“It is fitting that this report is being launched at India’s very first plant-based foods summit where we have taken the first step in bringing this report to life by creating a network of organizations, food handlers, startups, scientists, and policymakers.
— PBFIA Executive Director Sanjay Sethi
The inaugural Plant-Based Foods Summit, organized by India’s Plant Based Foods Industry Association recently in New Delhi saw support for the plant-based foods industry in India.
The Plant-Based Foods Summit ended with the presentation of a pivotal position paper, ‘The Dawn of a Plant-Based Age – India to lead the way to world food security and nutrition’ to Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the Plant-Based Foods Summit’s guest of honour.
This position paper was sponsored and developed in partnership with the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), a US-based trade organization led by CEO Rachel Dreskin who also gave a presentation during the event. The paper provided insights and an overview of the global plant-based foods market and potential opportunities that would enable India to lead the way to global food security and nutrition. This PBFIA flagship publication aimed to raise awareness among Indian policymakers about the need for supporting India’s young and expanding plant-based foods sector.
Prahlad Singh Patel supported the potential for India’s plant-based foods industry to expand. In his remarks to the summit attendees, he said: “By minimizing compliance, we can quickly develop this industry. I am urging the need to develop the scientific parameters and supply chains that will allow us to showcase the Indian cuisine culture that has represented us for centuries.”
PBFIA hopes to create a joint task force between the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to achieve key goals that would ensure India capitalising on the exponential potential of the plant-based foods sector.
PBFIA Executive Director Sanjay Sethi said, “It is fitting that this report is being launched at India’s very first plant-based foods summit where we have taken the first step in bringing this report to life by creating a network of organizations, food handlers, startups, scientists, and policymakers. Moving forward, we will campaign for policy reforms to eliminate trade restrictions and unfair practices that restrict the industry’s growth.”
“I am hopeful for what the collaboration between PBFA and PBFIA and our partners across the globe will yield and how that will bring us closer to the kind of food system and future that we all envision.”
— Rachel Dreskin, PBFA CEO
Key measures from the task force include strengthening attention on local manufacturing and the export of value-added products; initiatives to support regenerative agriculture to promote a sustainable food system and ease production via low-cost, efficient farming techniques; assistance for start-ups to help them make use of government support and facilitate connections with investors; establish attainable quality standards; ascertain efforts to establish cold chain facilities and processing units.
“Through the International Plant Based Foods Working Group, PBFA, PBFIA, and five other international trade organizations are coming together with the purpose of aligning on high-level strategy to address gaps and opportunities to advance the plant-based food sector globally,” said Rachel Dreskin. “I am hopeful for what the collaboration between PBFA and PBFIA and our partners across the globe will yield and how that will bring us closer to the kind of food system and future that we all envision.”
*************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com