Eating habits of people seem no more to be the same! Globally, this change is visible mainly driven by the individual person’s daily routine. For many people ‘snacking’ has become a regular way to keep pace with life.

With consumers becoming more and more mobile, the food industry has to follow this pattern of demand. Today, most of the packaged food products, especially juices and dairy products, offered in the market are in aseptic packaging. Unlike traditional methods of packaging such as canning and bottling, which have problems related to freshness, flavour and food safety issues, aseptic packaging has changed the liquid packaged food industry in a big way.

Especially for countries like ours, aseptic pouch frees the dairy and beverage industry from the vagaries of uncertain cold chain during distribution and at the point-of-sale. Also, it goes a long way towards energy saving and ease-of-distribution. Besides, due to the aseptic filling technology, new product concepts - like milk containing pieces of real fruit or cereal grains - have started the ball rolling for a wealth of new product ideas that offer value-added and new taste experiences.

While aseptic filling technology is growing at a faster rate globally, there is less demand for it here. Major hurdles in the Indian market include high technology, investment cost and small market size as far as beverages are concerned. For more on this, turn to the ‘Cover Story’.

Now, let me draw your attention to the interesting world of organic dairying, which has been spreading considerably all over the world. The main objectives of organic dairy farming include food safety, consumer protection, animal health & welfare and sustainability.

It is good to note that dairy development in India during the past four decades has been quite commendable, so much so that milk is now a top agricultural commodity contributing highly to our GDP.

While some developments have been made with regard to organic fruits and vegetables, there seem to be no major thrust towards organic milk and dairy products in India. Organic milk can be a great marketing success if handled properly under these circumstances. The ‘Special Feature’ provides a perspective on this.

On a different note, the government is reportedly formulating National Livestock Policy apart from working on a dairy plan for the country to give a boost to the livestock and dairy sector. However, there seem to be manifold viewpoints with regard to its impact on increasing productivity in the sector. The ‘Roundtable’ captures the opinions of some industry experts on this topic.

Also take a look at the Curtains Raisers & Reports on various key events.




Manas R Bastia
Editor
Email: manas@infomediaindia.com