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Meet on Food Processing Nucleus Organized at Khalsa College

A meet with the Captains of the Industry on Food Processing Nucleus was organized at Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) hall here today. The resource persons for the programme Dr. Chindi Vasudevappa, Vice-Chancellor, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM), Sonepat (Haryana) and Dr. Narayan Bhaskar, Advisor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said the government was committed to ensure safety standards of the food. 

KCGC Honorary Secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and  KCGC joint secretary, Chairpersons WWF for Nature and President, Dilbir Foundation Gunbir Singh introduced the theme of the meet earlier  and welcomed the delegates from all the industrial organizations including CII, PHDCCI, FIEO, Beopar Mandal, Focal Point Associations, Ricer Millers Associations, Food Processors Association of India and farmers and exporters, said the food safety is growing concern amongst the general public these days organizations. He said the experts will highlight the government’s policies and programs regarding the implementation of the law relating the food standards.

 Dr. C Vasudevappa in his key his key note address emphasized on the importance of Food Testing before the public consumption and assured the audience that as a step in this direction, the Ministry has proposed to undertake mapping of areas of fruits & vegetables and other perishable production in different states with the target to set up agro processing clusters. He spoke highly of the food science department of the historic Khalsa College and the industry oriented curriculum being taught which is in sync with the growing food processing industry.

 Dr. Bhaskar said food processing is extremely crucial to India’s growth story as agriculture sector today constitutes just 15 per cent of GDP but employ 60 per cent of our working population. ``So it is no rocket science that per capita income of people occupied in this activity is pathetically low." said he.

Chhina also earlier stressed on the dire need of setting up food testing infrastructure in Amritsar keeping in view its proximity and connectivity with Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
 Gunbir Singh said that the policy of setting up any Food Processing Unit should be based on the principle of inclusive growth in partnership with the stakeholder with the overarching goal of providing remunerative return to farmers. "The model policy should focus on development of clusters based on production strength of different regions to enable a targeted and coordinated approach for developing the food processing industry and bringing down wastages." said he.

 The discussion followed on identification of key areas of concern regarding food processing, small scale and traditional products in food business and the growing trends of organic farming. Principal Dr. Mehal Singh, KU VC Dr. GS Walia and others were present.