Food Financial News

World Protein Day 2024: World Protein Day is observed every year on February 27. This day is celebrated to draw people’s attention and create awareness on the health benefits of protein in our diets and to promote nutritional security worldwide. Protein can be consumed through different sources of plants and animals.

By David Shepardson and Chris Sanders

nutraceuticals, health supplements and drugs in the same facility, said people with knowledge of the development. Under the revised Schedule M of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, a manufacturing facility approved for drugs cannot be used for manufacturing other products. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has now directed the state authorities to take action against units that have licences to manufacture both drugs and food products and are flouting this norm, the people cited earlier told ET. According to the Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs (FOPE), any clampdown in this regard will pose a significant challenge to the industry, affecting not only exports but also the domestic market. As per a recent notice by the DCGI, an enforcement and surveillance drive carried out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) found that many units in Himachal Pradesh have dual licences under FSS Act 2006 and Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 for manufacturing nutraceuticals, health supplements and drugs in same factory.

new approach to define the poverty line, to determine how many people cannot afford basic services, in the light of new consumption estimates, former chief statistician of India, Pronab Sen told ET. «We have new estimates (after the release of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23 on Saturday), and questions of applicability of older poverty lines will be raised by many,» Sen said, noting the need to revise poverty calculations. In India, the methodology for calculating poverty estimates was last devised in 2014 by an expert group headed by former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan after experts had raised concerns regarding the poverty line constituted by the Suresh Tendulkar-led committee as being too low. However, the government has since moved away from income-based poverty lines and uses a multidimensional poverty index, which considers a wider range of parameters besides income. The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) is expected to start the debate on whether older committee reports can be taken as a benchmark, Sen said. The Rangarajan committee had recommended poverty lines of monthly per-capita incomes of ₹972 in rural areas and ₹1,407 in urban areas for 2011-12. Sen also noted that new consumption estimates have surprised many as the share of food in the overall consumer basket has not declined significantly.

We have compiled a list of the top selling and highly rated wheat flour options available online. These items range from being products of renowned companies to very high-end, refined wheat flours for you and your family.

The prime ministers of Canada and Poland have discussed boosting exports of Ukrainian grain to the world’s poorest countries to ease protests by farmers in Europe who see the Ukrainian goods as a market threat

Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan. The move aimed to advance people-to-people exchanges with India, including an increase in young visitors. Under the programme, students, graduate students, and alumni of universities in India were allowed to submit a certificate of student status or graduation as alternative documents confirming financial capability for a single-entry visa for short-term tourism purposes.

food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy, quick service restaurant operators are finding the going tough with both their revenue and margin coming under severe stress while road to recovery is longer than estimated, says a report. The report by French brokerage BNP Paribas stated that the rising popularity of food aggregators has hurt dine-in sales of quick service restaurants (QSR) and has also fragmented delivery sales. Also, with more restaurants partnering with food delivery platforms, consumers now have more options, leading to fragmented sales which are likely playing a part in the weakness in average daily sales of the QSR industry besides the general weakness in demand due to elevated inflation, the report highlighted.

Manish Sisodia, who completed one year in jail on Monday, spends most of his time inside his cell reading books from the library, playing badminton and reading the Bhagvad Gita, a Tihar jail official said. Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy scam on February 26, 2023. He was later arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also in the case and then sent to the Tihar jail. Sisodia is presently lodged in Tihar jail number 1, where he stays in his separate cell shared with two more inmates, who are lodged in non-heinous cases, official sources said. Tihar has 16 jails. All the cells, wards and barracks in the jails are heavily mounted with CCTV cameras installed by the prison authorities.

IndiGo airlines has come under major criticism after a passenger shared a video on social media, showing cockroaches in the food area of one of their aircraft. Tarun Shukla, an aviation journalist who posted the video, wrote on X: «Cockroaches and in the food area of a plane (anywhere for that matter) are just truly awful...» Hygiene Concerns Raised The video has once again raised questions about the airline's hygiene standards on board. In response to the incident, IndiGo has taken immediate action by thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting their entire fleet to ensure the safety of their passengers.

