrients, seeds — and have them delivered directly to the door.

How much labor is required to operate a Freight Farm? Can one run it by himself or does it need a team ?

Once LGM is setup and running, it approximately takes about 15-20 hours per week to operate (but that varies depending on seed sites, transplanting and harvesting). While the LGM can be managed by one person, it’s just a little easier with more hands to help.

Source: www.freightfarms.com

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COLD CHAIN

A New Benchmark for

The Cold Chain Sector Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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here is a growing need for adoption of energy efficient technologies to offset power shortages and raising awareness levels across the food chain on the value of leveraging technology, to scale up the Cold Chain Infrastructure in the country. Recognizing that a strong cold chain infrastructure is vital to make

39

the step change required to reduce the amount of food being wasted in India.

Hence to instill best practices and promote the usage of green energy efficient technologies in the cold chain sector, Emerson has developed a state-of-the-art 25,000-square-meter Cold Chain Centre of Excellence at Chakan, Pune which has

rapidly risen to be recognized as the hub of cold chain solutions in India.A visit to this excellent Centre and an interaction with Emerson Climate Technologies, India – MD Sridar Narayanswami touched upon several topics of the Indian cold chain industry, and how Emerson with its wide range of commercial and refrigeration

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40 Managing Director of Emerson Climate Technologies, India Sridar Narayanswami said that “There are quite a few verticals in the HVAC&R business at which we continue to look closely, to expand our business. After setting up our footprint in the cold chain business, we are looking at long distance railways and metro rail as areas of growth.

We already have a solid presence in rail coach air conditioning business.

As metro rail expands in India, we expect this to be an area of growth for us.Overall in the last 3 years Emerson India has invested $400 million dollars in our operations and plants here.

It plans to invest an additional $200 million over the next few years.” solutions is contributing to the industry.

Emerson is focused to provide two key business platforms. One is called is automation solutions, and the other in option automation solution. Right from providing control systems to feel devices such as flow metres, transmitters, valves, and so the monitor in control process the plant. Hence to control and monitor the plant, the company provides Emerson devices that are spread over all the plant,to automate, control & monitor the plant.

There are significant brands under the umbrella of Emerson automation solutions and is associated with the leading private and public sector companies in this industry. Emerson commercial and residential solutions in India is essentially the climatic technology business. They provide air conditioning and refrigeration solutions. As a company at a macro

COLD CHAIN

level, it is driven to make efficient use of technology and equipment, that would help protect the environment and improve the human comfort.

Flagship brand is a part of the Emerson climatic technologies business but the most important brand known is Copeland.

This brandmainly focuses on providing compressors and condensing units. It also focuses on other events as flow controls, electronics, and all the parts of the refrigeration process. There are some very interesting applications, for example- if you travel by Indian Railways, chances are that Emerson compressors power the AC coach. It is a very situation as the train keeps moving all the time and all over the place.

With market presence in India for about 40 years, the company had started their journey with a very respected Indian group called Kirloskar and then in around 1996, had a formal joint venture with them, called Kirloskar Copeland. A very wellknown brand and had a very successful venture that continued for about 10 years and then Emerson acquired the stake from Kirloskars and became a fully owned identity.

Whatever is produced in that plant is designed and developed in their engineering centre at Karnal. This is totally in line with the philosophy of what Indian government is promoting in‘Make in India’. Hence Emerson designs in India, and then makes and produces it in India, not just for the Indian market but also for the export market aswell.

A very significant aspect is very important in Indian perspective that is development of cold chain. The reason for its

Since then Emerson has been a fully owned identity in India, having world class manufacturing plant where manufactures reciprocate compressors in a place called Satara, which is inside a village called Atit in Satara district. Overa million compressors are produced in that plant annually. Those compressor sare used not only in every state in India, but also exported to markets in Middle East, Korea, China, South East Asia, Latin America as well as to Europe. importance is that it has associated with food, and for a country like India, food and usage of food is so very important.

Noticeably 1.3 billion tonnes of food that gets wasted annually, and the cost of that wastage is 1 trillion dollars. So, globally there are about 750 million people who are underfed.Just imagine that one side there is food that is getting wasted, and on the other side 750 million people, close to a tenth of the global population who are underfed.

Along the same lines, for a country like Indiathat is a developing country with a lot of success but still has a lot of ground to cover. Cold chain and having a strong cold chain which can therefore help transmit food from the farm to the people who consume it, without losing its freshness. It’s very critical because of all that reaches to the people who consume it, without any food wastage.

This will go a long way in reducing the poverty. So, there is a huge opportunity for a very strong cold chain that can really reduce the wastage of food in the country. Therefore, cold chain or cold storages have very significant role to play and Emerson being the global technology player with significant technology has decided to make beneficial contribution to this country.

What are the challenges today in cold storages? There are cold storages in our countrythat are certainly inadequate for a country like India. One of the studies that NCCD published said that India needs over 75,000 of what it has which is probably less than a thousand today.

So, there is a huge gap between what is required and what is available.The cost of running these kind of technologies and awareness about cold chain is high in India. For example, take a developed country, their operating cost is about 30 dollars per cubic metre. In India, the cost is 60 dollars a cubic metre. 13 per cent of the operating cost in cold chain

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is electricity and it takes a lot of power.

Hence there are some of the challenges that need to be looked after.

This cold chain centre was set upin Pune, in November of 2013. The focus of this centre has been to provide training and educational services so that the people who are part of this cold chain, whether they are consultants, contractors, OEMs.To understand what are the best technologies that are available, how to keep the life cycle cost low, how to deploy technologies which would be leading to less impact on the environment, how to use certain refrigerators that has caused less global warming to the environment, as compared to the others. Once you have the equipment, how to deploy the equipment in a way and know how to service and use it in a way, that’s required.

Emerson Cold Chain Centre has conducted over 75,000 training sessions, food training, and provided hands-on training. The team provides from very basic to some advance training free of cost. The feedback received every month has been very positive and there are private companies, and people who set up and run cold chain companies who have attended these training sessions.

Organizations like UNICEF trained their people at this Centre so that they know how to use the equipment.

All over the country across applications, whether it is in dairy or in meat processing, in pack houses, food processing, logistics, and latest ways of applications right from farm to folk and working with companies

to provide the kind of solutions required.

Emerson has the competence to provide their own equipment and services.

Products such as compressors are expensive. Sometimes, customers may say if they could repair it with local compressor or if imported compressor, can Emerson repair this? Yes, Emerson is capable to repair those compressors and provide good services in India itself.

The company has a portfolio of condensing units that are used in these cold chain applications, and are customized for India.

