India has developed a vibrant entrepreneurial landscape and has steadily strengthened its position as the third largest startup ecosystem globally. The Indian food sector is a high-growth and high-profit domain due to its immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry. The FSSAI recently launched the ‘Food Innovators Network’ (FINE) programme to support the realization of this potential through government policy and regulatory assistance.
In conjunction with the Government’s initiative on ‘Startup India’ and ‘Digital India’ the FSSAI’s FINE aims to bring together innovators and startup entrepreneurs to provide innovative solutions and transform the country’s food safety and nutrition landscape. Through FINE, FSSAI will engage with entrepreneurs working to address challenges in areas such as
- affordable and accessible food testing
- ensuring the availability of healthy food
- educating consumers towards nutritious choices
- reducing food waste
FSSAI will mentor these startups to effectively provide innovative new age solutions to tackle these challenges through the best of innovation, technologies and business models. Startups working in the said areas can apply to be a part of the FINE network by visiting the microsite created at www.fssai.gov.in/fine. The deadline to apply is 15th October 2018.
As a part of FINE, to support promising entrepreneurs, the regulator will set up the ‘FSSAI Buddy System’wherein every startup in the network will be assigned a buddy from the regulatory body. The buddies will aid the startups to navigate their way through the regulatory space and thus enable ease of doing business. The event also saw the launch of a first of its kind, ‘FoSTaC Plus Course which is a spin-off of the Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) programme by FSSAI. The course titled “Go to Guide for Food Startups” will serve as a regulatory walkthrough for startups in this sector. It details the procedures related to licensing ®istration, labeling & packaging, safety, health & sanitary requirements as well as other statutory and regulatory compliances as per the FSS Act.
FINE was launched by FSSAI during the TiE Delhi NCR Food & Food Services Summit 2018. Speaking about the journey of the apex food body over the years, Ms. Madhavi Das, CMSO, FSSAI emphasized the regulator’s philosophy of “Trust but Verify”. She said that the regulator has come a long way from being a mere enforcer of food laws to enabling food businesses to comply with regulations. Making them responsive would not only improve their business practices but also improve the entire food ecosystem. She further added that as the Indian food industry is poised for huge growth by increasing its contribution to world food trade every year, it is important to understand the dynamics around the startup ecosystem as they are here to stay.
At the launch of the Food Innovators Network, FSSAI also announced the “Eat Right Food Innovation Awards” which would be presented to selected startups transforming the food and nutrition landscape of the country in December this year. The FINE initiative by FSSAI is a reaffirmation that a robust regulatory environment can enable a favorable macroeconomic environment to nurture the growth and development of food-based startups and hence the overall economy of the country.
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