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Latest trends discussed at India Food & Nutrition Innovation Summit 2021
Experts gathered during the India Food & Nutrition Innovation Summit 2021″ (IFNIS 2021) to discuss the ’Trends in Food & Nutrition: Challenges, Opportunities & Way Forward’, on 27th October.
Shiva Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Tea and Foods, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) spoke on how the nutrition criteria have to be improved for the consumers to make an informed decision on what to eat, “We need to move from calories to nutrition. As a country we have made some moves to become calorie sufficient but the composition of the calories is what we need to focus on. We need to balance it better and have more proteins. It is overloaded in favour of carbs and sugar. So that is where we see the opportunity to move from calorie-sufficiency to nutrition-sufficiency.”
Speaking on R&D he said, “R&D is obviously crucial and we support innovation. We cannot do everything ourselves and we have done a lot of jobs in collaboration with academia or government.”
Murtaza Bakir, Country Manager, Sri Lanka and India, Mintel opined on similarities and differences in the food and beverage market in India when compared globally, “Consumers are looking for more functional health-related claims that are more targeted and specific. We are seeing more and more health related claims in every day categories like snacks, bakery, tea, etc. and not just in traditional areas like baby foods, dairy.”
VS Kannan Sitaram, Venture Partner, Fireside Ventures, spoke on trends in the nutrition industry, “There is this very strong surge on what is the healthier thing for my family and me to consume. But protein supplements are expensive as they are imported. So we need to ask why these health supplements should be tariffed and research on how to use home-grown products. There is a huge move towards fresher and safer foods. The third trend is the move to veganism. There are alt meats which have been developed but they are 2-3 times the cost of real meat. So we need better research on how to bring down the price and make it much more affordable.”
Deepika Bhan, President, Packaged Foods, Tata Consumers Products, talked on how the future of India looks from this perspective, “ I think that the number of products that we will see on shelves which are allowing you to stick to home-cooking but making it easier is something that can be ensured and I find that very interesting as a business builder. It is opening up innovation in food and food processing.”
Being a malnourished country, India is seeing opportunities and responsibly rising to the occasion to provide nutritious and fortified products for public consumption. This growing trend can effectively combat triple malnutrition and micronutrients deficit in the country providing better food security to people from all income grades.
FICCI in collaboration with Thinking Forks Consulting, and in association with NuFFooDS Spectrum, has organised “India Food & Nutrition Innovation Summit 2021” (IFNIS 2021) from 27th – 28th October 2021 virtually, with the objective of showcasing New Age Disruptive Food Products, Technologies and Scientific Advances in Food & Nutrition Ecosystem fostering towards a Healthier India. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is the government partner for this event.