They have a complete portfolio right from small simple modular code room, to very large cold storages. Emerson believes their strength is that they can customize as per the customer needs at an optimised cost.Their ability to offer what is best aligned as per customer needs, customise it for the local, and then supply it to them quickly. An added advantage they possess, is the ability to provide execution services and support people to install and commission units in the field.

India is a large country and there is a need to be closer to where people can come and get trained, as well use these facilities.

That’s the reason Emerson opened its second coaching centre in Gurgaon, Haryana having similar coaching services and it has been very well received.

Training is provided, there are simulation health, and demo equipment, where in people can come, play, and get to know about the product. Also, they provide repair and project design services.

The only difference between the Centre in Chakan and Gurgaon unit is that the condensing services are manufactured in

41 Chakan. They believe in providing value to the food chain industry. Emerson wants to provide a breadth of solutions that cater to the new circle of customers, keeping their needs in mind, thereby optimizing & providing thebest in class technology here. Cold chain centre in Chakan makes use of the best technology, they can provide it not just at large units but also provide racks. There are centralized racks, or a single/multiple rack units, it can take care of all the refrigeration, deep freezers to store ice cream, some meat,or any other perishable food items. The company is also able to offer investor based, modulation based units, that efficiently and precisely control the temperature upto + or - 5. Emerson’s key strength is air conditioning, and they have one of the best solutions in India. The second key strength that Emerson has continuously worked on with various partners, and as a company it is always ready to deploy more environmental friendly refrigeration solutions that are better on the global performing platform.

It has been observed that markets like India, the customers are clearly wanting to be more environment friendly, responsible, and want to use the best refrigerants from the perspective of being lower on the global warming potential.

Emerson has constantly continued to develop newer products and the company has a very strong backbone of engineering and research in India. Today, the reputed company stands at an esteemed positon, wherein they can offer not just traditional refrigerants used in India, but also the next generation that is CO2 based or propane based refrigerants.448A, 449A - next generation of refrigerants has become increasingly environmentally responsible, with the use of right equipment.

Emerson is a brand which acquired two companies called locus tracks and pack sense last year. Energy-efficient solutions is another aspect that is essential to reduce global warming levels. Even in emerging countries like China there is about 24-25 per cent energy saving and this trend will soon catch up in India as well. The products, solutions, and offerings provided by Emerson will greatly help to develop the cold chain industry in India. Emerson has service centers and cold chain centers similar to Pune and Gurgaon in Jakarta, Australia, Thailand Dubai, China all spread across Asia. The focus is on to provide the most important components which are critical

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India it is still evolving.

Customers will want it eventually in the future as the awareness rate is going up. Exporters are using this technology – data logger to make sure the producers maintained quality of the products such as vaccines etc.

to the optimum performance of cold chain, reliability and being environmental friendly.

When asked how does Emerson monitor and track cold chain activities from a specific location, also how it makes the course corrections if required; Sridar answered that in developed countries like US, Australia there is a lot of tracking, monitoring emphasized. There is a centre in Manila that provides this service and is used successfully to keep energy and maintenance cost down. Since it can predict what could fail and fix it in advance, they know whether the alarm is genuine or a false. Globally there are several customers who are using it and in 19 x 15 cm

We were curious to know if Emerson has any expansion plans. In response to it, Sridar said that they will open many such centers across the country. Further stating that adoption of modular technology for room air-conditioning space is taking importance in large commercial building malls, movie theatres, shopping complexes, office spaces, variable speed technology, that has the potential for substantial energy saving. A slew of offerings has been lined up for this.

Phasing out of a relatively generation of refrigerants for the country to scale down by 2027-28 more environmentally refrigerants we are collaborating with large companies to bring them down to India. “Monitoring, controlling, track and remotely power and enable the full

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IN PACKAGING

TECHNOLOGY

GT-5S

Are these two-cold chain centres sufficient for entire country?

A lot of stakeholders in the industry, will have to contribute withthe government and PM Modi.In the recent ‘mann ki baat’ he emphasized on food wastage. We have some very important nodal bodies – NCCD, NHB who are promoting the cold chain in a sustainable manner. Emerson wants to make the contribution by making sure that we help develop the cold chain, make available environmental friendly tech, optimize the life cycle cost.Help the key stakeholders end customers, engineers, contractors, by educating them on how to use, maximize, utilize the technology, for maximum value to successfully invest and use the cold chain effectively.This is our contribution via training and educating services, project designing services, these trained people do share a feedback that their ability to install, maintain, commission, maintain, use and optimize has gone up. It’s a journey and as we go by, we will do more. power of IoT – we have the hardware and software and as the market gets ready, we will aim at these spaces”

Made to perform, built to last, GT-5S is the next generation high speed continuous motion bagger from Packit. GT-5S is the logical choice when high speed packaging is required!

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Agro & Food Processing April 2017

A BAD PRECEDENT ?

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Crop Loan Waiver, Farmers' Welfare and their Future

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JP Uttar Pradesh Election Manifesto promised crop loan waiver for the farmers and zero interest on crop loans for small and marginal farmers. In the first cabinet meeting this demand was partially adopted by the new government. The basic question remained unanswered, why farmers of India are not able to ensure livelihood from their own land. This must be addressed in we want to ensure social and political stability in the country.

Are loan waiver answer to problems of the farmers?

The first major loan waiver happened in the year 2008 when UPL one planning for national elections in 2009. In 2008, similar scheme was launched with Rs. 60,000 crore package, offered to nearly 3 crore farmers. Marginal farmers with cultivation land less than 1 hectare, and small farmers – with cultivation land between 1 and 2.5 hectares, were given a complete waiver on loans disbursed up to March 31, 2007, which were overdue as of December 2007, and unpaid as of February 29, 2008. Other farmers with cultivation land over 2.5 hectares, had 25% of their loan waived if they paid back the 75% of the loan (25% or Rs. 20,000

of the loan, which ever was higher) (AGRICULTURAL DEBT WAIVER AND DEBT RELIEF SCHEME (RBI), 2008). The scheme was introduced to alleviate the miseries farmers and address farmer suicides. Now, in 2017 again in crucial assembly election of Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Party at Center promised loan waiver and bot the political dividend in the form of majority seats in UP state. Soon after the election victory loan waiver was announced. It seems that political parties have identified a simple formula of inducement to win elections.

Like free laptops, free food, free water, free electricity, free education, free healthcare and now loan waiver and interest free loans will become the start part of all election manifestos. If you analyze carefully, these loan waivers are not addressing the causes of the farmers’ miseries and farmers’ problems.

Unfortunately,

election manifestos are not even addressing the factors responsible for miseries of the farmers.

Why loan waivers will break the confidence of private lenders towards agriculture and rural economy?

Bank credit in developing countries typically expands faster than national gross domestic product (GDP) as demand expands and financial deepening occurs.

