Raw poultry supports the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and bacteria hence it is essential to maintain an uninterrupted cold chain along the complete processing and distribution network to maintain the quality of poultry products.
Rapidly changing trends, increase in QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants) and the rise of online meat delivery platforms (Licious, Zappfresh, Tendercuts etc.) has increased the demand. Processed chicken and other value added products market is expanding at 15% CAGR.
The pandemic has led to increased use of technology and digitization enabling stakeholders with quicker decision-making based on real-time insights. Cloud technology has received a tremendous boost.
Compliance with food safety norms coupled with creating awareness about processed products is essential for consistent growth in demand. Sustainability standards are important to a majority of millennials. Companies are increasingly adopting de-carbonization strategies and pushing for greener business solutions.
There is a gap in the value chain as most vendors lack dry processing, storage, cold chain facilities and logistical (refrigerated trucks or specialized equipment) for packing and transporting produce.
It is necessary to build smarter warehouses with energy-efficient systems to create greener cold supply chains and solar-powered, temperature-controlled units, the logistics and supply chain sector has started integrating smart and planet-friendly systems in their operations.
The cost of per cubic meter storage in India for cold storage is $ 60 as compared to the $ 30 in the west. Some of the biggest challenges maintaining and building cold chain infrastructure are real estate price which have risen by 280%, lack of mobile infrastructure – like reefer trucks, reefer containers, shortage of consistent power supply, lack of skilled human resources, lack of clearly defined standards and protocols and to top it all the average capacity utilization in the industry is just around 30 percent.
MOFPI (Ministry of Food Processing Industries) has taken various measures for development of cold chain infrastructure. Schemes of Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure is to provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities, without any break, from the farm gate to the consumer.
It covers creation of infrastructure facility along the entire supply chain. The scheme allows flexibility in project planning with special emphasis on creation of cold chain infrastructure at farm level.
By :-Bhavana Gupta
Editor-in-Chief
