Indian Govt to impose trans fat limits on vanaspati soon

Harish Damodaran New Delhi, Nov. 29 Vanaspati makers are apprehensive over a proposed regulation seeking to limit the Trans Fatty Acids (TFA) content in their product to 10 per cent by early next year and to 5 per cent over the subsequent three years. The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), it is learnt, is in the process of drafting a notification fixing the above limits in line with the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. "The draft limits are to be put up shortly on the FSSAI's Web site to invite public comments within 45 days, after which the final version would be notified", sources told Business Line. The Prime Minister's Office had earlier directed that the norms for TFAs be laid down by December, 2009. Vanaspati is basically partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (PHVO). Its manufacture involves adding hydrogen to edible oils to raise their melting point and transform the liquid fat into a harder product mimicking desi ghee (milk fat). Characteristics By doing so, the oil becomes more stable and less prone to oxidative rancidity (chemical decomposition arising from reaction with oxygen). As a result, not only do the foods cooked or fried in vanaspati have longer shelf life, but also the taste and smell characteristics of the original (non-hydrogenated) oil is maintained. For these reasons, vanaspati has, over time, emerged as the "poor man's ghee", used in restaurants, bakeries, sweetmeat units and low income homes. The downside, however, is that the very process of hydrogenation leads to formation of TFAs. As hydrogenation proceeds, the TFA content (as a percentage of total fatty acids) increases and then decreases only after the melting point is raised to levels that make the resulting vanaspati so hard to put off consumers. Soyabean oil The problem is more in oils having high poly-unsaturated fatty acids, such as soyabean, cotton seed and rice bran. In soyabean oil, the TFA content is around 28 per cent at a melting point of just 33.5 degrees Celsius, rising to 37.6 per cent at 43.7 degrees and falling to zero at 68 degrees. For rice bran oil, the TFA is as high as 65 per cent even at a melting point of 41 degrees. TFA is not as much an issue with palm oil. The TFA level is zero at a melting point of 34.5 degrees, hitting a maximum of 17.3 per cent at 51.5 degrees, when the product becomes fully solid. "If the proposed 10 per cent TFA limits kick in, we will become completely dependent on imported palm oil and lose the flexibility to use domestically produced oils," said a Delhi-based vanaspati manufacturer. While palm oil currently accounts for some 95 per cent of industry's raw material, "the cost equation can change if the Malaysians or Indonesians push up prices or the Centre hikes import duties to protect domestic oilseeds growers," he said. Melting point limit The industry, he said, is not against any move to reduce TFAs, given the scientific evidence linking them to coronary heart disease and diabetes. "What we want is removal of the existing melting point limit of 41 degrees prescribed for vanaspati under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. This will give us the leeway to meet the proposed TFA limits by blending hydrogenated hard fractions with soft oils," the official added. According to the industry, melting point is of little relevance "because all oils are first split into fatty acids to enable their absorption". What matters is their digestibility, which has hardly any correlation to melting point. "That is why the international CODEX standards do not refer to any melting point limits for PHVO and margarine," he said. Source : The Hindu Business Line

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French dairy company BEL to have joint venture with ParagFoods(India)

French dairy giant has shown interest in entering Indian cheese market . Cheese market other prominent players are Amul , Britannia and Daburs Le Bon .

Bel is already marketing its brand"" Laughing cow"'. Parag India foods has already in process of installing cheese processing plant in Karnatka , Andhra Pradesh , Tamilnadu .The upcoming plants shall produce mozarella, raw cheddar and seven offerings of premium processed cheese under a new brand name ‘Go’.
With these Parag Milk Foods Pvt ltd wants to be the market leader in the cheese market . Parag produces milk product by the brand name of " Govardhan "' .Its an USD 108million company.

Indian Cheese market is worth USD 90.0 million.

Source -Foodbizdaily

Pantaloon to acquire small food companies

Future group retail chain Pantaloon is keen on acquiring small companies for its food retail biz .
Confirming this was Mr Kishore Biyani ,Founder and CEO of the Future group without any names .

Future group has plans for promoting own private labels in their stores which has total turnover of Rs 100 crores . Future group wants to double its own private label food business .







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India to raise food pocessing level to 20% from 6%

Indian minister for food processing Mr Subodh Kant Sahay today announced in parliament that govts intends to raise the level of food processing from present 6% to 20% & India's contribution towards world food processing business to 3% from present 1.5% .

Explaining highlights of Vision 2015 for food processing which is prepared by ministry of food processing plans are set enhance food processing infrastructures , food parks , financial support to the entrepreneurs and tripling food processing industry size from present capacities .


The low level of fruit and vegetable processing is mainly due to non-availability of processable varieties of raw materials at right quantity and quality and lack of post harvest infrastructure like cold chain facilities, transportation, he said.
To another question, Sahai replied that the Ministry has no proposal to frame a new law in place of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
He said the Centre has notified Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for laying down science-based standards to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
The Health and Family Welfare is the nodal ministry for implementation of the Act, he added.

Source - PTI news

FSSAI to limit trans fats in packaged food product

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ( FSSAI) has started the ground work to limit trans fat content in food products like - Biscuits , Cakes , Bread , Namkeen ,Fast food ,Confectionery items etc . Showing concern over consumer preference to these kind of products FSSAI would limit the fat content as per the international standards . Normal standards followed by other countries is fat content to be between 2- 5% of the total fat in a diet .It would check the claims made by various companies of their product to be zero trans fat .

Trans fats are known to be the source of many heart related disease .Some food companies have already initiated declaring their product to zero trans fat. Britannia has started declaring about zero trans fat on their packaging . Hope rest would follow soon .


Note :
FSSAI has been constituted as a single regulating authority handling all aspects of food related issues . The Act would come into effect from January2010.

Visit http://www.fssai.gov.in/ for more information.

Dabur India’s foods division shows 22.7% growth during H1 of 2010

Dabur India  Ltd – Food division is  one of the largest food manufacturer in the category of health supplement , Digestive tablets and honey . Other major products for Dabur are mouth care , Hair oil ,tooth paste  etc .

During first half of the  financial year Dabur Food division has   has seen  22.7% growth vis a vis last year results .

Dabur  Food brands and their performance  in half yearly results

 

Sno	Category	Brand	% Growth
1	Health Supplement	ChayawanPrash	12.4
2	Digestive tablets	Hajmola	12.6
3	Glucose	Glucose D	55.6
4	Juices	Real	21
5	Honey	Dabur honey	15.0
6	Culinary	Home made	40.2

Dabur has manufacturing bases at  Egypt , Nepal and UAE and has added Uzbekistan, Guinea and Belarus in countries for exports

HQ

Dabur India Limited

Address: Kaushambi, Ghaziabad – 201010 Uttar Pradesh, India

Telephone: +91 (0120) 3982000

Fax: 95120-4374935,Website: http://www.dabur.com,Email : corpcomm@dabur.com

Britannia launches fortified milk drink for Kids

Britannia has launched Milk Drink fortified with vitamins for kids with the brand Actimind .It would have trial launch in Tamil nadu and later it would be launched nation wide . Britannia has been working on its dairy business recently after the exit of Fonterra. This ready-to-drink milk would have shelf life of six month and could be carried to school without any refrigeration

Britannia has recently launched flavoured milk and UTH milk in tetra packs.