India is also not exception. Since 1991 after economic liberalization, India’s overall GDP has grown faster than the agriculture growth over the past over two

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such loan waivers will become standard policy tool for the ruling parties and inefficiencies will further increase in agriculture sector. This will complicate the problem further. Food demand will continue to rise in India and with stagnant productivity, the demand for imported food will go up and Indian farmers will further suffer due to competition from crops from world market.

decades’. This drives and forces bank agriculture lending to grow much faster than underlying agriculture GDP, making targets for the bankers harder to meet.

In India, in last many years, lending to agriculture has settled at about 36% of agricultural GDP. It is difficult to say what is a good credit/GDP ratio for agriculture in the long run because the farm economics in India is in bad shape.

On one hand India needs further financial deepening and financial inclusion, especially in rural areas and on the other sectors such as utilities have higher ratios, though they tend to be more capital intensive.

Political parties and ruling government force banks to extend credit to farmers without extending education and quality inputs for farming. This is a real crisis for the banks and financial institutions.

tragedies, over-indebtedness pushed the farm loan waiver programme, which dealt a lasting blow to the loan repayment culture of farmers. As far back as 1998, the M. Narasimham Committee noted that 44% of non-performing loans (NPLs) originated from Priority sector lending. In 2010-11 that figure was a staggering 73%.

This is not a concern for political parties because for them winning elections at the cost of national development is a primary concern. Farmers, as voters, are also comfortable with such loan waiver scheme.

Why loan waivers are not the answer to farmers’ miseries?

Unless there is an attempt to make agriculture profitable for the farmers,

In the short-run, forcing agricultural lending by banks to follow overall lending targets is unequivocally unhealthy, for both banks and farmers. This forces credit surges unrelated to the sector’s needs. This was most clearly seen when the economy was running above 9% growth rates and overall credit was expanding rapidly.

Banks had no choice but to nearly triple their lending for every unit of agricultural output. Due to political compulsions, even with banks and borrowers pushing the boundaries of qualifiable lending and fact was the stagnant agricultural sector did not have the capacity to absorb such large volumes of cash. This is a classic case of throwing good money, after bad cause and over-indebted farmers became a national concern. On top of many

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

The challenges which government must address are: 1. Problem in poor farm productivity and loan waivers does not improve productivityEvidence from NSSO suggests that nearly 40% of the crop loan amount taken in the name of agriculture is used on nonagriculture purposes such as marriages, education, health, etc. Unfortunately, there is no effort to provide quality inputs and education to farmers’ and no focus on extension education. In case of loan waiver, it will be more sensible and logical to use the same money for providing excellent quality seeds and other inputs. This will not only improve the productivity but will also reduce the cost of production for the farmers. They will not be in debt trap. These targeted inputs based subsidies for specific inputs such as seeds, fertilizers can be based on specific regional needs. This can be better method of utilizing national resources than loan waiver. This may not be as attractive as loan waiver, for political parties, which is a political inducement during election times.

A BAD PRECEDENT ?

45 Classification of marginal, small, and other farmers is inadequate and sometimes faulty because there is no relation between land holding and productivity. The size of the land might not be a robust indicator of credit worthiness or credit need. Poor soil and land management has direct linkage with poor productivity. Credit worthiness should not depend upon land based criteria.

2. Credit alone is not enough to address farmers’ livelihood challenges – Series of surveys and data indicates such inducements never hep agriculture sector per say. Food grains growth fell from 2.85 per cent in the 1980s (1980-81 to 1990-91) to 1.16 per cent in the 1990s (1990-91 to 2003-04), which was lower than the rate of growth of population of 1.9 per cent during this period. While the Indian economy itself may have shifted to a more service based economy and away from agriculture, the agricultural sector has benefited little from technological advancements. There was no attempt to improve the agriculture productivity by proper planning and technology transfer.

There has been little or no improvement in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation systems, storage systems, market linkages, etc. The wide spread corruption in Indian politics and administration has complicated the situation further.

ground to improve farmers’ conditions.

4.Informal lending from money landers remain unaddressed – In most villages, there are no banking facilities. Most farmers take loans either from the bank or the moneylenders for agricultural purposes. This scheme does not address loans taken from informal sources. In addition, there were farmers who took on expensive loans from the informal sector like money lenders to pay off their agricultural debt in last few years.

They are not rewarded under this scheme.

These schemes will force these farmers to think twice for returning loans to banks in future. Is this healthy sign for rural development? In fact, we are disturbing national character towards honesty.

5. Wrong classification of credit need in Indian rural conditions –

6. Lack of credible monitoring and evaluation – The scheme requires the lending institutions (commercial and public) to appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer in each State. However, it is unclear how RBI wanted to monitor the loan usage and grievance issues. Also, there was insufficient monitoring and evaluation to determine whether the scheme worked or not. Lack of reach and lack of proper scientific methods of crop management makes life complicated for assessing officers. Mandatory priority lending targets for banks also force them to ignore this requirement.

Will Loan waiver help farmers’ livelihood?

The answer is No. This money will not go to farmers but to the banks.

The problem of farmers is productivity and proper price realization of their crops. These schemes have no impact on agricultural productivity and well-being of the farmers. Loan waiver is “curing the symptoms, and not the disease”, it means farmers situation has not improved. He is still in the same mess and will be pushed back in debt trap soon than later.

The way forward: 1.

Ministry of Agriculture with

3. Loan waivers complicate situation for banks – The scheme does not help the banks either, because they forced to lend to both viable and unviable clients using the same lending parameters. In addition, banks must write off bad loans, which are expensive not only for the banks, but also the government and ultimately additional burden on tax payers. It is estimated that in 2010-2011, nearly 73% of Priority Sector Lending resulted in bad loans, and nearly 44% of these loans were in the agricultural sector. In last 7 years, there is no attempt to reform agriculture marketing system, storage infrastructure and agriculture extension education system. There are no visible actions on

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the help of state administration must develop a district wise action plan to ensure profitable agriculture production cycle. This will help in ensuring proper seed, irrigation, and other inputs supply.

This will also help in developing proper marketing system. If the proposed production cycle is not profitable do not force farers into debt tarp but force agriculture research system to respond to the ground level challenges. This can be done by making agriculture universities accountable for their performance of crop in their catchment area. If banks have lending targets in the region, why agriculture universities do not have performance target in the same region.

2. There is a need to better understand the credit needs of the agricultural sector, and specifically the credit needs of the farmers based on the region and weather patterns, and their risk appetite. The investment required to minimize the risk is not happening. The biggest risk is poor price realization after bumper crop. Poor infrastructure and poor market linkages is the biggest concern. There is no accountability of any department to ensure this. In fact, there are laws, rules, and departments like APMC to prevent efficient marketing and efficient linkages of farmers with market forces.

in agriculture productivity and price forecasting.

