Comments
World Spice Organization (WSO), a not-for-profit technical partner of the All-India Spices Exporters Forum (AISEF), is organising the first National Spice Conference in Mumbai on October 6 and 7.
WSO is organising the event jointly with German development agency GIZ and IDH — the Sustainable Trade Initiative. The conference, to be held at Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport, will be attended by heads of Indian regulatory authorities FSSAI, IISR, and scientists from national research organisations, and senior executives from spice-related firms. The heads of international NGOs working on sustainable agriculture will also attend.
Focus on food-safe spices
The two-day conference, themed around ’Food Safe Spices: Getting the Basics Right’, will also cover emerging trends in food safety regulations, changing consumer and demand patterns, ground-level challenges for sustainability and biodiversity, innovations and new trends in value chain partnerships, trends that may lead to trade barriers, and strict and long-standing safety standards.
Cutting-edge technologies and other innovation at farm and processing levels that support the spice industry will be discussed.
Ramkumar Menon, Chairman, WSO, said, “India is the world’s largest producer, exporter, and consumer of spices, accounting for more than 48 per cent of global demand. Spice exports from India have been increasing and are expected to reach $1.6 billion in the April-August 2022. However, the industry is being challenged by new international safety, sustainability, and traceability standards. Approximately 85 per cent of all spices produced in India are consumed domestically. Hence, ensuring high-quality spices are traded within India is critical. Through the National Spice Conference, we want to show how important food safety is, in general, especially for spices.”
The WSO event aims to bring together farmer producers’ organisations (FPOs), representing approximately 20,000 farmers, for awareness generation and collaboration on food safety practices. Efforts are also on to align quality and food safety parameters with Codex and international standards.
The event aims to help farmers understand the importance of sustainable spice production and quality assurance for improved marketability.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.