A Grievance Redressal Cell has been established in the Ministry to ensure that problems faced by food processors during the COVID-19 lockdown are resolved at the earliest. This was stated by food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who recently tweeted that industry members facing any problems in operations and distribution of food products could send their queries to covidgrievance-mofpi@gov.in.

She further said the Government was committed to ensure the continuity of agro-food business, for which a business immunity platform (www.investindia.gov.in/bip) had been designed as a comprehensive resource to help business and investors get real-time support to ensure hassle free operations.

Pushpa Subrahmanyam, secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), wrote a letter to the chief secretaries of all states regarding need for continued functioning of food industry and their suppliers.

A list of essential food products and their inputs has been enclosed with the letter. She stated that uninterrupted manufacturing of these food products is critical for maintaining supply chain and availability of food to the population.

Subrahmanyam added that the availability of raw materials, packaging materials, movement of trucks carrying them, functioning of their warehouses and cold storages and ability of workers to come and work in the factories and warehouses needs to be ensured for maintaining food supply chain for the general population.

She also asked the chief secretaries to instruct district collectors, police and transport officials to enable continued functioning of food products factories, movement of their products and inputs/raw materials and allowing workers to attend these factories.

Subrahmanyam also requested them to nominate a nodal officer at the state level with whom MoFPI and the industry could raise instances of supply chain disruptions for effective resolution on the field.

Suggested list of food products enclosed with the letter

For the purpose of understanding food, the definition of food as per the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, will apply. 

Manufacturing, transport, distribution and retail of Fruits and vegetables

Rice, wheat flour, other cereals and pulses

Sugar and salt, spices and masalas

Bakery and dairy (Milk and milk products)

Tea and coffee

Eggs, meat and fish

Food grains, oil, masala and food ingredients

Packaged food and beverages

Health supplements, nutraceuticals, food for special dietary use (FSDU) and food for special medical purpose (FSMP)

Infant/baby food

Animal feed/pet food 

Food delivery services and e-commerce for above-mentioned products

Cold storage/warehousing of food products

Fuel such as coal, rice husk, diesel/furnace oil and others necessary to ensure the running/manufacturing of plants/factories

All raw materials, intermediaries and packaging materials needed to support the above list of products.

For example, the following is a suggestive list of raw materials required in the packaged food and beverages industry:

Packaged food and beverages 

Preservatives; protein concentrates; essential amino acids; iodised salt; canola oil; edible vegetable oils and fats; milk powder; various carbohydrates such as sucrose, dextrose, dextrin, maltose dextrin, lactose, honey, corn syrup; malt and liquid glucose 

Fruit juice, pulp, concentrate, sugar, beverage base concentrate

Food additives: Emulsifier, pH adjusting agents, potassium hydrogen carbonate, antioxidants, enzymes, leavening agents, colours, flavours, acidity regulators and dehydrated products