The head of the World Trade Organization says war, uncertainty and instability are weighing down the global economy

Venture capital firm Peak XV, formerly Sequoia Capital India and South East Asia, on Monday said it has launched new startup cohort Spark 03 with 14 companies that include 16 female founders. 

₹3,773 a month on average as consumption expenditure in 2022-23 while her urban counterpart spent ₹6,459, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MOSPI’s) National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) estimated after a nationwide study of households’ spending patterns. Of this, consumers in rural India spent about 46% on food and those in urban areas about 39%. Other expenses include health, education, rent, clothing and conveyance.

Swiggy has changed its registered name from Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd to Swiggy Pvt Ltd through a special resolution passed by the shareholders of the company. “The change in the name of the company will help establish greater proximity and identification of the company’s corporate name with the company’s core brand, ‘Swiggy’,” the food delivery platform said in the resolution, as per regulatory filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

World Trade Organization (WTO) beginning Monday in Abu Dhabi, the G-33 group of countries, which includes India, has urged members to achieve an outcome on public stockholding for food security purposes. Ministers and Representatives of the G-33 members who met yesterday in United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of the four-day Ministerial Conference (MC) called on all WTO Members to engage constructively to achieve a meaningful outcome on agriculture. The G-33 group, which includes 47 developing and least developed countries (LDCs) and Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), issued a joint statement on February 25, after the meeting coordinated by Indonesia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate around 2,000 railway infrastructure projects worth over Rs 41,000 crore on Monday. The PM said these works will further improve 'ease of living' for the people. «In order to enhance the travel experience, 553 stations will be redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. The foundation stones for these stations would be laid. Overbridges and underpasses across India will also be inaugurated,» the minister said in a post on social media platform X. These 553 stations, spread across 27 states and union territories are being redeveloped at over Rs 19,000 crore.

Bengaluru airport. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Kashmiri Pandit academic based in London wrote, “Denied entry to #India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values.

₹6,459 in 2022-23, from ₹2,630 in 2011-12, the survey said. In rural India, this rose to an estimated ₹3,773 from ₹1,430 during the same period. In real (inflation-adjusted) terms, the growth was 40% in rural parts and 33.5% in urban parts.

Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) will likely have limited impact on consumer price index and inflation calculations, as the food component still accounts for a significant proportion of consumer spending in the country, experts said. The impact on urban inflation will likely be even lower than rural, as the decline in food spending is smaller for urban areas compared with villages. «The new HCES does not indicate big shifts in the consumer price index basket, as the ratio of food items remains high in total spending,» said Rahul Bajoria, managing director and head of EM Asia (ex-China) economics at Barclays. The HCES, which provides information and data on spending, is a key source of input for deciding of weights and shares for the composition of the inflation basket. The results, released on Saturday, were eagerly awaited in view of the update needed to the CPI basket, tilted heavily towards food. The latest survey will lead to an update of the base year for the calculation of consumer prices. It is 2012 for the current series based on the HCES of 2011-12. The National Statistical Office conducts the household consumer expenditure survey every five years. The last survey of 2017-18 was junked citing data inconsistencies. Experts say categories within food could bring about larger shifts in inflation dynamics. «Within food also there could be bigger shifts,» Bajoria said.

₹80,000 per month and the pill can cost ₹10,000 per month. The drug is even more expensive in the West. Yet, there is such strong demand for it that Nova Nordisk is unable to meet it.

Mankind Pharma, the country's fourth largest pharma company, has countered the objections raised by a retail chemists' body which had sought withdrawal of advertisement of its vitamin supplement, HealthOK. According to the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), the advertisement that features actor Ranveer Singh insinuates that non-vegetarian individuals are healthier. In a letter dated February 13 to the association, the company said its intent was not to hurt anyone or undervalue the benefits of vegetarian food. Mankind shared epidemiological studies done by independent doctors and researchers indicating deficiency of essential vitamins in the Indian population. It urged the AIOCD to allow continuation of the advertisement in the greater interest and benefit of Indian citizens.