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Food Processing Industry: From farm to shelf
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Saturday, 19 December, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Oliver Mirza
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fiogf49gjkf0d When one is shopping for food, one may think that words such as fresh, local, organic, and never processed mean healthier choices, right? When one hears the word processed in the context of food, what comes to one’s mind? Commercially prepared, stimulated or fake, stale in a can or box, and the list goes on. But one will be surprised that most of the food that one eats today is “processed.”
Food processing began about two million years ago when our distant ancestors put flame to food and “discovered” cooking. After that came other primitive forms in food processing such as fermenting, drying, preserving with salt, and so on. This ultimately led to the modern food processing methods of today.
Metamorphosis
The food processing Industry has undergone a total metamorphosis in terms of types, variety, quality and presentation. It has also been instrumental in educating and exposing today’s consumers to the varied opportunities and benefits of including processed foods in their daily meal courses.
So, let’s first understand the need for processing food. It’s primarily to preserve the nutritious value of food and to make it available all around the year and across different geographies. Modern food processing techniques and innovations in food processing science have helped in establishing various energy-saving methods to ensure retention of freshness, nutrients, vitamins, minerals, flavours and its natural colour.
Wide range of products
India’s food processing industry has a wide range of products that include fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood and poultry; dairy and dairy products; fermented foods and drinks; grains, cereals and millets; bakeries; confectionery; nutraceuticals; ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook; sauces and spreads, and so on and currently ranks fifth in the world in exports, production and consumption. Though the ready-to-eat market is bourgeoning, the ready-to-prepare market has already witnessed a reasonable amount of traction amongst the urban households.
As far as the sector is concerned, India is definitely not lagging behind. In fact, it’s rapidly moving towards becoming a globally important market for the consumption and manufacturing of processed foods. Clearly, the potential of Indian food processing industry has never been in doubt but its importance as a key growth driver is being realised now. Today it’s being addressed as one of the key sectors and its contribution to the socio-economic conditions of the country is immense. According to a report by FICCI, the industry is estimated to be around US$180 billion (Rs 8 lakh crore), and it contributes about 1.3-1.5% to India’s GDP. The growing urbanisation, emerging cosmopolitan culture, the influx of multiple foreign food chains, exposure to Western condiments and food items, globalisation of Indian food has contributed to the growth of this sector.
Important place
In India, more than any other sector, food lives at the very centre of 1.2 billion lives. There is no greater influence than on well being. There is no greater way to show love and affection. There is no more defining expression of culture and identity. There is no better way to feel the warmth of comfort, happiness and home. In India, everyone is a foodie. We want to eat, cook and experiment but at our own convenience. And perhaps more than any other place on the planet, food brands mean far more than what we eat. They are an extension of us.
Food holds a complex place in our lives. We want it delicious, we want it to be nutritious, we want it quick, and we want it easy. Today, both men and women, husband and wife, child and mother are looking at easy ways to cook, fun-to-eat, convenient food options and thus the growth of processed food items. To be honest, we have seen the rebirth of today’s dining scenario, as consumers are including processed food items to make their everyday food yummier and also to create fancy dishes by using ingredients like Mayonnaise, spreads, sauces. Such food items now rule our taste buds and have found a place from farms to supermarkets and now to our kitchen shelves.
Acquisition, investment
Seeing such great potential in the Indian market, Dr Oetker acquired the small FunFoods brand in 2008 and has ever since contributed to drive the next wave of growth for the food processing industry. We invested significantly into consumer research to understand the consumers’ needs and wants and how they differ from the Western world. Keeping in mind the cultural beliefs, our products have been Indianised to give consumers best of both worlds. With seven eggless variants of mayonnaise, our endeavour is to penetrate the UK’s favourite sandwich spread across India.
India is a highly fertile land for food industry to flourish, basis the sizeable population, which spends almost 50% of its income on food. The growing middle-class, double-income families, willingness to spend, travel, exposure to food channels and Internet have all led to Indians having more palate exposure. With exposure comes the growth, which was recently mapped by the Market Research Report quoting that the Indian food industry is expected to cross the $3 billion mark by this year, whereas the condiments market alone is estimated at Rs 1,000- 1,200 crore today and is growing at a rate of 12- 13% per year. Constituting a 32% share of the total food market in India as of 2014, the Indian food processing industry is destined to witness stark growth in the coming future.
Keeping in mind the changing consumer dynamics and preferences, government intervention, open investment opportunities, stringent regulations to maintain quality and hygiene level, we feel that the industry is transforming as per the global standards. The future of the food processing industry is definitely headed towards a slew of new products and players entering the market, offering Western and newer concepts to the Indian consumer thereby pushing the Indian food industry to a 10-fold growth in the coming years. We, at Dr Oetker aim to significantly contribute and lead the next wave of growth in this industry by bringing in the best quality and immense variety with our FunFoods brand.
(The author is managing director & CEO, Dr Oetker India Pvt. Ltd)
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