FICCI FLO, under the leadership of Puja Garg, National President, hosted a highly relevant webinar, “Packaging Simplified: Building Market Ready Food Brands,” highlighting the importance and the science behind food packaging. The virtual session featured Dr. Tanvir Alam, Additional Director, & Regional Officer at the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and Dr. Aastha Bhardwaj, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP).
Hosted under the joint collaboration of FLO Initiatives: Agriculture, Agro-Based & Food Processing Industry Initiative, and Women in STEM Initiative, the session highlighted the tremendous opportunities available for women entrepreneurs in the fastest-growing Indian Food Processing Industry, expected to exceed $700 Billion. Also, the guest speakers from IIP discussed the reasons why many food products fail due to issues with packaging, shelf life, labeling, storage, and distribution.
They discussed that the food businesses in the Indian market should understand the science behind food packaging, especially factors for enhancing shelf life, such as moisture, oxygen, temperature, light exposure, sealing, packaging material, and storage. All these factors decide whether a product remains local or becomes export-ready for scalability. This is why STEM plays an important role in simplifying the science behind shelf life and proper labeling.
FLO National President, Puja Garg, said: “To succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, a product must not only be produced well, but it should be presented, protected, preserved, and positioned effectively.
Dr. Aastha Bhardwaj talked about the important functions of packaging, such as protect, preserve, contain, inform, promote, and transport. According to Dr. Bhardwaj, poor packaging can impact the product’s shelf life, cause food spoilage, and reduce trust among the consumers. This is the reason that packaging of a food product should be properly sealed, and contain professional graphics and information.
Dr. Aastha Bhardwaj said: “Consumers buy products based on taste once. They buy them again based on quality retained during shelf life.
The session ended with Dr. Tanvi Alam providing guidance on packaging requirements for exporters in different countries, especially the European markets. He urged attendees to register their food business with multinational companies, obtain third party certifications for packaging safety, and should comply with FSSAI regulations.
158 attendees benefited from this webinar as they learned the importance of packaging for food business success, how it provides protections against food spoilage and boost shelf life.
Overall, the session emphasized how packaging can determine whether a product captures attention on the shelf or gets overlooked by customers.
Packaging Simplified session is a part of FICCI FLO’s efforts towards helping women entrepreneurs in building market ready and scalable businesses.