The year 2018 started with the launch of the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 March. Now christened POSHAN Abhiyaan, it aims to drastically reduce the prevailing high incidence of malnutrition, stunted growth and anaemia. The multi-ministerial convergence mission has been rolled out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with the vision to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.
This year also saw the government giving a boost to the food processing sector. At the 13th edition of Annapoorna World of Food India 2018 organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Koelnmesse GmBH in September, Rajiv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Department of Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry highlighted that the food processing sector is one of the emerging sectors in India and the government will relax foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations to take this sector ahead.
The regulatory body Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) also caught our attention this year during the launch of the national campaign ‘The Eat Right Movement’ to improve public health and combat lifestyle diseases. Alongside, FSSAI also launched Eat Right tool kit and Safe and Nutritious Food at Workplace campaign.
With so much happening this year, NuFFooDS Spectrum reached out to the industry players to get their reviews on how the year went by-
2018 was a year of publications for the Sami-Sabinsa Group. Several new scientific publications have come out from clinical studies conducted previously. Just on our curcumin brand alone, Curcumin C3 Complex®, we have surpassed 100 publications that cite directly this branded ingredient. Additionally, thirteen Sami–Sabinsa Group staff members involved in implementing the 21 CFR part 117 regulations at all of the company’s manufacturing facilities in India have been trained and certified by the Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance (FSPCA) as Preventive Control Qualified Individuals (PCQI).
Dr. Muhammed Majeed, Founder & Chairman, Sami-Sabinsa Group
From over 2 years of research driven effort, Arjuna Natural Ltd came up with SHODEN – a branded Ashawagandha extract with its efficacy proven to the highest level. The efficacy was achieved through development of a proprietary process which initially involved detoxification process & further development of protection system to deliver the ingredient safely in the gut. The product was successfully launched at the supply side trade show during the month of November 2018 & our research was well accepted during the show.
Benny Antony, PhD, Joint Managing Director for Arjuna
PureCircle has begun test-farming several locations in India with its Starleaf stevia variety, which contains over 20x of the best-tasting stevia sweeteners, like Reb M, than other stevia plant variants. India has the land, climatic condition, farming expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to contribute significantly to global demand of naturally-sourced, non-GMO stevia sweeteners. The Company has announced plans to increase plantings of its Starleaf stevia variety to supply significantly more Reb M to global beverage and food companies. PureCircle sells a broad line of great-tasting, plant-based, zero-calorie stevia sweeteners and other stevia ingredients.
Navneet Singh, Head, South-East Asia Region, PureCircle
This year Mérieux NutriSciences launched in India the second edition of its Blue Paper entitled ‘European Food Safety Trends, Key Issues and Perspectives’. The Blue Paper aims to help customers better understand food related health issues and have an enhanced vision of future food safety challenges. The food regulations in the Indian market are now changing. With our services in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, we are supporting the industry with the best of the international knowledge and the methods which are utilized and adopted in the developed countries.
Dr. Pankaj Jaiminy, MD, Merieux NutriSciences India
In the last one year, our brand has grown significantly and is standing in the elite list of top 5 brands in India. At the recently held 4th National Symposium on Nutraceuticals organized by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Tirupati Group’s Nutraceutical division received the Best Nutraceuticals Manufacturing Company award. The Nutraceuticals industry is a very fast-growing industry, under the umbrella of FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).
Ashok Goyal, Director, Tirupati Group
Interestingly, 2018 was a great year for the company. As far as achievements are concerned, we ended up creating sustainable weight loss for over 3000 clients and have managed to establish Food Darzee as a brand which is known for results and taste.
Dr. Siddhant Bhargava, Co-Founder, Fitness and Nutritional Scientist, Food Darzee
Pristine’s range of products have been welcomed in major chains of modern trade outlets like Big Bazaar, D Mart and Metro to name a few. Increase in organic foods awareness among consumers has subsequently increased the demand for Organic foods in the modern trade segment which was an advantage to our business.
K C Raghu, Founder & MD, Pristine Organics
‘Health and being healthy’ was paramount concern in 2018 but we also saw a positive evolution in consumers who were well-informed and armed with knowledge when it comes to what healthy means to them. Consumers have gained insight and understanding on effectively reading food labels and nutritional information to choose an authentic healthy product. Even then the biggest hurdle we faced in 2018 was to set our product apart from unhealthy, sugar filled candy bars hyped as energy bars.
Rishit Sanghvi, Founder, Wholesome Habits
The year 2018 so far, has been a very good year for us and we have seen a good growth in sales primarily in the Online & Modern Trade Channels. Though the customers are becoming more aware about the Organic Category and they want to try Organic products. But the major challenge lies in building the trust on Organic.
Varun Gupta, Founder & CEO, Pro Nature Organic Foods
2018 has been an impeccable year for Equinox with exceptional performances by our employees. The company has been able to achieve a marvelous feat. An equivalent amount of growth can be seen in different departments of the organization. Last year we saw the entry of several elite brands for whom we developed customised service packages.
Ashwin Bhadri, CEO, Equinox Labs
Over the last few years, there have been significant changes in the national regulatory frameworks governing food standards & food safety. Regulations brought on ‘food recall’, ‘organic food’, ‘food import’, ‘product approval’, ‘nutraceuticals’, ‘auditing’ et cetera were need of the hour and their implementation is an acknowledgment of the food safety concern. There are still certain aspects of food safety and standardization which need upgradation like labelling, display, packaging, claims et cetera. Draft regulations have been circulated for public comments to upgrade these aspects of the food safety laws and very soon we can expect it to be upgraded as per the needs of the public and industry.
Kunal Kishore, Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan
The main key achievement for the year 2018 is that, Hapima -Fried rice mix has become the No-1 brand in Tamil Nadu market for Fried rice mix seasoning category. Hapima -Crispy Fry mix has become the 3rd highest selling Fry mix seasoning in Tamil Nadu market. Also we have entered into the Karnataka Market to sell our product range through distributor channel. We are currently successfully selling our product across 64,000 shops in Tamil Nadu, which has grown subsequently by 18 per cent compare to last financial year.
Govinda Biswas, Marketing Manager, Ajinomoto India