"Made in India" food products not up to international mark? Why?

When Indian Prime Minister started his "Make in India" campaign last year with the honest intention to see more and more Indian made products in the international market, there were many who had reservations about the success of such an effort. It is true that manufacturing sector has great potential to expand employment opportunities, especially to those with low skill levels and thus contribute to socio-economic upliftment of the nation. Prime Minister even went to the extent of saying that the country would roll out "red carpet" welcoming foreign investors in stead of "red tape" of the bureaucrats which is a curse on the country. Alas not much has happened during the last 15 months of the government, though many are willing to give a chance for the reforms to come through in the coming months. Functioning of the Parliament, as being seen during the last one year is a big dampener to our hopes but it is time the government focuses more on administrative reforms not requiring the stamp of parliament so that most of the bottlenecks at the bureaucratic level can be sorted out. A recent report highlighting the sorry situation regarding export of processed foods, as highlighted by large scale rejections due to quality and safety factors at the buyers' end, offers a sad picture which must be addressed without much delay. 

Much before the controversy around Maggi raised an alarm over food safety standards in India, the voluminous rejection list of Indian food and cosmetic items in the US served as a precursor to the need for better regulations of food safety laws in India.India has always been one of the top three countries to face rejections in the monthly refusal list of food items by the Operational and Administrative System for Import Support (OASIS), of the US FDA(Food & Drug Administration). In June 2015, 170 Indian products, 185 in May and 143 in April, were rejected by the US FDA, marking the second highest number of refusals in all the three months. Ironically, India has one of the best food laws in place on paper, which requires even a roadside peanut vendor to get a licence from the government. However, the problems lie in the poor implementation of laws. In 2006, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established as an independent statutory authority for all food-related laws under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The Act repealed a plethora of previous central Acts including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, which was the principal law governing the food sector in India so long. The new laws were aimed to address the issue of food safety, apart from food adulteration. The FSSAI- broadly based on Codex Alementarius Commission, a benchmark for international food safety practices- became the central regulatory authority responsible for regulating manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food. The commission dates back to 1963, when the Food and Agricultural organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) along with its 185 member states formed the standards. "The biggest problem with food law is that it was hurriedly copied from Codex but was not sufficient to address problems in the Indian food sector. Most importantly, at the ground level, the food inspectors have no competency and capacity for effective monitoring. The FSSAI has just made the inspector raj more pronounced," said a food consultant on the condition of anonymity.

It must be admitted that the country does not need to evolve standards for various products being manufactured here because of the existence of thousands of such standards evolved by international organizations. But when it comes to traditional food products, unique to the country, they have been severely neglected by the food scientists in India though there are half a dozen research organizations of some repute and at least two dozen universities across the country imparting training and research skills to aspiring food scientists. As for Food safety management agency we have seen how it became butt of a joke internationally through its unjustified ban on a brand of noodles which was fortunately overruled by the judiciary. If India is to make a dent in the export market in food sector, it cannot achieve this through export of bread, biscuits or chocolates. This has to come through trasditional foods, thousands in number, languishing locally across the country for want of scientific inputs to standardize them, modernize their making process and design appropriate machinery for commercial production. Can our PM inspire the food scientists through carrot or stick to shift their focus of research to traditional foods in stead of wasting their time on western foods? Unless this is done the "Make in India" slogan will remain a slogan only!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

POST-HARVEST FOOD LOSSES-THE PERCENTAGE GAME!

Dramatization of figures is invariably resorted to by human beings for getting the desired attention. Probably this trait is embedded in the psyche of people since time immemorial and there is always a thin dividing line between an outright lie and a reasonable fact. This practice is especially popular with politicians who indulge in over estimation of their achievements, especially during the election time! Even scientists are not immune to this malpractices, if it can be called one, as reflected by a recent study which says that two thirds of publications withdrawn in reputed periodicals are due to deliberate distortion of results and unsubstantiated claims! An interesting report on post harvest food losses in India reveals how a nation can indulge in whole sale cooking of figures, obviously to highlight the need for investing on projects that can save these losses. Interestingly the loss figures of 30-50% being mentioned routinely in government circles during the last 5 decades remain the same in spite of pouring billions of rupees by the government on R & D, infrastructure and other areas! If this is not shameful what else it is! Is it not pathetic that no sustained studies have been conducted nationally to put down precisely what losses occur from the farm to the fork? A few scientific field studies do indicate that the post harvest losses are no more than 1-8% in case of most durable foods while the corresponding figures for perishables are slightly more, in the range of 6-18%. yet the Prime minister of this country had the gumption to solemnly declare before the country that one third of the food produced in India go waste! Here is an excellent piece of analysis on this subject which must make every Indian hang his head in shame for the sheer callousness, mismanagement and insensitivity to the welfare of its citizens!

