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Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Oct. 2

DR A.S. Bawa, Director of Defence Food Research Laboratory (Mysore) has called for serious efforts to develop biodegradable packaging material.

"The recent floods in Mumbai primarily caused by sewage blocks due to plastic packaging are an eye opening," Dr Bawa said.

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural of a national workshop on `Value addition to foods - Fruits and vegetables' here on Saturday, he said use of hydrocarbon-based polyfilms for food packaging would influence food-processing policies in the near future.

The workshop was organised by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India).

Speaking on the issues of processing, he said the country processed just one per cent of our total fresh produce, compared with 70-80 per cent in developed countries.

Calling for emphasis on rainbow revolution involving horticultural crops, he said the country needed to harness the benefits of biotechnological and transgenic methods to supplement the limitations of conventional breeding and grafting techniques.

There was need to encourage protected cultivation of vegetables and high-value fruits such as strawberries. Citing the examples of Brazil and Israel, he said there was need to improve productivity of crops significantly.

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