"A single authority to deal with all the matters relating to the food processing industry is required to boost this industry," said the minister of state for food processing industries Chaoba Singh in the seminar organised by Confederation of Indian food & Industry (Cifri) and Federation of Indian Chambers Of commerce and Industry (Ficci).

The proposed act will be called the Processed Food Development Act which will cover food laws, development fund, equalisation fund, futures market and compulsory standards in line with Codex. He further said that, his department is considering drafting of an enactment, which will take into account all aspects of the overall development of the processed food sector.

This sector provides a high rate of employment. By giving example, Mr Singh said for every Rs 1,000 crore invested, the sector generated labour for 39,000 people as compared to around 31,300 in the textile industry and 22,300 in the paper industry.

India has an advantage in the food processing industry due to favourable agro-climatic conditions. But in fact, the industry registered negative growth of 5 per cent in the last two years.

Industry people say that there will be positive growth since the overall growth picture is not good, like in chemicals and others, which are directly related with this industry not shown good prospectus in last few years.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh outline that food processing sector is a very high priority area for the state and his Government. He said that they will provide proper handling, processing and marketing facilities to boost the growth of this industry. "There is a need for strong infrastructure facilities for food processing industry like cold chain between farm and market place, warehouses suitable for storage of perishables, bringing transparency in auction system, commissioning of market information system, rationalisation of tax structure and strengthening of national research system. About 40 per cent of the food that is produced by the domestic manufacturers does not reach the market at all.

Further we processed only 2 per cent of fruits and vegetables, against 80 per cent that of the US and about 60 per cent in China. "The National Policy on Food Processing will be ready by Oct 2000, which will be presented in the winter session of Parliament" said department of food processing industry secretary Omesh Saigal. "Central laboratories in the field of food processing industry are not supplying and sharing the information to the state. There is no proper co-ordination between the state and Central research authority.