4. Benchmark India research system with bets in the world to make them accountable to tax payers. Government must also create incentive for private sector participation in agriculture research education. Today, ICAR is the only monopoly in the system and there is no incentive for private research in agriculture due to various procedural hurdles. There must be accountability for agriculture research system in India to address current challenges of agriculture and allied activities.

5. Mindset towards private sector must change. Agriculture sector is too vast to be managed by public sector alone. The diversity and complexity of agriculture sector needs state of the art knowledge base, skills, and technology. This cannot be done as routine office job.

Unfortunately, most of the farmer leaders are still in the communist era and expect government may provide answer to all problems.

3. A more comprehensive approach to lending is needed of the farmers in place of forcing banks to push loans under Priority lending schemes. With better technologies, this approach can be changed with effective monitoring of activities on farms. There also needs to be more emphasis on markets linkages, weather and crop insurance must ensure income support as well, and a greater application of technological innovations

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

Government departments do not want private sector to play key role because their will expose their weaknesses and working inefficiencies. They all expect markets to perform better when it comes to price realization but they don’t want private sector to invest in related activities based on prudent financial criteria based on returns on investments. Very often policy makers assume they have all information and this lack of understanding of changing reality is creating big divide between policy making and ground reality. Political patronage due to vote bank politics hurting development and shaking confidence of investors and investment is not taking place. There is no focus on institution building in the country because political leaders do not want to delegate their powers. There is no consistency in policies between various levels of administration and between various political ideologies because Individuals take priority of institution and facts are ignored. No private investor is keen to invest in agriculture research in big way in India due to political risk based on illogical perceptions towards private sector, which can easily be addressed with proper regulatory framework.

Unless we change our mindset towards agriculture and focus on institution building these loan waivers will be integral part of every election manifesto.

Can Modi Government promise there will be no more loan waiver in India because their policies will deliver as promised and farmers will have sufficient income for dignified life. Time will tell the difference between promise and performance.

(Source: in/)

https://sardanavijay.blogspot.

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The Great Indian Spices – Cloves & Cinnamon

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pices are an essential part of almost every recipe in several food cultures. They are not only known for their flavor and seasoning of foods but also for numerous medicinal values.

India produces a wide variety of spices including cardamoms, chilies, black pepper, mustard, coriander. The demand of these spices is high in the global market due to their rich aroma, texture, and taste.

India has the largest domestic market for spices in the world. The major importers of Indian spices are US, China, UAE, and Malaysia.

For now, let’s know more about clove & cinnamon and the numerous benefits it offers. Clove tree is an evergreen that grows up to 8–12 m tall, with large leaves and sanguine flowers grouped in terminal clusters. Initially, the flower buds have a pale hue, gradually turns green, then turns to a bright red when it is ready for harvest. Cloves are harvested at 1.5–2.0 cm long, and consist of a long calyx that terminates in four spreading sepals, and four unopened petals that form a small central ball.

Majorly harvested in Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, cloves are available throughout the year and are often used as spice. Cloves are used worldwide in the cuisine of Asian, African, and Middle East countries giving flavor to meats, curries, and the rest.

nutritional and health benefits. Cloves are anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiseptic and analgesic. They’re packed with antioxidants and are useful sources of minerals (especially manganese), omega-3 fatty acids, fiber and vitamins The best uses of Cloves in day-to-day life are:

Cloves can also be used to give aromatic and flavor qualities to hot beverages, combined with other ingredients such as lemon and sugar.

India is known to produce enormous quantities of cloves that are domestically consumed. Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are the major cloves producing states.

The chemical eugenol is a key component of clove taste, imparted by and the quantity of the spice required is typically small. It pairs well with cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, red wine, and basil, as well as onion, citrus or peppercorns.

Though tiny in size, these do have

Treat wounds and bruises.

Cloves are strong hence the best way to apply is by making a paste with help of olive oil.

Reduces irritation.

Clove oil is added to oils for massage of

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goods, and for rice puddings, chocolate dishes and fruit desserts, particularly apples and pears. Middle Eastern and North African dishes make use of cinnamon as flavouring for lamb meat or stuffed vegetables. The largest importer of Sri Lankan cinnamon is Mexico, where it is consumed with coffee & chocolate and brewed as a tea.

sore muscles; it’s even used by arthritis and rheumatism patients.

Soothes toothache for a temporary period.

You can temporarily alleviate the pain by dabbing clove oil on a cotton ball and place it on the sore tooth or on your gums.

An added benefit is that it will also pull out any infection.

Clove is also used as a cough medicine, making it easier to cough up phlegm.

They are a natural painkiller and attack germs, gradually getting you rid of that sore throat and cough.

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the species Cinnamomum. Cinnamon is used in both sweet and spicy foods. The best cinnamon grows along the coastal strip near Colombo, Sri Lanka. In Egypt, during ancient times, cinnamon was used for medicinal purpose and as a flavouring for beverages. In the ancient days, cinnamon was considered more precious than gold. Emperor of Rome, Nero in the first century AD, burned years’ supply of cinnamon on his wife’s funeral pyre as an extravagant gesture meant to signify the depth of her loss.

True Cinnamon vs. Cassia There are many varied species between 50 and 250. The two main varieties are Cinnamomum cassia and Cinnamomum zeylanicum. C. zeylanicum is also known as Ceylon cinnamon or ‘true cinnamon’ that is lighter in colour and possesses sweet and delicate flavour than cassia.

Improves the digestive system.

Cloves is used as condiment in several food dishes. The speciality of cloves is that it helps to relax the smooth lining of GI tract, which help alleviate vomiting, diarrhoea, intestinal gas, and stomach aches.

Relief from upper respiratory infections.

Herbal tea added with clove and lemon helps lessen and prevent cold and flu.

Cinnamon comes in ‘quills’, strips of bark rolled one in another. Cinnamon is very similar to cassia, though cassia tends to be the dominant player in market. The distinguished difference between cassia and cinnamon is the lighter colour and much finer powder.

Cinnamon and its uses Since cinnamon is more delicate, it is often used in dessert dishes. Frequently used while making cakes and other baked

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

The Health Benefits of Cinnamon Recent studies say that consuming onehalf teaspoon of Cinnamon each day may reduce blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels by 20 per cent in Type II diabetes patients who are not taking insulin. It is also used to treat diarrhea.

This remedy can also help people with cold feet and hands, especially at night.

It is used for treatment in dyspepsia with nausea, intestinal colic and digestive agony associated with cold & weakened conditions.

Cinnamon also provides relief when one feels nausea. In infants, due to its mild astringency, it can be used to treat diarrhea. The essential cinnamon oil is antibacterial, anti-fungal, and uterine stimulant.

