The Safety and Quality Challenges for Indian Food Exports
As a part of the FPM Research Workshop, just now attended a presentation on this topic by Prof. Aparna Sawhney (Econcomics and Social Sciences Area). Got to know a lil bit about what happens in food exports at international policy/institution level.
Abstract: Food items constitute the largest share of the Indian agricultural exports, and the returns on fresh and processed food in world markets have increased, especially in the US and Western Europe. At the same time food exports have begun to face increasing safety and quality standards. The food quality and health standards requirements for global food trade are legal under the provision of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and to some extent under the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Indian food exports have faced market access problems due to failure to comply with safety and quality standards effective in developed country markets. In particular, the paper examines the key food quality challenges faced by Indian food exports in the US market, and the strategy required to boost exports.