PAU hosts a seminar about food processing
Attending the national conference on “Food Processing 4.0: Innovation and Sustainability” at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) were scientists, industry professionals, researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs from all across the nation. The Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU, hosted the conference, which marked a turning point in the field of food processing innovation and advancement.
The principal guest, vice chancellor Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal, spoke on the need for developing a vibrant forum for multidisciplinary discussion and cooperation. He continued, saying Punjab Agricultural University has continued to be a trailblazer in tackling issues pertaining to both domestic and international agriculture. It was also instrumental in the Green Revolution, which brought food security to the country as a whole. Experts in food science will be able to examine how technology might revolutionize food processing methods via this conference, he said.
With an emphasis on carbon footprint and carbon credit, the honoree, Bal Mukand Sharma, Chairman of the Punjab State Food Commission, emphasized the pressing need for novel and sustainable solutions for human wellbeing while highlighting the current global difficulties facing the food processing sectors.
When giving a summary of the symposium, Dr. AS Dhatt, Director of Research at PAU, emphasized the importance of continuing to work toward the development of environmentally friendly, clean technologies in order to provide practical answers to challenging problems that the food processing industry faces.
During the symposium, renowned businessman Rajni Bector—founder and CEO of Cremica Food Industries Limited—was recognized with the “Outstanding Contribution in Food Processing” award. She urged the audience to create digital and intelligent food processing technologies that are technically and financially realistic to use on an industrial scale.
Dr. BVC Mahajan, director of the Punjab Horticultural Post-Harvest Technology Centre, and Dr. RS Sethi, dean of the GADVASU, Ludhiana College of Dairy and Food Science Technology, moderated a panel discussion. Speakers from prestigious businesses and academic institutions convened to discuss how to combine digitalization systems with cutting-edge technology to increase food production, processing, and distribution efficiency, transparency, and traceability.
The national symposium’s convener, Dr. Savita Sharma, director of the Department of Food Science and Technology, gave an overview of the symposium’s goals and significance.
More than 200 people attended the symposium from prestigious universities, including Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Solan; Banda University of Agriculture and Technology in Banda, Uttar Pradesh; National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal; Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi; CIPHET, Ludhiana; Panjab University, Chandigarh; GADVASU, Ludhiana; and Islamic University of Science and Technology, Kashmir. In addition to a lively panel discussion on problems and obstacles facing the food processing industry and creative but workable solutions, there were 119 poster presentations and 50 oral presentations overall.
