10 Mar 2022
The food processing sector in India is growing at an enormous pace and has been contributing massively to world food trade since the past few years. In India, the food sector is being seen as a high-growth and high-profit sector due to its immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry.
While micro-, small- and medium-scale food businesses have several advantages due to their size, they also face several challenges when it comes to meeting the ever-growing demand, both at the domestic and the global level. Regardless of the nature of food business or its size, in order to be successful, they must establish appropriate food safety systems with a clear purpose of delivering safe products and services to the consumers.
With the global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the world food production needs to increase by 60-70% to meet the future demand. This consumer-driven, multi-billion-dollar food business vertical, while showing a commendable, excessive growth pace in India, needs to gear up with smart interventions in terms of food safety, technology, tools & techniques to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of overall food production and processing systems.
With the growing awareness regarding increasing our immunity, the intake of safe, wholesome and hygienic food has become central to our priorities. Now is the time when companies are required to bring about utmost accuracy and precision in their business operations, right from the manufacturing to the distribution processes, to perfunctorily deliver world-class food products.
CII Food Safety Awards
Food safety is one of the priority initiatives of CII. To promote food safety and quality, CII puts special emphasis on strengthening the Indian food industry at par with world-class standards. It also aims to inculcate a culture of food safety and quality excellence through capacity building, food safety and quality tools, new techniques and latest technologies.
The CII Award Model for Food Safety is a practical and a holistic tool that has helped set examples of the best-in-class manufacturing and food service businesses in India. Besides offering an opportunity for national recognition, it helps participating organisations identify gaps, stimulate solutions and build capacity on world-class food safety and change management practices. Over the years, it has helped several organizations in achieving world-class food safety standards and transforming into global suppliers.
Over the past few years, it has acquired a global stature, involving distinguished jury panel members from the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), AOAC International, Codex, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and institutes of national importance like National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM).
Due to the pandemic, the award program transitioned to an end-to-end online mode and is being conducted virtually since 2020. The assessor trainings and site assessments are also carried out virtually following rigorous standard operating procedures, leveraging digital tools and remote access by the assessors and applicants. Since its inception in 2010, the CII Food Safety Award has become a symbol of credibility and pride for food business operators. More than recognition, the awards measure performance and provide detailed feedback to food businesses on continual improvement and benchmarks for establishing food safety excellence at par with world-class standards.
Applications are invited for the 13th CII Food Safety Awards.
For details, visit: https://face-cii.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Brochure_6.pdf