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Supply Chain Management Centre hosts conference on ‘Maintaining safety and quality in perishable food supply chain using technology’ on July 20

The event, held in collaboration with TagBox Solutions and NASSCOM, featured senior professionals from supply chain, quality and technology functions who shared experiences and case studies from their organizations to improve the effectiveness of perishable food supply chains

03 August, 2022, Bengaluru: The Supply Chain Management Centre, a Centre of Excellence at IIM Bangalore, in collaboration with TagBox Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), hosted a conference, ‘Maintaining safety and quality in perishable food supply chain using technology’, on July 20 (Wednesday), 2022. 

The invite-only event featured senior professionals from supply chain, quality and technology functions, from bodies like FSSAI and NCCD, IIM Bangalore as well as private sector organizations, who shared experiences and case studies from their organizations, to improve the effectiveness of perishable food supply chains.

TagBox is enabling organizations to make their supply chains smarter and more reliable through IoT solutions, while NASSCOM is the premier trade body and Chamber of Commerce for the IT industry in India. 

Background 

The last few years in India have witnessed rapid urbanization, exponential growth in consumption of packaged perishable products like dairy, fruits and vegetables, chocolates, meats, batters, etc., and meteoric rise in D2C, e-commerce and quick commerce channels. Maintenance of quality and safety until the consumer doorstep becomes extremely critical in this scenario. It is known that India’s cold chain infrastructure is trailing demand and understanding of cold chain quality requirements is very low amongst logistics operators, especially in the last mile. Organizations need a systematic program to be able to maintain and measure quality of perishable products at each step of the supply chain. Technology needs to be the backbone of such a quality program. 

Through a series of presentations and panel discussions, the event highlighted how organizations should go about creating such a quality program, with focus on Design, Measurement, Traceability, Regulation, Audit, Technology, etc.

Sessions

Session one was on the ‘Role of government and industry bodies in ensuring food safety and quality’. In this session, three eminent speakers – Dr. Sanu Jacob, Director of Southern Regional Office, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); Prof. Gopal Naik, faculty in the Economics & Social Sciences area and Jal Jeevan Mission Chair in Utility Development & Water Economics, IIM Bangalore; and Asheesh Fotedar, COO, National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD), shared their views. Dr. Jacob discussed details of various programs of FSSAI and how the organization is promoting and ensuring safety in food in India. Asheesh Fotedar discussed how the government of India, through NCCD, is attempting to develop an integrated cold chain in the country for perishable F & V and other perishable allied agri commodities in order to reduce wastage significantly and improve gains for farmers and consumers. Prof. Gopal Naik highlighted the problems in the current perishable supply chain and how technology use has helped in streamlining the supply chain and enhancing value and quality assessment. He spoke about the use cases of Akshayakalpa. He also discussed how blockchain can be used in streamlining supply chains, with an example of TraceX.

The next session was a panel discussion on: ‘How do MNC food brands in India implement global mandates on food safety and quality amidst local ground-level challenges?’. The panel included Rajeev Ranjan, Chief Operating Officer, McDonalds; Girinath Deshpande, Plant Lead, Mondelez International; Vaibhav Wagh, Quality Assurance Lead, Tim Hortons India; Padamdeep Singh Handa, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Snowman Logistics Limited; and Nabhojit Ghosh, Vice President – Culinary, Sakurafresh Beverage & Food. The panel was moderated by Adarsh Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, TagBox. The panel discussed building a food safety strategy to ensure that food safety is integrated into the design of food, packaging, equipment, restaurants' operational procedures and employee training; policies that must be adopted to ensure high-quality and safe food in the Indian market; building food safety into sourcing and manufacturing processes; challenges faced in the implementation of these policies with the partners and franchises; and the supply chain SOPs for food items in terms of storage, transportation and last-mile delivery. 

The last session was a panel discussion on: ‘How to manage food safety and quality in a fast-paced, high-growth, rapid expansion environment?’. The panel comprised Ganapathi Subramanyam, Head of Innovation/ESG & DI Coordinator, Big Basket; Uday Mahajan, Senior VP – Engineering, Rebel Foods; Shashikanth KS, Chief Operating Officer, Chai Point; and Sangram Sawant, Founder & CEO, Pescafresh. The panel was moderated by Sunil David, Advisor to IOT and AI Start-ups and Ex-Regional Director (IOT) - AT&T, and Advisor to TagBox. The panel discussed best practises and the use of technology to ensure safety, quality, freshness, flavour, consistency in taste, longer shelf life and compliance with FSSAI and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) guidelines. The panel also discussed the processes and tools the companies use from farm-to-fork, shore-to-door and garden-to-glass.

The event also included a presentation on ‘Advanced technology for managing food quality and safety’ by Adarsh Kumar of TagBox.