40% food products get damaged due to poor packaging: IIP

Either flavour of products is lost or the food was gets stale due to improper packaging

About 35-40% of food products are being damaged or lost due to poor packaging in India, a top official of the Indian Institute of Packaging said today.

Either flavour of products was getting less or the food was getting stale due to improper packaging, particularly processed food made by cottage industries, which use candle and sealing machine to pack the covers, Madhav Chakraborthy, Joint Director, IIP, Hyderabad told reporters here.

Moreover, there was some stipulated norms in packaging food products, depending on its shelf life and also marketing, whether domestic or export, which a large section of the producers were not adhering to, he said.

Chakraborthy, here as part of a National workshop in packaging of whole and ground spices, jointly organised by Ministry of Food Processing Industries, tomorrow, said there was the need to create awareness among traders and also general public in this regard.

The aim of the workshop is to enhance the knowledge of packaging among the producers of whole and ground spices, with a view to increasing their local trade besides its export potential, Chakraborthy said.

Stating that India exported spices to nearly 130 countries, with export potential higher under trade liberalisation, he said pepper constituted 45% of the spices being exported with a total value of Rs 400 crore.