Syllabus: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
Context
- Society’s relationship with food and nutrition constantly evolving; next transformation involves functional foods and smart proteins.
About Functional Foods
- Enriched foods that promote health or prevent disease such as vitamin-enriched rice or omega-3-fortified milk.
- Leverage technologies like nutrigenomics (study of nutrition-gene interaction), bio-fortification, 3D food printing, and bioprocessing comprehensively.
About Smart Proteins
- Proteins sourced using biotechnology aiming to reduce reliance on conventional production ensuring sustainable protein sources.
- Include plant-based proteins: restructured extracts from legumes, cereals, oilseeds to mimic animal meat and dairy.
- Fermentation-derived proteins: produced by microbial systems; cultivated meat: animal cells grown in bioreactors without slaughter.
Why India Needs Them
- Nutritional Challenges
- India’s nutritional landscape remains highly uneven; more than one-third of Indian children are stunted showing malnutrition.
- Adult protein intake improved but urban-rural divide remains requiring targeted nutritional interventions ensuring equitable access.
- As economy grows, societal expectations from food will change from simply filling to genuinely nourishing demanding quality nutrition.
- Shift demands reorientation of India’s policy from food security to nutritional security providing protein, antioxidants, vitamins-rich food.
- Sustainability Challenge
- Challenge lies in achieving nutritional transformation while balancing sustainability ensuring environmental protection and climate resilience.
- India must scale food production systems without worsening environmental degradation or deepening climate change impacts comprehensively.
- Health and Economic Benefits
- On health front: functional foods and smart proteins will be vital contributors to India’s nutritional security ensuring dietary adequacy.
- Global plant-based foods market estimated between $85 billion (UBS) and $240 billion (Credit Suisse) by 2030 showing market potential.
- India with strong agricultural base and expanding biotech industry could play major supplier role ensuring economic benefits.
- Could generate thousands of agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics jobs within India ensuring employment creation comprehensively.
Current Status in India
- Policy Framework
- Functional foods and smart proteins recognized under India’s Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment (BioE3) policy.
- Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) initiated funding programmes in these areas.
- Functional Foods Development
- Scientists developing bio-fortified crops: zinc-enriched rice (developed at IIRR, Hyderabad) and iron-rich pearl millet (from ICRISAT).
- Private players (Tata Consumer Products, ITC, Marico) investing in fortified staples and health-focused food lines ensuring market expansion.
- Smart Protein Ecosystem
- In 2023: estimated 377 products (meat, eggs, dairy) sold by over 70 smart protein brands across India.
- Startups like GoodDot, Blue Tribe Foods, Evo Foods pioneering plant-based meat and egg alternatives showing innovation.
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology received ₹4.5 crore grant from DBT for research on cultivated meat.
- Regulatory Gaps
- Both segments developing but several gaps exist, most notably in regulatory clarity hindering commercial scale-up.
- FSSAI yet to issue definitive guidance on novel foods like cultivated meat or precision-fermented proteins requiring policy intervention.
International Comparison
- Japan’s Leadership
- In 1980s: Japan first country to put forth concept of functional foods and devise framework for regulation.
- Smart Proteins Globally
- Singapore became first country to approve commercial sale of cultivated chicken in 2020 showing regulatory progressiveness.
- China prioritized alternative proteins as part of food-security and innovation agenda ensuring strategic focus comprehensively.
- European Union investing heavily in sustainable protein production through “Farm to Fork” strategy ensuring comprehensive approach.
Risks
- India risks either lagging in innovation or facing flood of unverified, mislabelled products requiring regulatory vigilance.
- Transition to biomanufacturing demands major workforce upskilling to enable employment of agricultural workforce ensuring smooth transition.
- Poor implementation could concentrate market power among few large corporations requiring equitable market structure ensuring fair competition.
- Public Perception Challenge
- scepticism of “lab-made” food can only be overcome through transparent communication and public trust.
Policy Recommendations
- National regulatory framework for novel foods under FSSAI should provide clarity on definitions, safety evaluation, and labelling comprehensively.
- Inter-ministerial coordination needed to ensure coherent policy support across departments ensuring integrated approach to implementation.
- Public-private partnerships can help scale biomanufacturing infrastructure and indigenize critical technologies like precision fermentation ensuring self-reliance.
- Public education and inclusion of farmers in new value chains essential to ensure biotechnology’s benefits extend across society comprehensively.
Q- “India needs to move from food security to nutritional security.” Discuss how functional foods and smart proteins can support this transition. (15 Marks)