How do we solve the future global food challenges with sustainable solutions?

Yesterday I was speaking about Green Retail in India at the Food & Bio Global Summit 2023 in Aarhus Denmark. A summit with like minded people from different organizations, corporations, universities etc. addressing the challenges and solutions for sustainable ecosystems in the food and bio resource industry across the globe.

The summit brought together leading clusters and stakeholders from over 25 countries with 178 participants. The participants came from companies, universities, and other relevant entities, to discuss and interact on one of the most difficult and important topic the world is facing today.

The agenda is clear - we must transform the current food systems to create sustainable ecosystems, and this requires collaboration between the industry and science.

To achieve this, business models and value chains must be transformed, and concrete and doable plans must be put in place. This year summit will facilitate this collaboration and help accelerate the transition of the food system to sustainability.?

I was speaking about the Indian retail market and how India is already the largest population today.

Alongside population growth and economic development that will soon position India as the largest GDP in the world, even an overall slight rise in consumption of animal protein will have major impacts on the global environment and food system.?Believe it or not, but 71% of the Indian population are meat eaters.

The Indian processed food sector is on the rise, set to reach USD 535 billion by 2025 constituting 32% of the country's total food industry.?

Furthermore, the food ingredients market in India, valued at USD 1.6 billion in 2022, is projected to maintain a 6.7% growth until 2029.?

This growth is attributed to the increasing demand for natural, healthier, functional, and novel food ingredients in various processed food categories, as well as in the nutraceuticals and functional foods segments.?

While packaged food is the fastest growing segment posting a double digit growth, currently only 10% of agri-produce is being processed in India.

The Indian governments drive to augment processing levels through Make in India campaigns and Industry 4.0 playing a major role in elevating the manufacturing as well as supply chain landscape by usage of technologies, the food industry in India is expected to witness a radical shift.

The complete ecosystem is expected to evolve from being a linear model to a more complex dynamic chain with multiple inter-linkages enabled by technology interventions.

The Food & Bio Global Summit was organised by The Food & Bio Cluster Denmark, and in collaboration with EUs Entreprise Europe Network, Food Nation Denmark, European Cluster Network, Flanders Food, Foodtech Hub Latam, GFI-The Good Food Institute, FoodValley and many more.