New labelling guidelines hit F&B industry hard ahead of the festival season

By Ratna Bhushan & Ishani Duttagupta| 28 September 2014, 10:01 AM IST

The festival season has kicked off but it's more famine than feast for food and beverage marketers. The reason for the gloom is the stringent implementation of food safety norms by the government regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); this has resulted in delay over approvals of import consignments, a lot of which have been held up at ports.
The list of F&B firms hit by the FSSAI is long: GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Ferrero Group, Tata Starbucks, Lindt chocolates, Cadbury, Mars, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, William Grant & Sons and Brown Forman. Around 300 containers worth roughly Rs 18,000 crore are stuck at ports just ahead of the festive season, said a top official of a chocolate importer, requesting not to be named. This, he said, includes consignments of imported chocolates, liquor and canola oil.

With Diwali just around the corner, liquor majors and restaurants are in a blue funk over their depleted stocks of imported premium liquor. But before the festival of lights comes the German beer festival Oktoberfest, which has already kicked off. "We usually serve a dozen German beers during Oktoberfest. But with imported consignments having been sent back due to non-compliant food labels, there is no visibility of any stock this year and we have only four German brands," says Rahul Singh, founder and CEO, The Beer Cafe.

The FSSAI labelling regulation requires the logo/license number, ingredients, importer name, batch number, packing and expiry date of imports to be displayed. Shipments have been sent back from the ports following even minor errors in the labels. In fact, the FSSAI has been very stringent in enforcing the law since July 2014, as the companies started building up stocks for the festival season.

Singh doesn't see the FSSAI issue getting resolved soon. "Most of the large beer companies in the world have a standard label that is globally acceptable. The India orders are meagre and these large corporations don't want to change labels only for India," he points out.
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Food processed is food saved: Harsimrat

TNN | 27 September 2014, 6:00 PM IST

LUDHIANA: Stressing on the need to check wastage in agriculture sector, which is estimated at over Rs 44,000 crore, Union minister for food processing industry Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Friday that her main aim was that processed products should not be limited to elite sections only, but should be within the reach of "aam aadmi" too. Wastage could be reduced if farmers took advantage of food processing industry. "Food processed is food saved," she added.

She said a mega food park was coming up at Fazilka and it would be inaugurated in October. "One such park is also coming up near Ludhiana soon," she added.

Badal said her ministry would concentrate on creating primary collection centres close to food production areas to bring in efficiency in food processing and reduce wastages. "According to a study conducted by Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) in 2010, 18% of the total produce gets wasted. To achieve efficiency, the ministry will create an enabling environment, including creating refrigeration facilities at all levels," she added. "Due to wastage of food, the market availability declines and it directly leads to inflation. So if we control wastage by taking help of food processing industry, we can control inflation. I am going to Ahmadabad on Saturday where we will study the model adopted by Amul," she said.

She even urged farmers to adopt organic farming as well as processing fruits and vegetable into non-alcoholic wines. She asked PAU vice-chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon to hold a monthly meeting where he should brief her about the ways in which farmers can be benefitted from food processing.

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Food safety standards should not be arbitrary: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

PTI Sep 22, 2014, 08.56PM IST

NEW DELHI: Expressing concerns over imported food items getting stuck in customs, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said safety standards should not be arbitrary and detrimental to the industry.

Huge consignments carrying food processing ingredients are lying at ports due to the new labelling norms of the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

The matter has been taken up with the PMO and the Health Ministry, she told reporters while briefing her ministry's 100-days initiatives.

"Ingredients imported by the processing industry are lying at the customs as there are certain ingredients on which industry is having issues with FSSAI. It has been taken up with Health Ministry and a solution should be found very soon. The system needs to be very transparent," Badal said.

Badal said the food processing sector should be provided a level-playing field.

"Systems should not be arbitrary. While maintaining the food safety standards, it should also encourage the industry. So, if industry is having some issues that need to be addressed," Badal said.

The Minister said she has met Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and discussed the industry's issues related to FSSAI.

The matter has also been brought under the notice of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), she added.

Badal said there is no proposal to bring FSSAI under the Food Processing Ministry from the purview of Health Ministry.

FSSAI has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various ministries and departments.

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Amul marketeer GCMMF becomes 15th top global dairy organisation.

PTI | 25 September 2014, 6:52 AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets its products under popular brand 'Amul', has risen to 15th position among top dairy organisations of world in 2014 from the 20th rank within two years.

"GCMMF, which markets the popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products, is the fastest growing dairy organisation in the entire world," the company said in a release today.

"In 2014, AMUL has risen to 15th rank among the top dairy organisations of the world, as per the figurers released by International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN)- a leading, global dairy knowledge organisation," it said.

"This has been the fastest rise by any top-ranking dairy organisations across the globe. Just two years back (in 2012), Amul was ranked 20 in the list of top global dairy organisations," it said.

