Mysuru:“If one looks at the health of people at global level, India stands somewhere between 80th  and 90th place and 58 per cent of them suffer from malnutrition,” said National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Sonepat, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Chindi Vasudevappa.

He was speaking after releasing a souvenir during the inauguration of the four-day eighth International Food Convention, IFCoN 2018, organised by Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India) (AFSTI) in association with CFTRI and DFRL at the Convocation Hall, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) premises,  in city yesterday.

Malnutrition is a major problem the country is facing and 58 per cent of the people are suffering from it. This is not a good sign for the development of the country. Hence, there must be lot of research on nutritious food. Added to this in the interest of people’s health, good quality food must be made available at affordable prices and in public places there must be awareness about the food quality, said Prof. Vasudevappa.

It is very important to gather people who are involved in the unorganised food bbusiness sectorin one place and give them training about manufacture of quality food. Only then will people’s health be in good condition, he said.

The World Bank has come out with a programme to bring all those involved in food business under one roof in the next five years. The World Bank officials have said that they are ready to give Rs.3,000 crore grant for this project. Hence, everyone should join hands in tthis project he said.

India is producing 900 million tonnes of food and one should introspect whether this is enough to feed 1.2 billion people. However, on the one hand if the Prime Minister wants to increase the farmers’ income, on the other it is said that we should prevent spending on people’s health. But the administration must give equal importance to both, he pointed out.

A portal should be opened where information must be uploaded on work done by researchers on food technology in the country, he added.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Chief Executive Officer Pawan Kumar Agarwal inaugurated IFCoN 2018. Pune’s Suhana Pravin Masalewala Managing Director Anand Chordia inaugurated the Food Expo. CSIR-CFTRI Director Dr. K.S.M.S. Raghavarao inaugurated the poster session.

DFRL Director Dr. Anil Dutt Semwal released the book-AFST(I)-A Professional Journey. FIL, Chennai Director B. Raghuramaiah released special postal cover on IFCoN 2018.  INRA France, Human Nutrition Unit Research Director Dr. Edmond Rock and others were present.

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