Cinnamon Tree Plantations Cinnamon belongs to the tropical evergreen tree of the laurel family growing up to 7m (56 ft) in its wild state.

They have deeply-veined ovate leaves that are dark green on top, lighter green below.

The bark is smooth and yellowish, both the bark and leaves are aromatic.

Cultivated plantations grow trees as small bushes, no taller than 3 m (10 ft), as the stems are continually pruned to produce new stems for the bark.

The outer bark, cork and the pithy inner lining are scraped off and the remaining bark is left to dry completely, when it curls and rolls into quills. Several quills are rolled together to produce a compact final product, which are then cut into uniform lengths and graded according to

NEWS

49

Digitalization: a fresh idea for the fruit and veg supply chain Finding a digital solution to the food waste problem

IMD’s Supply Chain export Prof. Ralf Seifert analyses the three major drivers for spoilage and shares his latest findings about digital solutions that can help solving the food waste problem The cost of global food waste and loss is estimated to be $940 billion a year. For businesses, this represents a significant proportion of shrinkage in retail supply chains and it has a direct impact on companies’ triple bottom lines. There could be a great opportunity here for cost savings and to reduce environmental and social footprints, but making this happen remains a complicated problem, requiring solutions at all levels of the supply chain.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a challenging retail category because of the very short product lifetimes. To identify drivers of spoilage, we examined the supply chain of Migros, Switzerland’s largest grocery retailer with 27.4 billion Swiss Francs in sales and a market share above 20 per cent. Its fruit and vegetable sales account for more than 10 per cent of total supermarket sales in the country.

It’s a highly competitive product group that generates shop flow, requires high availability and specialized infrastructure.

Plus, its portfolio must change with the seasons.

In terms of sales, best-practice retailers have spoilage levels of between 3 to 5 per cent. Migros is among these best-practice retailers but for such a large operator,

even these small spoilage levels have a significant impact on its annual profit in the fresh fruit and vegetables category.

Our in-depth analysis was based on roughly half a million data points of 100 fresh products on a day and store basis. It revealed three major drivers for spoilage: 1. Excess inventory 2. Order cycles and variation 3. Longer delivery lead times The best way to reduce spoilage is to reduce the inventory in stores (see the graph below). A half-day reduction would reduce overall spoilage costs by 40 per cent. Smoothing both store and distribution center (DC) orders by 50 per cent would improve spoilage costs by 30 per cent. Increasing the order frequency to daily would reduce spoilage costs by 17 per cent and reducing delivery times by one day in 10 per cent of deliveries could reduce spoilage by 8 per cent.

How can businesses achieve these reductions in spoilage costs?

Employee training and incentive schemes can go some way to reducing order cycles and making other improvements in freshness and shrinkage performance.

However, the greatest potential comes from supply chain digitalization to match demand with supply.

We recommend three main areas for digital development to address the major drivers of spoilage we identified in our study: data management; integrated collaborative forecasting; and product tracking.

1. Data management This is essential for better ordering, establishing adequate inventory levels and enabling transparency within firms. The longer it takes to get hold of information, the harder it is to create accurate demand forecasts. Here are three steps for digitalizing supply chain data:

•Get accurate historical data. High-quality demand forecasting depends on this, plus it helps to reduce excessive ordering or unmet demand. This historical data can then be integrated into ordering tools to make ordering easier and to increase transparency.

•Use live point-of-sale (POS) data (but only after you are assured of the accuracy of the data). Accurate, live POS information can help decrease information lead time, so your supply chain can become more responsive to fluctuations in demand.

•Automate orders. Historical data coupled with live POS data create an opportunity to automate orders in real time. This allows companies to overcome issues related to order batching, which often causes excess inventory and spoilage in perishable product supply chains.

Automation has a substantial potential here because ordering activities often take up considerable time and resources.

2. Integrated collaborative forecasting This addresses high order variation caused by rationing and shortage gaming, and long transportation lead times. Integrating data systems for collaborative forecasting increases visibility, and reduces the risk of overstock or stock-outs along the supply chain. The benefits of visibility of supply chain partner forecasts can further extend to the physical chain, allowing for shorter delivery lead times because deliveries don’t need to be as flexible.

3. Product tracking This means having digital records for the entry and exit of products at each stage of the supply chain. It can help ensure a ‘first in, first out’ policy for fresh products, which will decrease inventory age and therefore reduce shrinkage due to spoilage. Shrinkage rates represent up to 15 per cent of sales in major retailers.

Therefore, digital supply chain solutions provide enormous potential for accurate demand forecasting and better inventory management. However, the improvements do not come for free in this high-paced category. Product yields, volatile prices, fragmented suppliers, specific supply chain configuration, as well as perishability and quality issues, all mean that the value drivers are diverse and category-specific.

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Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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MPOC signed MoU with Mumbai Dabbawala Association & SEA of India

Dr. Kalyan Sundram, CEO of MPOC – Malaysia signing

Dr. Kalyan Sundram, CEO of MPOC – Malaysia with Ms.

Hon. PM of Malaysia, Dato Sri’ Haji Mohammad

the MoU with Shantaram Karvande, President of Mumbai

Bhavna Shah, Country Representative – India, Srilanka

Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak along with Nirmala

Dabbawala Association and Subhash Talekar, Secretary

(MPOC), Atul Chaturvedi, President of SEA of India and

Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and

of Mumbai Dabbawala Association

CEO of Adani Wilmar Limited at the MoU’s signing event

Industry, Dr. Kalyan Sundram, CEO of MPOC and others

in Delhi

at MoU’s signing event in Delhi

accompanying quality related assurances as prescribed through MSPO. Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA) with approximately 5,000 members, is involved in the delivery of freshly made food in lunch boxes (‘dabba’) from the homes of its customers to their offices throughout the Mumbai metropolis. This simple task has evolved since over a century into a highly-specialised trade in its current form and has become integral to Mumbai’s culture. MDA members deliver approximately 200,000 dabbas daily.

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) having it registered office in Mumbai, India was established in 1963 to help and foster the development and growth of the solvent extraction industry in India. Over the years, the Association’s scope and sphere of activity expanded and today it is the premier Association of Vegetable Oil Industry and Trade in India. The Association is recognized as a ‘Non-Government Organisation’ (NGO) by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and as the ‘Trade Promotion Organization’ (TPO) by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, for exports of various oil meals, compound feed, minor oils of tree & forest origin and edible oils and oilseeds.

The Association’s present strength is over 850 members including solvent extraction plants, oil mills, vegetable oil refineries, compound feed manufacturers, importers & exporters of vegetable oils and oil meals and providers of numerous services to the industry.

Memorandum of Understanding between Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA): The MoU covers the following areas of cooperation between MPOC and MDA: 1. Educating consumers on the usage, nutritional and health properties of palm oil.

