Chill your meal
Francis Stalder gets into the specifics of cold chain
monitoring, as she explains its significance for the
growth of Indian food processing industry
India holds the second largest arable
surface in the world and various agroclimatic
zones. It has tremendous
production advantages in agriculture, with the
potential to cultivate a vast range of
agricultural products. Because of its strong
base in agriculture, it provides a large and
varied raw material base for food processing.
India is the third largest producer of food in
the world. With an annual production of 74.3
million tonnes (203.5 million litres per day), it
is the world's largest producer of liquid milk,
besides being the second largest producer of
fruits and vegetables in the world with an
annual production of 150 million tonnes.
Similarly, India has an annual production of
485 million livestock (largest livestock
population in the world), 212 million tonnes
of food grains (third largest producer in the
world) and a significant production of eggs,
poultry and seafood.
However, processing levels are low in the
country. Conservative estimates put
processing levels in the fruits and vegetables
sector at two per cent, in the poultry sector at
six per cent, in the milk sector at 35 per cent
(only 13 per cent in modern dairies), in the
marine products sector at eight per cent and
at 21 per cent in the buffalo meat sector.
And as a consumer, India, with a
population of 1.08 billion growing at about
1.7 per cent per annum, is a large and growing
market for food products. Food is the single
largest component of private consumer
expenditure, accounting for as much as
49 per cent of the total. Further, the upward
mobility of income classes and the increasing
need for convenience and hygiene will drive
demand for perishable, non-food staples and
processed foods.
However, despite substantial raw material
base and inherent strength in this sector, the
growth of food processing industry has been
sub-optimal because of the high cost and low
level of domestic demand. Processing level in
fruits and vegetables is as low as two
per cent, thus leading to a huge loss of