Amul has been one of the dairies that has increased its milk procurement by 40 per cent from 2007, the report said, adding that it had procured 4.8 billion litre milk in year 2013-14.

"Credit for this wonderful achievement goes to 33 lakh farmers of Gujarat who own Amul and whose entire dedication, hard work and commitment to excellence has resulted in this accomplishment," Amul Managing Director R S Sodhi said.

"GCMMF plans to achieve turnover of Rs 22,000 crore in year 2014-15," he said.

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Industry does not want to be regulated; Just wants to make money: Dave

Thursday, September 25, 2014 08:00 IST,
Abhitash Singh, Mumbai

Sanjay Dave, chairman, Codex Alimentarius Commission, and advisor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said that self-regulation was the need of the hour for the food industry, and warned that it wouldn’t be able to do so because it didn’t want to be regulated, but was keener to make money.


He was speaking at the sixth National Food Research and Development (R&D) seminar, organised in Mumbai on Wednesday by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in association with FSSAI and the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI).

One of the topics discussed at the meet, which was attended by representatives of the industry, the government, the regulators and consumer bodies, was food safety and the need for the industry, the government and the regulators to work in tandem for the benefit of the consumers, who were, after all, at the receiving end.

“The new challenges that are cropping up are unknown to the industry. So, they remain unaddressed, and this, in turn, leads to issues that concern the health of the consumers,” Dave stated, urging not only FSSAI, but also other sectors of the food business, including exporters, to work closely with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).    

He added, “Implementing good agriculture practices is also very important. There are also continuous deliberations by the Codex Alimentarius Commission on the likely effects of climate change in India. Codex always thinks about these issues and takes them into consideration.”

“We need to know of consumer choices. The ministries of food processing industries; agriculture; food, consumer affairs and public distribution system, commerce and health, and FSSAI have to work in synergy to encourage scientists to come up with many more innovations and also regulations,” Dave stated. 

“Harmonisation is going to complete in the middle of October, and it would be going to the scientific committee for approval. We are following science and implementing science-based standards for the safety of food,” he added.

“A number of other issues related to the food safety were discussed by the experts, representative of the government, FSSAI representatives and consumer forum representatives,” Dave said.

There were discussion on various topics such as safe food and Better Business: Two Sides of a Coin.

The panellists included Dr J J Lewis, member of scientific panel for labelling and claims/advertisements (who spoke about ‘Dimension of Food Safety: Evolving with Science’); Sanjay Sharma, chief executive officer, MTR Foods (who spoke on ‘Diversity in Business: Traversing Food Safety’), and Prakash Sanghavi of the Food Ingredient Manufacturers and Suppliers Association of India (who spoke about ‘Converging Choice and Safety through Horizontal Standards’). The topic was chaired by Anuradha Prasad, joint secretary, MoFPI.

The topic on ‘Food Safety Net: Where does India stand’ was chaired by Dave. The panellists included Dr Roger Bektash, director, scientific affairs, Australia and Asia, Mars (who spoke about ‘Building Blocks of Response Mechanism to Global Interactions); Dr Sitaram Dixit, chairman, Consumer Guidance Society of India (who spoke about the lessons learned from food safety outbreaks), and Dr Sangeeta Sharma, senior surgeon, poultry research and farm, Government of Madhya Pradesh (who spoke about the National Food Safety Grid).

The last topic of the event was Food Safety: Linking Consumer, Processes and Markets. It was chaired by Dr Bektash, and the panellists included Tejas Bhatt, director, Global Traceability Centre, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), United States (who spoke about the Challenge to Track my Food: Global Supply Chain); Ramakrishnan Narasimhan, registrar’s director, UL, USA (who spoke about ‘Mending Single Road for Different Countries: Certification Standards), and Bejon Misra from Consumer Voice (who spoke about ‘Challenges in Managing Food Recall: An Indian Scenario’).

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USDA: Online retail for food and grocery to soar in India

By Andrew Schreiber, 23-Sep-2014

India’s online retail market for food and groceries is set to soar thanks to growing internet and smartphone penetration, a new report by the US Department of Agriculture has revealed.

According to the report, growth in India’s online food and grocery retailing segment is a function of the rise in total internet users from 120m to 213m in the past year, a fall in mobile handset prices and a rise in smartphone penetration.

Online food and grocery retailing sites have increased from 14 in 2013 to 44 as of September 2014, targeting younger and professional population segments.

Target Audience

The report pointed out that Indian consumers are overcoming biases against purchasing items without prior inspection and the safety of automated online transactions.

“This shifting tendency is brought about by competitive pricing and the convenience of shopping for groceries from the comfort of one’s own home.

“Consumers are seeing that online retail provides some benefits over going to independent small grocers or store-based retailers’ outlets,” the report said.

