Agreement on Food Safety Cooperation signed between Japan and India

Japan and India will work together on the issue of Food Safety Cooperation.

Japan and India share the importance of cooperation in the field of food safety for promoting investment in India by Japanese food companies and decided to strengthen the cooperation in this field. As per the announcement, a FSSAI delegation will visit Japan for strengthening food safety cooperation and a meeting for information exchange on food safety will be held, coinciding with this visit.

This announcement was followed by the signing of MoU between Ise Foods Inc. and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, as per which the Japanese Food major will invest approximately INR 217 crores in Poultry farm and egg processing, as part of its Ise-Suzuki India Mega Project, in Telangana, beginning next year. MoFPI will facilitate Ise foods for the establishment of the aforesaid project in India.

Mr. Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan stated that two very important announcements had been made today. These included the Agreement on the form of phytosanitary measures on the marine food trade between India and Japan and the second was the setting up of a Joint Working Group on Cold Chain between the two countries.

Mr Ashish Bahuguna, Chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) stated that the FSSAI was focussing on both food safety as well as nutritional value of the food. He was of the view that Japanese foods are known for their safety as well as their nutritional value. He stated that Japanese food has slowly been introduced into India and efforts were being made to adapt Japanese food to Indian tastes.

Mr. Parag Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries stated that the MoU with Ise Foods was a direct outcome of World Food India which was held in November 2017 in New Delhi. He was of the view that there was much more potential for Japanese companies to invest in India given the fact that it has the technology and know-how in terms of food processing.

Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President Designate, CII mentioned that Japan was the 'Partner Country'at World Food India 2017 organized by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), last year, with CII as the National Event Partner. This had effectively set in motion the transformatory process of the Indian food processing industry. The announcement of the Food Safety Cooperation between Japan and India and the MoU with Ise Foods Inc is a stepping stone in further strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two nations, he added.

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