News on Indian Food 2008

2008-08-03 Food Crisis Exposes Failings of Indias Agricultural Reforms - Mainstream Weekly

FACING public outrage on rising food prices, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, took refuge under the cover of such statements that inflation is a global phenomenon. Even though it is a global phenomenon and food riots have been witnessed in more than 30 countries, the food crisis in India has been primarily caused by the pro-market and market-biased policies of the government. Indians (along with the Chinese) have been accused of eating more due to rising prosperity resulting in the global food shortages. But the per capita food consumption and calorie intake indicates that irrespective of the current inflationary trend, the majority of our people in India is facing hunger and starvation since the liberalisation policies were introduced. The irony is that though the signs of the food and agriculture crisis were

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This article was written sometime back but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. Editor The recent escalation in food prices is (. )

2008-10-17 Media For Freedom - news, articles and views e-magazine

The FAO report further says that in 2007-08 there has been a 52 pct. increase in the price of grains and that of fertilizers has doubled. In India, the retail price of many food commodities have seen a sharp rise in the past six months- pushing the inflation level around 12 at the end of September. Experts have cited various reasons behind this food crisis like increasing population, growing inclination towards bio-diesel crops, weakening of US currency, frequent natural calamities. Even the US president blamed Indians of eating more due to growing purchasing power. But in Indian context the pro market biased policies of the government and "planned weakening" of Public Distribution System (PDS) to benefit corporate sector are responsible for food crisis. Though the signs of the food and agricultural crisis were noticed by

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2008-06-25 The essence of quick service - Express Hospitality

Samir Kuckreja holds the view that the Indian food retail market has enormous untapped potential. "As per a recent study, the Indian consumer, on an average spends Rs 35,000 crore on eating out in a year, of which the organised food retail market constitutes just Rs 2,500 crore. With only Rs 2,000 crore being spent on QSRs, we have over 100 million potential fast food customers to be tapped and served," he says. He believes that the growing disposable incomes and fast paced life is compelling people of all ages to take time out of their hectic life and explore the QSRs. With international brands and funds flowing into the Indian hospitality industry, Kuckreja feels that this will promote healthy competition in the market and would provide greater choice to all consumer segments.

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2008-05-10 Bush Says Starving India Eats Too Much

Annual per capita foodgrains consumption in the US is over five times that of India, and three times that of China, according to figures released by the US Department of Agriculture for 2007. On an average a US citizen consumes 1046 kg of grain, and around twenty times more meat and fish and sixty times more paper, gasoline, and diesel than the average Indian. But in India, since the entry of globalisation, the average per capita consumption of food grain has actually gone down from 177 kg per person to 155 kg per person: which is the same as the hunger levels seen during famine in times of the British Raj. And in India, foodgrains absorption is rising fast for the (mainly urban) middle class,

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2008-05-17 India to America: Eat Less, Fatties - TIME

Bushs wording was perhaps simplistic, a point U. S. diplomats have been at pains to rectify as they try to dampen the food fight between the two countries. But Bush was not completely wrong, either. Theres no doubt that China and Indias growing middle classes are consuming more and different types of food. As people get richer they tend to eat more meat and dairy products, for instance, and thats exactly whats happening in China and India. That growing demand will naturally push up prices over the long term. But its debatable whether the huge price run-ups in the past few months for staples such as rice and corn can be pinned on China and India alone. Short-term factorssuch as the huge boom in biofuel production and the skyrocketing cost of fuel that has pushed up fertilizer and transport prices1play a big part too.

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Analysis: Indians are outraged over President Bushs comment about the cause of soaring food prices, but politicians and pundits should stop pointing fingers - India food Bush United States

2008-09-12 Food standards: Hoopla or need- Guest Writer-Opinion-The Economic Times

Traceability is the ability to track the movement of the food through all the stages of production, processing and distribution. The system traces the food product right back to the producer to verify inputs used, laboratory tests performed, phyto-sanitary certificate, grading/packing details, etc. Countries like the US, EU, New Zealand, etc, have built traceability into their food standards. It is not too costly, and permits easy pin down of sub-standard batches to their source and thus aids food recall, if required. This makes damage control quicker and limits legal and financial liabilities. Amidst EU concerns over high pesticide residue level, traceability was initiated for Indian grapes in 2006. This permits the importing countries to track the food chain to assess FSQ and thereby improve their confidence in our agri

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2008-05-12 The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) Opinion All about food

Meanwhile, some other developments are taking place, some of which may be helpful and some not. It is now being more widely acknowledged that, while bio-fuel supplementation of fossil fuels does extend energy availability, its impact on global carbon emission and hence global warming is no less harmful, while taking up land which would otherwise be used for food production. Second, agricultural productivity in countries like India is significantly below the best in class standards. That the potential for raising farm productivity and incomes are indeed enormous, especially in India, has been known but very little has been done in this regard. Third, to quickly improve food availability, agricultural land being kept uncultivated in developed economies should be rapidly brought back into production. There are many short- and

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2008-06-28 State College Business Centre Daily

During the period 2006-07, the Indian food processing industry witnessed growth from 7 pct. to 13. 1 pct. As a result it is hailed as the sunshine industry in India. The food processing industry has emerged as one of the major drivers of economic growth and is expected to continue in future. Growing economy, surplus food and a shift in the consumption pattern, from cereals to more varied and nutritious diet of fruit and vegetables, milk, fish, meat and poultry products, has been the key factors behind the growth of the sector. At present, the industry is seeking for investments to create necessary infrastructure, state-of-the-art-technology and expand production facilities to match the international quality and standards. Additionally, Indian Governments proactive measures like de-licensing of the sector, several duty and tax relief,

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2008-02-26 India: Starvation deaths due to administrative neglect WORLD NEWS MyNews. in:

The corrupt caucus between the law enforcement agencies, landlords and their mafia, the local politicians and an inept, negligent and corrupt administrative set-up, together smother food security in India. Indias accession to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights took place on . Most of the rights enshrined in the Covenant have been included in domestic law in India. Like the right to food, many of these rights are justiciable, yet people starve to death in India. The failure of the Government of India to protect, promote and fulfil this fundamental human right is blight on Indias human rights record.

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2008-04-26 Food Forum India: Redefining the Indian food business - Express Hospitality

Other major players firming up Pan-India plans include Bharti-Walmart, AV Birla Group (Trinethra/More), Heritage Foods (Fresh @, Hypercity, Dairy Farm, (Foodworld), Nilgiris, Radhakrishna Foodland, Influx, Landmark Group (Spar), Mother Dairy and Safal and region specific expansion by Jubilant Group (Jumbo Saver and Monday 2 Sunday), Hopcoms and Margin Free in South, Adanis and Arambagh Foodmart in East India among others. Most major retailers are expected to foray in to cash and carry model, to structure backend and take full advantage of large scale production, procurement, processing and also to put supply chain and logistics mechanisms in place.

www.expresshospitality.com