Announced by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries Government of India (MOFPI) and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the Plant-Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) is set to organize the 1st Plant-Based Foods Summit. The event, slated for 26 May 2022, will be organized at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi, in the presence of Prahlad Singh Patel, minister of food processing industries.
This is a unique event in many ways – i) inviting food scientists to collaborate with young start-ups, ii) cooperation with the plant-based foods association of the USA, with their chief executive officer Rachel Dreskin and chairperson of the board Nicole Sopko also participating in the summit and iii,) plant-based foods startups coming forward to communicate through their product tastings.
This summit aims to offer strategic opportunities to the players in the plant-based foods industry and facilitate a platform for networking that elicits conversations surrounding the market size, emerging technologies, existing concerns facing the industry, and contributions leaders in powerful positions can make. The summit is also likely to facilitate the tasting of plant-based foods products during the conference time as well as during the afternoon Business-to-Business Meetings.
Keeping in mind the response rate, the upcoming event anticipates the attendance of 100+ scientists and 100+ entrepreneurs that would observe, as well as participate, in the summit to share their insights on the industry position. Other than that, the event is also expected to have a report launch on “The dawn of a plant-based age: India to lead the way to world food security and nutrition”, which will be unveiled by the honorable minister. Reportedly, the paper covers different aspects of the plant-based foods industry; namely the global plant-based industry, current plant-based foods industry and market trends in India, plant-based foods as a strategic opportunity for India, and recommendations for the government of India and other stakeholders to support the plant-based foods sector.
Sanjay Sethi, executive director, of PBFIA said, “The Indian diet is carb-heavy, which means our protein intake is drastically low. however, our country has an immense geographical and agricultural capacity to produce plant-based protein. The plant-based foods industry association’s goal is to meet India’s protein requirements by creating a reliable system for plant-based foods businesses. the association will help build and support such initiatives with expert support, infrastructure, and guidance from food scientists. PBFIA is an initiative that ushers the next era of health, sustainability, and prosperity for farmers and plant-based food businesses.”
Sethi added, “PBFIA is hosting the 1st Plant-Based Foods Summit on 26 May 2022 in New Delhi. The summit is a unique platform that aims to bring together the entire plant-based foods industry and key stakeholders viz. government functionaries, the scientific community, related food industry, institutes, and NGOs.”
A separate round of discussion on the policy side of government, the quality policy of products, and supply chain and logistics are also scheduled to take place during the event. Some of the major points in focus are the inclusion of plant-based components in MoFPI programs, support from ministries, reclassification of plant-based foods as perishable items, extending assistance with research and development, a collaboration between research institutions, prioritization of infrastructure development, the establishment of multiple “centers of excellence”, and striking direct contact with distributors for setting up more plant-based foods businesses.
The keynote speakers for the day-long summit include Anita Praveen, secretary MoFPI; Sudhanshu, secretary APEDA; VK Vidyarthi, general manager APEDA; Rachel Dreskin, chief executive officer Plant-Based Foods Association, USA; Sanjay Sethi, executive director PBFIA; Anandharamakrishnan, former director NIFTEM-T; Jyoti Vij deputy secretary-general FICCI; Varun Deshpande, managing director GFI India; Abhishek Sinha, co-founder & chief executive officer GoodDot and Sunil K. Marwah, chief executive officer FICSI