In addition, the availability of multiple payment methodologies such as online banking, credit cards, debit cards and cash-on-delivery have meant that it is convenient for urban Indian consumers to shop online while saving both time and money, it added.

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Vikram Bakshi offers to sell 50% equity in McDonald's JV for Rs 2500 crore

By Ratna Bhushan | 22 September 2014, 7:07 AM IST

NEW DELHI: McDonald's estranged joint venture partner Vikram Bakshi has offered to sell his 50% equity in the joint venture firm Connaught Plaza Restaurants, back to the US burger and fries chain for Rs 2,500 crore and put an end to their legal tussle, two people aware of the developments said.
"The valuation of Rs 2,500 crore is market-related. Bakshi wants to use the stock market value of Westlife Development, which runs McDonald's outlets in the west and south through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants, as a benchmark if he were to finally exit the joint venture," one of them said. "The valuation of Westlife is around Rs 5,000 crore, so 50% of CPRL (Connaught Plaza Restaurants) would be Rs 2,500 crore, given that the businesses are largely the same."

This person said that even if McDonald doesn't agree to pay Rs 2,500 crore, discussions may lead to an amount that could be 20% lower. CPRL operates McDonald's outlets in north and east India.

The other official said Bakshi has informally communicated the valuation to McDonald's.

The offer to exit was also communicated during the ongoing Company Law Board proceedings between the two, where Bakshi alleged that the US major did not treat him equally while giving preferential treatment to its other partner in India Westlife.

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Labelling norms hit hotel menus

By Amin Ali & Jayashree Nandi | 21 September 2014, 12:45 PM IST

NEW DELHI: New instructions from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on labelling of imported food and alcohol have sent city hoteliers 
and restaurateurs into a tizzy.

Consignments of black olives, a few brands of olive oil, a popular Swiss chocolate brand, a number of gluten-free products, nachos, Southeast Asian sauces and noodles, certain wines, beer and scotch whisky have either been rejected or stalled at various ports causing massive financial loss. If this continues, Delhi's dreams of becoming the gourmet capital may soon end, say chefs.

An FSSAI notification in July on alcoholic beverages, for instance, mandates that except for single ingredient products, all products are required to display the list of ingredients on their label, they also have to mention the manufacturing and expiry date for each product. This is often not the norm in the countries from where alcohol is imported. A similar notification was also released for canola or rapeseed oil. Restaurant owners claim that because of such guidelines, chefs have to opt for 'inferior-quality' ingredients available locally while their imports continue to rot at ports.

Between January 2014 and June 2014, as many as 165 imported consignments were rejected at the Delhi airport mainly due to "non rectifiable labelling defects" and "non submission of product approval certificate". In total 981 consignments were rejected in ports across the country with a majority due to labelling issues, according to FSSAI's data. FSSAI officials, however, refused to comment. "We are going by our notifications. All details are on the website," said B G Pandian, assistant director (imports) at FSSAI.

Meanwhile, gourmet outlets say import delays are bad news ahead of the festive season. "The worst is the restriction on Swiss chocolate as it is in huge demand during the festive season. Gluten-free products are also becoming popular in India because of health reasons but now most of them have been stopped. For olive oil and sauces, we usually suggest alternatives," said an employee of Nature's Basket, a grocery store that stocks exotic ingredients and foods. Citing the guidelines, he said that the manufacturing date, expiry date and maximum retail price of a product should be mentioned by the manufacturer on its label. A label pasted by the importer won't help, he added.

At the INA market, many of these products were unavailable. "When they are not being imported, what can we do? We can only offer alternatives," said Gulshan Luthra, a shopkeeper.

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Amul MD Dr K Rathnam on the group's growth agenda

Amul eyes growth at home and abroad

By Poorna Rodrigo 2,Sept 2014 | 2 September 2014

Indian dairy giant Amul is gearing up for growth. The company is preparing a push into the value-added nutraceuticals sector in India while, further afield, the co-operative intends to expand in the US and start manufacturing in Europe and Singapore by early 2016. Newly-appointed managing director Dr K Rathnam speaks to just-food about Amul's future.

just-food: Upon your appointment as managing director, Amul said your focus is going to be "new technology, establishing start-ups abroad and new products". Could you elaborate what action will be taken?

Dr K Rathnam: Where new technology is concerned, I am planning to recover excess proteins from skimmed milk. Fractionation of proteins for higher bio-availability formulations, technological development for lactoferrin isolation and introducing the latest technologic processes in cheese processing are just a few [projects] to name.

When it comes to new products, we are working on developing nutraceutical products - low-cost nutritional products for malnourished children, value added products. We are also hoping to expand the bakery products line.

Establishing start-ups abroad is another area I am looking at. We have already established a contract manufacturing unit in the USA for the manufacturing and marketing of Amul products in USA and other countries. A similar kind of mechanism would be set up in Europe, Singapore.

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