2. Disseminating information about Malaysian palm oil to enhance its application and elucidating its numerous strengths and benefits.

3. Upholding the good name of Malaysian palm oil by closing the gap between the issues of perception, allegations, and the realities of palm oil.

4. Cooperate to promote economic aspirations of the country including the Make in India philosophy to achieve selfsufficiency in edible oils.

5. With their outreach to the common man (consumers) by way of distribution of daily meal boxes, the Dabbawalas are in a unique position to assist MPOC to further enhance the image of Malaysian palm oil and bring to attention the positive nutritional attributes of palm oil among its clients. MPOC and the MDA agree to utilise this resource for the overall benefit of parties as well as their client base and families.

Memorandum of Understanding between Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and The Solvent Extractor’s Association of India (SEA): The MoU covers the following areas of cooperation between MPOC and SEA: 1.

Jointly help educate Indian consumers on the nutritional and

I

n conjunction with the visit to India of the Hon. Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato Sri’ Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) signed MoU’s with Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA) and The Solvent Extractor’s Association of India (SEA) to further the cooperation between the organisations to institute and expand co-operation in areas of mutual interest to broadly promote the development and use of Malaysian palm oil and Malaysian Sustainability Palm Oil (MSPO) certified palm oil as a valuable commodity which advances the interests of its producers, processors, users and consumers through product and market development support and activities when and where the interests of the organizations are amenable through joint efforts. Both the MoU’s were executed in the presence of the Hon. Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) having its registered office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is desirous of collaborating with relevant trade organizations in India to promote and create opportunities for the greater acceptance of Malaysian palm oil among Indian consumers, food manufacturers and other end users. MPOC similarly desires to create greater awareness of Malaysian palm oil benchmarked through the Malaysian Sustainability Palm Oil (MSPO) certification standards whose objectives include demonstration of sustainability practices within the Malaysian palm oil industry and

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52 health benefits of palm oil and improve overall understanding of palm oil and its applications while elucidating its

numerous strengths and benefits.

2. Jointly promote Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) by enhancing trade opportunities in the market place, by identifying, sharing, and highlighting the latest opportunities through MSPO for Malaysian palm oil in the India.

3.

Upholding the good name of Malaysian palm oil among consumers and various end users by helping to close the gap between the issues of perception, allegations, and the realities of palm oil.

4. Familiarising the Indian palm oil processing sector with latest technical developments taking place in the Malaysian palm oil industry and through its research bodies.

5. Exchange palm and edible oils and fats related business,

technical, policy and administrative information, data and materials and undertake collaborative activities that are beneficial to both parties.

6. Jointly create an expert panel to assist development of India’s palm oil industry through the provision of information and expertise on latest technology applications and adoptions in both upstream and downstream activities.

7. MPOC will extend their cooperation to promote ‘Make in India’ by helping Indian Oil Palm Industry by providing technical know-how and training of personnel.

India and Malaysia have long established historical and cultural ties that have now developed into excellent diplomatic and trade relations. Economic and commercial relations are the mainstay of the bilateral relationship between Malaysia and India. Palm oil products are the corner stone of the trade relations between the two countries. Indian industrialists have made significant contributions to the development of the Malaysian palm oil industry, particularly in the palm oil refining sector. Groups such as Tata and Birla pioneered in establishing palm oil refineries in Malaysia way back in the 1970s and 1980s.

121, 1st Floor, Rassaz Multiplex, Station Road, Mira Road (E), Dist Thane - 401 107, Maharashtra.

Ph. : +91-22-28115068, 28555069, 8689979988 Email : info@agronfoodprocessing.com www.agronfoodprocessing.com

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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Cosmo Films launches Universal Printable Coated Synthetic Paper

C

osmo Films, a leading manufacturer of specialtyBOPP films has announced the launch of BOPP based universal printable synthetic paper.

The newly launched film which appears like paper is printable with all available printing technologies which include wet & UV offset, wet & UV flexo, letterpress, screen, thermal transfer and most of the digitaltoner technologies. The company has been manufacturing & marketing its standard synthetic paper which was used for printing on offset & screen for years now.

The versatility of synthetic paper is reflected in the vast number of applications where it can be used. This includes areas such as commercial printing, tags & labels, retail & packaging, identification & credentials and outdoors.

Some of the applications under each of these segments are as follows:

certificates etc.

Outdoors: Tree tags, train station & airport signages&displays etc.

Synthetic paper is a replacement of paper in applications where durability and longevity is desired. It has a matte paper like finish, is non-tearable, has moisture & chemical resistance and excellent lay flatness. The product is available in 75, 95, 120, 150, 175, 195, 215, 275, 330, 375 and 430 microns.

Commercial printing: Maps, calendars, posters, recipe books, instruction manuals etc.

Tags & Labels: Chemical drum labels, airport transfer tags, track & trace labels etc.

Retail & Packaging Segment: POP graphics, carry bags etc.

Identification & credentials: visiting cards, land documents, birth and merit

Commenting on the development, Mr. S. Satish, Global Head- Sales & Marketing, Cosmo Films said, “The universal printable synthetic paper has been a long standing unmet need of the market,as currently different synthetic paper grades were being offered for different printing technologies. This universal printable product would help the printers to significantly reduce their inventory carrying costs.�

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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so that they can effectively differentiate themselves: “While cereal bars dominate the US market, protein bars lead in Europe and nut products tend to be preferred in Asia,” analyzes Bischof.

At Interpack, Buhler is demonstrating its competence in biscuits and cookies.

The solutions include all important process steps: from preparing the dough to moulding, cooling, and coating of the product. There are big regional differences here, too: In Asia’s confectionery markets, for example, cookies are increasingly viewed as a substitute for chocolate because cocoa is a limited resource, which means that cookies open new possibilities for manufacturers.

Cereal and nut bars: healthy and convenient snacks on the go

Increasingly people don’t eat at home but rather while leaving the office, on the way to the day-care center, or before the gym, which means that the demand for healthy food on the go is increasing.

No matter the raw materials, shape, taste or if the snack is coated with chocolate: Buhler’s solutions cover the complete range of end products. Nutritious and delicious cereal or nut bars are particularly popular: “At Interpack, we highlight our competence in snacks by presenting our integrated production solutions, from grain or nuts to the finished bar or biscuit,” explains Thomas Bischof, Head of Buhler’s Business Unit Countlines.

Whether it is a substitute for breakfast,

a supplement in the daily diet, or an energy boost between meals: Cereal bars are a growth market. Many people are reaching for these healthy and nutritious snacks while at the office, in school, or on the train.

“When Buhler took over the chocolate specialist Hosokawa Bepex, it was able to close an important gap in its portfolio. Now, we can also offer our customers integrated complete solutions for manufacturing countlines, coated items, or cereal and nut bars,” says Bischof.

