Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005 |
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Industry & Economy
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Foods & Food Processing Centre plans integrated food law, authority Our Bureau
Bangalore , June 7 THE Centre is planning to come out with an integrated law on food and have a single regulatory authority. The Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industry, Mr Subodh Kant Sahay, told newspersons on Tuesday that the proposal will be placed before the Union Cabinet before the end of this month and later introduced in Parliament in July. This was being carried out to standardise food products according to international norms. He said that food safety was becoming a crucial issue in an expanding market and that the onus should be on the producer of processed foods. The Government is working with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on VAT to reduce the tax rate to zero and 4.5 per cent on certain perishable and non-perishable food commodities respectively. Mr Sahay said that the Planning Commission had agreed with a Government proposal to set up a food processing technology management institute at a cost of Rs 200 crore in the North. The decision to set up such an institute was taken because the region was lagging in food processing. He said that Karnataka could do better in the food processing sector if the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act were amended so that both the farmer and the processor benefit. Infrastructural facilities like cold chains would be created since the wastage of fruits and vegetables accounts for as much as Rs 50,000 crore annually. The Karnataka Industries Minister, Mr P.G.R. Sindhia, said that six food parks would be set up in the State. The Government is in the process of handing over land to the joint partners and is seeking Rs 15 crore for each of these parks. It had earlier sanctioned Rs 5 crore for each of these parks. A task force for development of food processing industries is also being set up.
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