Protein Day 2023: An Open Letter To India’s Food Manufacturers & Retailers

India's food processing sector, a shining pillar of the Indian economy, has been booming in recent years. Holding a place among the largest food processing industries in the world, it is responsible for a significant portion – about 32 per cent – of India's overall food market. Driven by the high-value processing of various agricultural products, increased urbanization, rising disposable incomes, the rise of nuclear families, and the demand for convenient food, India’s food processing industry is expected to reach a staggering USD 535 billion. At the same time, the health and nutritional sector in India has undergone a sea-change in recent years and preventive healthcare is becoming the preferred norm as opposed to curative healthcare.

What this means is that the food manufacturing and retail sector stands at the convergence of our nutritional goals. From labelling innovations to communicating nutritional values, there is a large role for the private sector to play as affordability and accessibility become crucial determinants of food choice and access, driving dietary patterns, nutrition status and overall health and environmental outcomes. For instance, fighting myths coupled with an inability to identify the correct functions and sources of protein may well be one of the leading reasons for low protein consumption in India. The Protein Paradox Study found that despite 85 per cent of mothers recognizing that protein is very important for health, only 3 per cent know of their functions and over 81 per cent incorrectly identify protein food sources. And this underlying ‘protein paradox’ i.e., high importance vis-à-vis low understanding could be where manufacturers and retailers can step up in making India consume adequate protein.

Along with the adoption of recent FSSAI initiatives of graduating from back-of-package (BOP) nutrient information to front-of-the-pack nutrition labels (FOPNL), the industry needs to innovate or proactively support and voluntarily adopt means to communicate nutrition to help influence food choices. For instance, the voluntary Soy Fed Product label, adopted by leading poultry producers such as Sneha Group, Srinivasa Farms and Shalimar Corp. is a unique feed label for high-quality animal protein products.

As we all know nutritional access is only part of the overall nutrition story. To ensure improved nutritional outcomes, consumer awareness is critical. For instance, despite having no constraints on availability, affordability or quality and safety, the top 30 per cent of the urban population consumes more than the recommended dietary guidance of fats. Therefore, the industry has a major role to play in communicating nutrition recommendations to the consumer. Improved awareness can help in several ways, including – addressing regional pockets with high micronutrient deficiencies, enabling consumer avoidance of identified quality and safety issues with foods, enabling better decision-making in food choices for daily energy, protein, and fat intake, and driving market demand for new products, which enables wider choices, better quality products, and creation of new food segments.

The next frontier for Indian manufacturers and retailers is not just to ensure not just the availability of healthy, nutritious foods but also to revolutionize the way food is presented and aid the purchase journey of consumers. 

And therefore, I urge the industry to join forces and work together towards this common goal of nutritional awareness for nutrition security, starting with the most crucial macronutrient – ‘Protein’. From enhancing protein communication on products to dedicated efforts on #ProteinDay to support public awareness initiatives, the food industry has a larger, proactive role to play in enabling our country to fight disguised nutrition poverty and making it nutrition secure.

About the Author:

Vyal Adhye, Founder, Freshpick (www.fresh-pick.in) - Seafood and Meat Specialists Since 1987