No matter the raw materials, shape, taste, or if it’s coated with chocolate: Buhler’s solutions cover the complete range of end products.

With its comprehensive knowledge of local markets and preferences, the technology leader supports customers in developing innovative new products and recipes

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

The Interpack is the largest and most important trade fair for processing and packaging equipment. It will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 4 to 10, May 2017. Buhler will present its complete range of process solutions in an exciting experience world, covering 1700 square meters. In this unique environment, which includes a bistro and a Solutions Space, Buhler will display its offerings for making chocolate products, cocoa, nuts, coffee, sweets, biscuits, cookies, crackers, cereal and energy bars, breakfast cereals, and snacks. Buhler is a global leader in processing solutions with 60 per cent of all chocolate products, 40 per cent of all industrially produced pasta, and 35 per cent of all breakfast cereals made on the Swiss company’s technologies.

The Buhler Networking Days 2017 @ Interpack will feature four core themes that strongly impact the food processing industry: sustainability, nutrition, food safety, and the Internet of Things. Among the highlights of the event are some 20 innovations across the value chain, expert presentations, side events, and an exclusive networking dinner hosted by Buhler.

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Bosch extends Sealed Paper Packaging portfolio at Interpack 2017 Bernhard Bruhn, Product Line Manager dry food at Bosch Packaging Technology.

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deal for products such as sugar and flour • New vertical bagger adapted for handling innovative paper bags • Dust-tight packaging available on upgraded mandrel wheel machine • Sustainable packaging conserves resources and enables recycling Further to the launch of the world’s first Sealed Paper Packaging on a vertical form, fill and seal machine (VFFS) with the ZAP-Module in 2016, Bosch Packaging Technology and BillerudKorsnäs are bringing their latest innovations to Interpack 2017. On display for sugar manufacturers will be the SVE 2520 ZAP, Bosch’s first continuousmotion VFFS machine now capable of producing dust-tight, sealed paper bags.

Flour producers will benefit from the upgraded PME mandrel wheel machine with ZAP-Module “The positive reaction of the market to the launch of Sealed Paper Packaging in 2016 led to an extension of the ZAP-Module within our portfolio. By offering two alternative technologies now equipped with the ZAP-Module, we are not only able to answer the individual needs of dry food producers, but also give them the possibility to differentiate themselves by offering consumers completely recyclable paper packaging at the same time improving product quality,” said

Sustainable revolution Until now, the production of monomaterial paper packaging was only possible with glued pre-made bags or formed paper bags on mandrel wheel technology. The VFFS concept, more flexible regarding formats and pack styles and thus popular on the market, previously only allowed bag production using polymer film or fully coated paper.

With the ZAP-Module from Bosch it is now possible to process mono-material paper on VFFS technology with dusttight sealing. The secret lies in the characteristics of the Axello®ZAP paper from BillerudKorsnäs, which was specially developed for this application, as well as in the ZAP-Module from Bosch Packaging Technology.

Moreover, the ZAP-Module partially applies a minimal amount of the sealing agent during the packaging process enabling heat sealing of the paper on the VFFS machine. Now this new sealed paper packaging is also available for the mandrel wheel technology to improve the traditional paper bags produced on this type of machines by making them dusttight. As a result, retailers and consumers profit from clean shelves, enhanced product protection from contamination and thus improved product quality.

Continuous-motion vertical bagger now with ZAP-Module The extension of the ZAP-Module to the first continuous-motion SVE machine offers manufacturers significant production flexibility and enhanced product safety. By producing different bag styles (pillow, gusseted or block bottom) with different packaging materials (both Axello®ZAP mono-material paper and heat-sealable laminates) on the same machine it enables manufacturers to enter new markets for dry food applications. To achieve a perfect dust-tight sealing, the machine is equipped with the ZAP-Module for heat sealing of the paper. Additionally, the machine combines a small footprint with a speed of up to 65 bags per minute.

By adapting the gusseting and dosing unit, the solution ensures gentle material processing and high efficiency. Based on the proven SVE technology, the solution allows easy operation and maintenance, helping manufacturers to adjust quickly

to evolving consumer demands.

Upgraded mandrel wheel technology for a competitive edge The combination of the robust mandrelwheel concept with the ZAP-Module allows to produce tightly sealed paper bags protecting flour from external contamination. By offering additional functionalities, such as the inline weighing system and top-up dosing, customers benefit from the highest weight accuracy available on the market. The increased flexibility of the solution allows to produce a wide range of package sizes and formats on a single machine.

Another advantage of this technology is the outstanding shape of the block bottom bag, with a gable or flat top, thanks to double bottom-pressing which helps in forming a hard, brick-like bag. While achieving an output of up to 100 packages per minute, the vibrating module shapes the bag and closes it keeping the air out, thus simplifying product compaction. This enables manufacturers to optimize their storage capacities and logistics processes, thereby reducing their environmental footprint.

To learn more about Sealed Paper Packaging possibilities, visit Bosch at Interpack in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 4th to 10th May 2017, Hall 6, C58.

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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FSSAI shall collaborate with global, desi firms to raise food safety levels

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he Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is looking to work in partnership with global and domestic companies to raise the levels of food safety and hygiene in the country. The regulator is also looking to engage with food companies on various other aspects such as compliance and develop strong consumer grievances processes. FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said safe and nutritious food for all is a shared responsibility. “We are looking to engage with corporates to scale up initiatives to ensure the availability of safe and nutritious food in the country. We are also looking to engage with companies on various other areas such as compliance, training, and capacity building, among others.”

FSSAI signed an MoU with Coca-Cola India to train 50,000 street food vendors under its project ‘Clean Street Food’ across India over the next three years.

While Coca-Cola India will handle programme execution through its bottling plants network, FSSAI will help develop the training content. Project ‘Clean Street Food’ will be rolled out in phases starting with Ludhiana in mid-April, and expanded to nine States gradually.

Agarwal stated that several companies

such as ITC, Mondelez India, Nestle India, Jubilant Food Works and TetraPak have recently collaborated with the regulator to create awareness about food safety and hygiene across schools, retailers, food vendors as well as street-food vendors.

President of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, Venkatesh Kini said, “We have been training kirana retailers for the past 10 ten years under our initiative ‘Parivartan’.

This collaboration with FSSAI will help broaden the horizons of our initiative.

We will train owners and employers of small food service outlets and streetfood vendors on the basic tenets of food safety.

