Basic research in food processing is being neglected: govt

Basic research in the food processing sector has been neglected in the country so far, but the government plans to check the trend through a detailed master plan being formulated as part of the 12th Five-Year Plan, a senior government official said today.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) has started preparing a master plan for the sector that will be submitted as a proposal for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

"The issues of basic research on food sciences in the food processing sector have so far been neglected and which we aim to check with a detailed master plan that will be a part of the 12th Five-Year Plan proposals," MOFPI Secretary Ashok Sinha told reporters here.

The next Five-Year plan should stress on finding answers to the problems in the food processing sector by working with the people who have been involved with this industry, Sinha added.

Speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholder consultation session to identify focus areas in research and development (R&D) in the area of food processing, Sinha noted that the next Five-Year Plan will develop a detailed roadmap for R&D in the sector.

Another official with the ministry elaborated that R&D in the food processing sector is slowly growing and it is a major thrust area for the government.

"The government has allocated Rs 8 crore in the 2011-12 fiscal for R&D in the food processing sector. This amount can be increased further if a need is felt," MOFPI Joint Secretary U Venkatesarlu said.

In the past fiscal, the ministry had an R&D budget of Rs 6 crore and it cleared 17 projects, he added.

Stressing on the urgent need for R&D in food processing, Ministry of Science and Technology Secretary T Ramasami said that a consortium-based model with public-private partnership (PPP) can be developed.

"A similar model had been developed for the leather industry that faced a closure notice on the issue of waste management. Not only is the model a success, but it also saved a lot of jobs," Ramasami said.

Most industries in the food processing sector cannot afford R&D, so a better alternative is that a group of industries or associations come together and through a PPP, form an R&D unit, he advised.

"We need to realise the potential of R&D in food processing by coordinating traditional practices with modern techniques," Ramasami said.

The consultation was organised by the MOFPI.