THRUST ON BETTER TECHNOLOGY FOR FOOD
PROCESSING SECTOR
Food Processing Industry is poised
to attract phenomenal investment of around Rs. 92,000 crore during
the Xth Plan period, said Shri N.T. Shanmugam, Minister of State
for Food Processing Industries (Independent Charge) while inaugurating
a Seminar sponsored by his Ministry here today. The Seminar on
"Status of Indigenous Technologies and Process Plant Machinery
for Food Processing Industries in India" was organised by the
All India Food Processors’ Association in connection with Aahar
2003 International Exhibition at Pragati Maidan.
Shri Shanmugam called upon the food processors
to give thrust on improved technology to ensure health food and
food supplements to meet the changing consumer demands globally.
The food industry should also adopt better processing techniques
that take environmental constraints into account, meet food safety
requirements and produce high quality products for consumers.
Processed efficiency in food industry could be achieved by incorporating
advanced technologies that lower unit cost and improve over all
product quality, contributing to higher profits, the Minister
said and pointed out that food safety and quality are among the
most important issues for consumers and food industry.
The Minister called upon the food processing
industries to make major strides from traditional to modern technologies
for processing agricultural products. With globalisation of economy
the country is now obliged to meet international safety and quality
standards to survive in the global market. In any international
or regional set up food regulations can have strategic significance
and in determining the flow of products in domestic as well as
international markets. The future development of the food processing
industries would depend on technological progress and energy efficiency,
Shri Shanmugam observed.
Speaking on the occasion Smt. Pratibha Karan,
Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries urged the food
processors to avail of the funds provided by the ministry under
various schemes for promoting food-processing units. The Research
and Development Group should take advantage of the present problem
of plenty in agricultural production and promote food processing
in the country. It is high time that India applied better technologies
to prolong the shelf life of vegetables and fruits and improve
the packaging machinery and cold storage system to facilitate
better processing of our agricultural products, she said.