"The figure has been in the air for long, so it has become acceptable. However, there is no hard study to back this number," said Pronab Sen, principal adviser in the Planning Commission. Sen told Business Standard the figure might just be a "guesstimate as he has serious doubts if such a study could even be conducted, especially for vegetables, which are seasonal and too diversified, unlike food grains and fruits". The 35-40 per cent loss claim does not even figure in the Planning Commission's working group report on agriculture marketing infrastructure for the 12th Five-Year Plan. It states that among vegetables, the post-harvest loss ranges between 6.8 per cent and 12.4 per cent, with the lowest loss in cauliflower and the highest in tomato. According to a study by the Indian Council on Agricultural Research (ICAR), among fruits, the minimum post-harvest loss is in sapota and the maximum in guava at 18 per cent. "The number for fruits is still believable as fruits are not seasonal in nature, but vegetables are seasonal, which makes data on production and wastage even difficult," said Sen.
Among cereals, the post-harvest loss ranged from 3.9 per cent to six per cent, with the lowest loss in sorghum and the highest in wheat. In pulses, the lowest loss was seen in chickpea at 4.3 per cent and the highest in black gram at 6.1 per cent.
A department of industrial policy and promotion paper on multi-brand retail in 2010 had said: "As per some industry estimates, 25 to 30 per cent of fruits and vegetables and five to seven per cent of food grains in India are wasted". This paper quoted industry estimates and not any hard study. However, even this number does not match the 35-40 per cent wastage being cited by the government now. The traders' community, too, has slammed the government for "cooking up" the figure. "Based on the ICAR study and the Planning Commission working group report, these post-harvest losses are nowhere around the staggering percentage quoted by the government. It appears that the government is coming up with these bogus figures for making up a case for allowing FDI in multi-brand retail," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders".

Looking back every Five Year Plan coming out of the corridors of National Planning Commission must be viewed with some apprehension because most data based on which planning is done in this country must be more of guestimates rather than real field generated information through scientific and representative studies. If at all there is a country in this Globe which consistently fails to keep the target dates for completion of any project, it is none other than India. Time over runs were between 50% and 500% and one can imagine the cost over runs as a result of these costly management lapses during the last 3-4 decades. The tragedy is that no politician seems to be serious or unduly worried about such enormous wastage of resources of the country while the neighboring China is galloping towards numero uno status in the world through their well planned and executed development projects on time in all critical sectors of economy. The astronomical sized financial scams, whether in coal sector or telephone sector do not speak well of the country's track record as a serious nation, capable of rubbing shoulders with countries like the US, the EU, China, Korea or Brazil.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

A PRIME MINISTER'S MUSINGS! KNOWN PROBLEMS, NO SOLUTION!

Rising food prices in almost all countries have focused on the nutrition and health of people who are most vulnerable because of poor economic conditions. According to the FAO there are at least 30 poor countries in the world where food riots can happen if global food inflation surges further. It appears many knowledgeable people believe that there is a link between climate change and food security, especially in some of the developing countries. Probably agriculture and land productivity are key factors that can influence nutrition and health and adequate attention has not been bestowed on these issues. it is not often realized that agriculture is the mainstay of a very large number of people and in a country like India more than half the labor population depend heavily on agriculture for the bulk of their incomes. Some studies in India do point out that some correlation exists between agricultural performance of a state and the nutritional status of its people. Those having high agricultural productivity invariably have lower malnutrition rates for both adults and children. Malnutrition and under nutrition are also influenced by ingrained eating habits and feeding practices involving new born babies, maternal and child health care and to some extent the safety of water available to some communities. Against this background Prime Minister of India recently opened his mind to place on record what perspectives he has regarding these issues..

The prime minister said malnutrition remained a serious problem in India and many developing countries. Globally, nearly 1 billion people still went hungry. Nearly one in four children under age of five was underweight. The problem of hidden hunger—deficiencies of essential vitamins and minerals, such as iron, Vitamin A and iodine — was also severe. Nutrition was therefore a serious challenge that had not received the attention it truly deserved. In India, rapid growth in agriculture with particular emphasis on the sub sectors growing food and on the poorer regions would help address issues of availability and access. But, experience had also shown that rapid growth in the GDP in general and, even agriculture in particular, though necessary, was not sufficient to produce desirable nutritional and health outcomes among the socially and economically disadvantaged groups of the community. There were other causes that needed to be addressed. "We need to address the issues of absorption of nutrition, health and hygiene, which in turn depend on many other factors such as the availability of clean drinking water, sanitation and also on the education and status of women in society. We do not see agricultural development as the only element in our strategy but it is nonetheless a key part of any viable strategy."

Of course no one should have any quarrel with him regarding the problems as illustrated by him but what is missing is the palliative he has in mind to overcome this complex problem. Having headed the government at the center for more than 7 years one expects clear cut answers for dealing with these issues of food, nutrition and health, in stead of long sermons. The record of GOI does not inspire confidence that any thing tangible will happen during the next 3 years when another election is on the people. Providing huge subsidies to the farming sector did not prevent them from committing suicide. The much mismanaged PDS and the grandiose scheme of providing food grains at throw away prices did not improve the conditions of the poor a wee bit. A honest citizen, paying his taxes and living by the rule book has become a silent spectator to financial scams, occurring under the very nose of the Prime Minister and the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. How can this country hope to become a super economic power with almost half its population languishing in poverty and hunger? Development seems to be only for the privileged ones while the majority is slipping more and more into perpetual misery! Probably with deep faith in God they may be willing to wait for a savior who can redeem them from the abysmal depth of desperation.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com