Law for food processing industry soon

The government on Wednesday said a comprehensive law with a single regulatory authority for the food processing industry would soon be formulated and about 500 food parks set up to ensure higher growth.

"The group of ministers under the chairmanship of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is making all efforts to ensure that an integrated food law should be formed in a time-bound manner with a single food law and a single regulatory agency approach," Minister of State (Independent) for Agro and Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay said at a Ficci meet.

Addressing the conference, the minister said the earlier food parks were non-starters but new food processing centres or parks would be set up in almost all parliamentary constituencies to boost the growth rate in the food processing sector.

Expressing concern over adulteration affecting India's global market share, the minister said currently around 35 per cent of the products did not adhere to quality standards and unless internationally competitive quality and safety benchmarks were evolved, the industry would not be able to tap foreign markets to its true potential.

The infrastructure handicap remains a big threat and will affect the long-term interests of the industry in the WTO integrated environment.