While the theme of the four-day event, which concludes on October 27, 2018, was 25 billion means a day by 2025 with healthy, nutritious, safe and diverse foods, the topic of the seminar, jointly organised by PureCircle - Everything Stevia and Coca-Cola India, was stevia sustainability and the recent agricultural developments in India. It also showed the advances in stevia science, technology and recent stevia innovations for the formulation of great-tasting reduced sugar foods and beverages.
Commenting on stevia’s sustainabiity and PureCircle’s vision for India, Singh stated, “Stevia is a sustainable crop, which is in high demand by the global food and beverage industry.” Meanwhile, PureCircle is also test-farming several locations in India with its Starleaf stevia variety, which contains more of the best-tasting stevia sweeteners than other stevia plant variants.
In his remarks on stevia, Ashok Sinha, former secretary, ministry of food processing industries, Government of India, stated that though stevia was grown in the northern and southern parts of America, India had the available land, climatic conditions and farming expertise, along with the enterpreneurial spirit to run throughout the globe.
“Technology to improve safety productivity and sustainability in beverage manufacturing is our motto, and as the market is going consumer-centric, so is the industry, for instance, functional beverages and natural drinks,” stated Sunil Adsule, director, scientific and regulatory affairs, Coca-Cola India Private Limited.
The seminar concluded with a session titled Fruit circular economy - Project Unnati involving the community in sustainable agriculture practices to improve yield.
Aditya Pratap Panda, senior manager, fruit circular economy, Coca-Cola India Private Limited, stated that technology was the key to achieve manufacturing flexibility and to maintain a robust system.
He added, “To achieve the objectives of increasing farmers’ productivity and doubling farmers’ incomes, the focus should be on horticulture, which would support the Prime Minister’s vision of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022.”
IUFoST also featured the latest advances in food safety, food security, regulations, innovations in food processing and consumer preferences, among other topics, by food scientists and technologists from academia, the government and industry.
The International Chocolate Research and Innovation Council was one of the exhibitors present at the exhibition. Mandar Bhosale, its founder member, stated, “Being at IUFoST - the 19th World Congress of Food Science and Technology has given us a platform wherein our council can spread awareness about pure chocolates.”
