Nourish India 2025 – Food Safety & Security Leadership Summit.

It’s Time to Robust India’s Traceability, Testing and Empowering Micro-Entrepreneurs for Achieving Food Safety and Security.

To place Indian food products confidently on global shelves, India must deepen traceability, modernise testing, and empower micro-enterprises with the right infrastructure and technology said Dr. J. P. Dongre, Director & DAMA, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) at Nourish India 2025 – Food Safety & Security Leadership Summit in Delhi organised by BCC&I, ICAR-NRCG with support of MoFPI, Govt. of India held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi,

Dr. Dongre asserted the Central Government’s emphasis on integrated cold-chain development, processing clusters, laboratory modernisation, and micro-enterprise formalisation. In an exclusive session, Dr. Dongre have showcased key MoFPI schemes designed to support entrepreneurs, expand infrastructure and enhance food-safety compliance across the value chain.

Dr. Alka Rao, Advisor, FSSAI, emphasised India’s leadership in science-based regulations, pesticide-residue frameworks and Codex-aligned standards, calling for stronger laboratory networks and responsible agri-inputs to protect both domestic consumers and export markets.

Dr. Sudhanshu, Secretary, APEDA, in his speech noted the success of India’s digital traceability systems and the need for sustained farmer-level training and good agricultural practices to maintain global market confidence.

Dr. Prem Garg, National President, Indian Rice Exporters Federation, stressed that India must shift from commodity exports to premium, branded, traceable rice supported by modern packaging and sustainability practices to strengthen global trust.

Mr. Vishal Sharma, DGM, NABARD, has affirmed that food safety and security rely on access, availability and affordability-all of which depend on a robust food-processing framework. He highlighted NABARD’s refinancing support, storage and cold-chain infrastructure financing, and credit facilitation measures aimed at enabling food-processing enterprises and strengthening the wider ecosystem.

The summit closed with a shared call to accelerate India’s transition to a Self-Reliant India (Viksit Bharat), built on transparent supply chains, science-led regulation, empowered micro-enterprises and global-standard processing capabilities-ensuring safety, nutrition and competitiveness in equal measure.

Leaders at the inaugural of Nourish India 2025 at the India Habitat Centre. From left: Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Director General, BCC&I; Dr. Alka Rao, Advisor, FSSAI; Dr. Sudhanshu, Secretary, APEDA; Mr. Jayanta Chakraborty, Mentor – Agri-Horti-Food Processing Committee, BCC&I; Dr. J. P. Dongre, Director & DAMA, MoFPI; Dr. Giridhar Parvatham, Director, CSIR–CFTRI; and Dr. Prem Garg, National President, Indian Rice Exporters Federation.

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