MARKET MANTRA: A NEW PALATE

Updated on: Monday, January 25, 2010

According to a recent FICCI-Ernst & Young study, food constitutes about 30% of the consumer wallet and two-third of it is spent on primary and secondary processed products. Further, while the per-capita disposable income is up by 8% in the last five years, it has led to an increase of 20% in per-capita food consumption expenditure.

An increase in the disposable incomes of Indians and their changing attitudes towards processed foods has catalysed this growth. Further, with the rise in the number of working women, hectic lifestyle and the need for convenience, Indian consumers are adapting to processed food consumption.

GROWTH AVENUES

The ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) recently announced that it has plans to invest one trillion rupees ($20 billion) in the sector by 2015 to create nearly 10 million new jobs. Food production, procurement, processing, distribution networks and retailing are attracting large integrated players into the field. There is a plethora of opportunities for food technologists, mainly in processing industries, hotels, food industries, quality control, hospitals, packaging industries, distilleries, bakery industries, soft drink factories, product design, pharmaceutical industry, biochemical engineering, spice, cereal and rice mills among others.

REMUNERATION

Today, being a food scientist or a food technologist is about a quick career growth. A fresher/trainee can earn a salary ranging from Rs 10,000-18,000 per-month. However, someone with a Master’s degree can earn anything between Rs 25,000-40,000 per-month, depending on one's personal skills.

INSTITUTE WATCH

Several universities in India offer degree courses in food science and food technology. There are also institutes offering postgraduate courses in specialised aspects of food processing such as post harvest technology (PHT). Candidates with physics, chemistry and mathematics or physics, chemistry and biology or agriculture at the +2 level can opt for undergraduate courses in food science and technology and home science etc.

However, for admission to MSc (food science/food technology), an eligibility criterion is BSc (food science/food technology as one of the major courses studied during the undergraduate degree programme). Some of the institutes offering these courses include BTech (food technology) HBTI, Kanpur; BSc (food technology), University of Delhi; BSc (food and nutrition), Dr Babasabeb Ambedkar Marathawada University, Aurangabad; BSc (food and nutrition) Kakatiya University, Warangal; MSc Tech (food tech and fermentation tech) University of Bombay; MSc (food science), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam; MSc (food and nutrition), University of Mysore; MSc (food technology) and GB Pant University of Agriculture Technology, Pant Nagar.

Times of india

MARKET MANTRA: A NEW PALATE

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