Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said there is a need to have a single milk brand to improve marketing of milk and its products in the Maharashtra, on the lines of Gujarat's Amul.

He said the state lagged behind Gujarat in terms of marketing of milk. "In Gujarat, all milk cooperatives supply their product to Amul, which in turn market them very well. Whereas in Maharashtra, there is Gokul, Warna and Aarey. There is vast infrastructure but poor production," he said after inaugurating a new facility of the state-owned Mahanand dairy here.

Survey Among 1,800 Kids In Delhi, Agra, Bangalore And Pune Throws Up Shocking Facts

An extensive survey among children has found that while 19.2% males and 18.1% females were overweight/obese, a whopping 64.8% of mothers were in a similar condition. These findings were part of a three-year survey done among 1,800 children aged 9-18 years in government and private schools and were recently accepted by international peer-reviewed journal ‘Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism’. It was conducted in Delhi, Agra, Bangalore and Pune by Diabetes Foundation, India (DFI).

Food companies say the move will delay new product development and innovation

Probiotic ice-cream, digestive biscuits or lowsugar jams may be flying off retail shelves, but food companies are no longer being allowed to sell new products without taking approvals from the government-promoted Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). According to a new and modified FSSAI advisory issued to all food companies last month, any new or existing product which is ‘proprietary’ – in other words not classified in the food act – will need to follow a regulatory ‘new product approval’ guideline, as laid down by the FSSAI.

Vadodara/Anand: Amul is all set to reach Mumbaikars’ doorsteps with one of its most modern dairy plant at Virar. “This will be the first dairy plant with fully automatic traffic management system using robots for milk packing. It will be inaugurated next month,” Amul Dairy’s managing director Rahul Kumar told TOI.

It has many firsts in India including a 50,000 litres milk reception, processing, automatic online standardization and homogenization line and dedicated fermented milk products manufacturing facilities. The Virar facility will be Amul’s sixth plant in India.

Cabinet may clear proposal today to boost agri exports

In a major fillip to India’s processed food exports, the Cabinet is set to clear a policy under which processed foods from agricultural commodities such as wheat, rice, onion and milk would not be subject to any export ban or restrictions. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is set to clear the proposal on Thursday to exempt 14 types of processed food from the purview of export restrictions including oats, milk products, dehydrated onions, wheat and rice products.

Surplus production forces Federation to look at new markets

The Karnataka Milk Federation will supply skimmed milk powder (SMP) to over 20 lakh anganwadi children in the age group of six months to three years, and to five lakh adolescent girl children identified by the Department of Women and Child Development. The Federation will supply 1,000 metric tonnes of SMP per month from December till March to anganwadi children across the State and an additional 60 metric tonnes of milk powder to malnourished children aged between three and six years in Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Bellary and Koppal districts, KMF managing director Harsh Gupta said on Friday.

New Delhi The government on Thursday notified unified packaging standards for 19 FMCG products which prohibit companies from selling products in irregular sizes. According to a food and consumer affairs ministry notification, about 19 products, including baby food, biscuits, bread, cereals, pulses, coffee, tea, edible oil, milk power, flour, salt and soap would, henceforth, be sold in only prescribed packages.

FE was first to report in May on the government proposal prohibiting selling of FMCG products in irregular sizes such as like 65, 73, 85, 92, 175, 425 (gram or millilitre, whichever is applicable)

Jaipur: The medical health and family welfare department on Thursday kicked off a campaign against food adulteration and collected samples of sweets and mawa from different parts of the city.

Teams of the medical health and family welfare department swung into action and inspected sweet shops and restaurants to collect samples of suspected adulterated food items.