Ministry of Food Processing Industries has two Institutes engaged in research and development activities in the food processing sector: i) National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), at Kundli, Sonepat, Haryana. NIFTEM has been recognized as a Deemed to be University under De Novo Category by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. NIFTEM has modern teaching and research laboratories. The Institute has commenced its academic program in 2012-13. ii) Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. This is also an academic-cum-research Institute under the Ministry. The Institute formerly known as Paddy Processing Research Centre (PPRC) has been upgraded into a national- level institute in 2008. The Institute has modern teaching laboratories and a food processing incubation and training centre. Both the Institutes are mandated to undertake research in various aspects of food processing. In addition, various Institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture are undertaking research in food technology. Institutions like Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, Karnataka under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), under Ministry of Science & Technology; Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, Karnataka under Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, and various State Universities and their affiliated colleges are also carrying out research in different sectors of food processing/ technology. This information was given by the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