Rs 6000-cr ‘SAMPADA’ scheme for food processing to be launched

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he government will soon launch an umbrella programme ‘SAMPADA’ for food processing sector with Rs 6,000 crore outlay to integrate current and new schemes aimed at reducing food wastage and doubling farmers’ income.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said her ministry would soon approach the Cabinet for the approval of ‘Scheme for Agro-Marine Produce Processing and Development of AgroProcessing Clusters (SAMPADA).’ “We will shortly launch an umbrella scheme SAMPADA for overall development of the food processing sector. It will include ongoing schemes like mega food parks and cold chain projects as well as three new schemes that we will launch.”

To create infrastructure for improving the entire food supply chain, three schemes‘Creation/ Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities’, ‘New AgroProcessing Clusters’ and ‘Backward and Forward Linkages’ are on anvil. Badal

said the government is taking steps to boost food processing sector as part of its objective to bring down post-harvest losses preferably to zero level, provide quality food to consumers at cheaper price and for doubling of farmers’ income.

The Centre has so far sanctioned 42 mega food parks and 234 cold chain projects with 139 lakh tonnes of preserving and processing capacity of agro-produce worth Rs 35,000 crore. The post-harvest losses are estimated at Rs 92,000 crore annually, Badal said that these food parks and cold chains would help in cutting this wastage.

These projects, being set up with a total investment of about Rs 15,000 crore, will also generate employment for 3.5 lakh persons and benefit 15 lakh farmers.

“We are mapping all agro-clusters in the country. Under the new scheme, we will provide up to Rs 10 crore of subsidy grant for creating infrastructure at each of these clusters so that seamless transfer of food

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

products from producing to consuming centres becomes a reality.”

The minister held an interaction with promoters of newly- allotted 101 Integrated Cold Chain Projects.

Elaborating on proposed SAMPADA scheme, Special Secretary in the ministry Jagdish Prasad Meena said the Rs 6,000-crore programme will be implemented by 2019-20 fiscal. “This programme will help create infrastructure for linkage of entire supply chain.”

Recently the Food Processing ministry sanctioned 101 new cold chain projects being set up by firms like Big Basket, Amul and Haldiram entailing Rs 3,100 crore in investments.

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Manufacturers seek zero GST on low price biscuits

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iscuit manufacturers have sought zero tax on low price biscuits under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). The manufacturers said that low price biscuits category biscuits are items of mass consumption and higher taxes will have an adverse impact on production as well as demand of this food item.

Tax (GST) on biscuits will be a grave injustice to the poor as glucose, marie and milk biscuits retailed below Rs 100 per kg are treated as merit goods and largely consumed by the poor.” He said that central government had reduced central excise in 2003 to 8 per cent from earlier 16 per cent and exempted excise on biscuits up to Rs 100 per kg in 2007-08.

per cent of the 35 lakh tonnes biscuits sold annually in the country. High price biscuits (HPB) retailing from Rs 100 per kg to Rs 700 per kg account for 60 per cent of the total sales value of Rs 36,000 crore. Members of the association said glucose biscuits retailing at Rs 40 per kg in 1996, today after 20 years’ retail at just Rs 70 per Kg.

Biscuit Manufacturers Welfare Association president Haresh Doshi said “A flat 12 per cent Goods and Services

Managing Director of Ajmer Food Products, Manoj Sharda said that low price category biscuits comprise 52

Even with a 225 per cent surge in input costs, manufacturers curtail price of LPB in consumer interest as they fear losing this demand to the unorganised sector.

They also said that the realisation for HPB category biscuits is much better and the industry has no hesitation in paying GST at a rate deemed fit by the government on all biscuits priced above Rs 100 per kg

Events

Month May 2017 Snacks & Namkeen Industry in India (17th May) Venue: Mumbai

SIAL INSPIRE FOOD BUSINESS (17thto 19th May) Venue: Shanghai New Intl, Expo Centre, Shanghai, China Website: www.sialchina.com June 2017 Food Hospitality 2017

(8th to 10th June ) Venue: White Orchid Conven�on Centre, Bengaluru Website: www.fhwexpo.in

FOOD INGREDIENTS & FLAVOURS –FIF (27-28 June 2017) Venue: Praga� Maidan, New Delhi, India Website:www.foodingredientsandflavours.com

THAIFEX WORLD FOOD ASIA (31st to 4th June) Venue: Impact Exhibi�on & Conven�on Centre, Thailand Website: www.worldoffoodasia.com July 2017

Interna�onal E��o �ood World (15th-17th July) Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam, Chennai, India Website: www.salexpo.org

Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India.

International Food Tech

(21st to 23rd Delhi ) Venu: New Delhi, India Website: www.foodtecindia.com

HKTDC-FOOD EXPO 17th to 21st (Hong Kong) Venue: Hong Kong Conven�on & Exhibi�on Centre Website: ww.hktdc.com/hkfoodexpo September 2017

Indian Ice Cream & Expo (15th to 16th September) Venue: Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Nesco, Goregaon (E) Mumbai Website: www.indianicecreamcongress.in

FSSAI enters into an agreement with USbased Decernis Ltd to access various international regulations

F

ood Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has entered into an agreement with US-based Decernis Ltd that will enable it to access various international regulations. With this tie up, it would get access to database of over 70,000 standards for food additives, food standards, food contact and contaminants from over 170 countries.

September 2017

It would also enable the scientific panels of the regulator in understanding the global standards and benchmarking Indian regulation to those norms. The database will also be of immense help in the risk assessment.

Annapoorna Mumbai

Under the pact, FSSAI will share with the American company its notices of new draft and final regulations. FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said, “As per the good regulatory practices, international practices are required to be considered while framing the national standards or guidelines.”

FOOD INGREDIENTS ASIA (13th to 15th September) Venue: Bangkok Interna�onal Trade& Exb Centre, Bangkok, Thailand Website: www.fiasia.com (14th to 16th September) Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai, India.

Website: www.tradefairdates.com

October 2017

(7th to 11th October ) Venue: Cologne, Germany Website : www.anuga.com

August 2017

Packplus (3rd to 6th August)

Agro & Food Processing April 2017

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India's 1st food processing, packaging & allied industry database survey

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�ontact��or��talls���Partnersgi�� Indian Ice Cream Congress & Expo

Firoz H. Naqvi : +91-9867992299 Seema Shaikh : +91-8689979988 121, 1st Floor, Rassaz Multiplex, Mira Road (E), Thane - 401107. India. Tel: +91-22-28555069 / 28115068.Email: info@indianicecreamcongress.in Web: www.indianicecreamcongress.in

INDIAN ICE CREAM MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION Sudhir Shah-+91-9849025027 (Secretary IICMA) Samrat A. Upadhyay- +91-76988 69800 (Secretary General – IICMA) Regd. Office : A/801, 8th Floor, “Time Square” Building,C. G. Road, Nr. Lal Bunglow Char Rasta, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Email: info@iicma.in Web: www.iicma.in

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RNI No. MAHENG/2005/15987 POSTAL No. THW/50/2017-2019