Fusion treats
Collaborations within the food industry seems to be the
flavour of the season. And teasing your taste buds with a
Chinese 'vada pav' or Australian cookies with chutney
toppings may just be the end result. Like every other
industry, the Indian food sector is all set to be part of the
macro culture. Meera Nair and Aditi Gangavkar find out
about the scrumptious servings ahead
There's a bit of India, in eateries around
the world. Undoubtedly, with Indian
chutney for example, being the rage in
as far out countries as France. Today, Indian
chutney is being hailed as a symbol of modern
cuisine by the French. And one can find a
225g pot of Sharwood's Mango Chutney or a
200g pot of Raajmahal Chutney Lime Pickle
in any upmarket food store in France.
Having said that, there's a bit of
continental and oriental fare in Indian
kitchens as well. The Indian gourmet has
welcomed foreign collaborations in the food
industry with open arms. This holds true for
food products that find their way into the
country through exports and the
globalisation process, which has
introduced our country
to international food
habits not to mention
the obvious business
opportunities.
All this has led
to collaborations of
Indian companies
with its foreign
counterparts in the form of
joint ventures (JVs),
franchisees, licensing etc.,
depending upon the ultimate
objective of the alliance be it
production and/or marketing. (See
box on page 17).
So, how are international food majors
making the most of these trade prospects in
the Indian subcontinent?
In May this year, Taiyo Kagaku Company,
from Japan, entered into a formal agreement
with Jain Irrigation Systems, for production of
individually quick frozen (IQF) food products.
An IQF facility as per the Japanese standards
has been set-up at Jalgaon and trial
production has commenced. Taiyo has
established a 100 per cent EOU facility at
Aurangabad, as a joint venture with Lucid
Group. This plant produces high value edible
fibre using Taiyo's proprietary technology.
Under the agreement, Jain Irrigation will
initially produce frozen mango slices and dices
and, thereafter, venture into other fruits such
as banana, guava etc.
Recently, the Australian agriculture
minister for the State of Victoria, Bob
Cameron, said, "We believe there is potential
for our food processing industries to have
joint ventures with Indian units and this is as
important to us as exporting our processed
food to your country." Mr Cameron evinced
an interest in finding a market for processed
food products from Victoria, including fruit
juices and wine besides appointing a trade
envoy in India for this purpose.
On the trade front, Chile for example is
looking to expand its fruit and wine exports to
India. Chile's minister of agriculture, Jaime
Campose recently said, Chile would look to ....
....C
O N T D
TO
READ FURTHER... SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR
COPY TODAY!!!
