From food to fossil fuel-Guar bean's long journey!

India is the top most guar bean producing country and this humble seed is a vital source of a variety of gum used extensively by the food industry for viscosity and texture modification properties. There are also other edible gum sources from plants but guar gum is preferred for its extraordinary properties liked by the food processing industries world over. Besides there are gum like materials derived by modification of starch which also find application in some products. Guar gum became "famous" after the fossil fuel industry found that it is essential for extracting underground fossil fuel products through the process of fracking which has made America self sufficient in its energy requirement. This diversion has made guar gum more and more expensive and in spite of the fracking industry trying its best to find effective substitutes to it, not much success has been achieved so far.

The guar price which peaked at one time to about $15 per kg has crashed to a more sedate figure of  about $ 2 per kg at present. What future guar gum will have is some what uncertain as furious efforts are on hand to develop universally acceptable fracking fluid sans guar gum in the US. Also efforts are on to cultivate guar in Texas region in the US though the production there is still minuscule and the fracking industry still looks to India for bulk of its supply. Guar gum has become so dear to the oil industry there that many leading players are stocking the same to avoid escalation of prices in the international market in the near future. The pull from other industries like textiles, paper, explosives, mineral ore processing, food processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing etc also is a contributing factor to the escalating demand for guar gum. Guar gum and its modified version Partially Hydrogenated Guar Gum (PHGG) have properties such as solubility, stability under acidic conditions and heat that make it a choice for many of these industries.

Though Jodhpur in Rajasthan is closely associated with guar gum industry as large number of processing plants are located nearby, Kutch region in Gujarat account for more than 70% of country's production. The country produces about 3 million tons of guar beans and out of 1 million tons gum derived from it 90% is exported for use mostly for hydraulic cracking to extract gases from the shale underground. Almost 70% of the international demand comes from oil and gas industry. Imagine the gas industry in the US needs guar beans harvested from one thousand acres in India to dig a well and what efforts go for achieving this production at the farm level. A valid and relevant question that does not get a satisfactory answer is how far the farmers are benefited by this gas industry boom in the US? Like all other agricultural commodities guar beans also are susceptible to manipulations by middle men who invariably gorge a major part of the sale proceeds with no one able to control their activities. Probably the growers must be getting only a fraction of the money involved in guar beans trade!

The recent crashing of petroleum prices has added to the worries of the growers in India because an oil production cut is a distinct possibility which in turn may affect demand very significantly. Whether fracking industry will also resort to production cuts is some thing which cannot be predicted as of now. In the long run, guar beans growers will have to be weary about their future and if alternate crops can be raised in their lands that could be a better alternative option. Such a trend is seen when erstwhile guar farmers are shifting to cotton, sesame and cumin in large numbers due to steep fall in demand and their income from this crop. Food industry which uses guar gum for many functional applications like baked goods, ice cream, dairy products, fried foods, emulsification, antistaling etc probably may shift to guar gum  and partially hydrogenated gum (PHGG) as the current prices are considered reasonable. Also produced are Hydroxy Propyl Guar (HPG), Carboxymethyl Hydroxy Propyl Guar (CMHPG), metal complexes with Boron, Titanium, Aluminum, Antimony, Zirconium and Chromium all of which have properties suitable for different industrial applications. Besides the health connotations associated with guar may raise its stature further as it is considered a dietary fiber source and many health foods are right candidates for its wide scale use. While guar gum as available in nature is fermented to the extent of 75% in the gut, PHGG is 100% fermentable producing desirable volatile free fatty acids. They are regarded as pre-biotics because of their action in the intestine.  

There is also another face to the guar gum industry which many do not know. A casual visit to the so called guar mills can expose the indifferent and unhealthy working environment where thousands are employed at wages not considered comparable to other industrial workers. What is appalling is the "dusty" environment within the mill resulting from the inefficient machinery used by the owners spewing out fine particles of gummy cotyledon which are inhaled by the workers causing serious lung disorders. There does not appear to be too much concerns on the part of the government to protect their health through strict control measures. We only see the glamorous side of the industry which boasts of bringing in sizeable foreign exchange to the national kitty!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE ROAD BLOCK FOR INNOVATION IN FOOD PRODUCTS-AN FSSAI CONTRIBUTION!

It is true that there are hundreds of products in the market with doubtful safety and quality credentials because of lack of oversight by the government agencies vested with the responsibility of safeguarding consumer health. Food industry is a cocktail of manufacturers ranging from home scale processors with limited capabilities to mega companies having deep pockets and to fit a common law for all of them may be difficult. But still a rudimentary protocol is necessary to control the industry for preventing marketing of food products which do not conform to safety standards of the land. This is where product identities are drawn for many items which are consumed regularly by the citizens. But logistically it many not be feasible to identify all the products for laying such standards. What about new products which are developed by entrepreneurs which do not fit into any of the existing standards? In India there was a system where new products appropriately called proprietary products needed to be registered with the authorities providing all the details about them and if there is no adverse response from the concerned authorities they can be marketed. But with the setting up of FSSAI (an Authority with very little credibility) the rules of the game have been changed and new products approval will not be automatic any more.   

According to industry observers such a step can really sound death knell for innovations knowing the leaden footed nature of the FSSAI. Any action requiring approval from government agencies in India is a time consuming effort and no wonder there are hundreds of projects in India worth about 7 lack crore investment during the last 44 years which have been delayed for a few years to a few decades. Such a sorry situation may not be fatal to the government though it is the citizen who suffers! The story is different when it comes to private investors who spend their own resources to develop new products but wait for long time to get clearance for selling them in the market! Besides the widespread prevalence of corruption can favor some players while honest entrepreneurs are stuck in the approval "logjam". If there were time bound decision making regime, such a situation would not arise and this can be expected to provide a level playing field to every one, small as well as big.

The standards and safety bench marks now prevalent in the country do not cover even 50% of the products consumed by Indian consumers and if the new rule is implemented industry will have to discontinue manufacture of thousands of products currently marketed by it. For example most products of ethnic nature do not have quality standards embedded in the statute books and how can the traditional food sector market these products without getting approval from the Authority? Sadly the FSSAI has neither the technical competence nor the administrative muscle to carry out these activities and there exists the possibility of serious disruption to the food manufacturing activities in the country if the new proposal is implemented strictly. With coordination between the state food standards departments which are supposed to implement central policies, and the FSSAI at Delhi practically non-existent it is going to be the industry and the consumer who will be bearing the consequences of such adventure on the part of FSSAI.

Interestingly the writ if FSSAI runs only with organized industry which markets prepackaged foods while those selling food without a label or address are at liberty to peddle any thing whether unsafe or sub standard! Just because the organized food industry declares every thing on the label including their address, they are easy targets for punitive action while faceless peddlers of food get way with murder! Even to day there are thousands of retail traders who sell food products loose to the consumers with no burden of proof regarding the safety of the wares they sell. What protection the consumer is provided by FSSAI? Nothing! If India is competing with China for the "honor" (or dishonor?) of being the capital of food fraudsters and adulterators it is because of the operation of these traders with no real fear of the authorities. Of course those consumers who build long association with their retailers near their sojourn are not usually cheated because of the loyalty factor but casual buyers can be a convenient target for food fraud activities. Advent of multinational retailers and big Indian retail players may alleviate the situation to some extent as most of them sell only packed products. What is disturbing however is a new trend where even these large players are offering many foods in "loose" condition under the guise of reduced prices! 

Recent policy promulgation by FSSAI to compel all food manufacturers to register with the agency and get a license for dealing with food may be intended to trace the origin of food frauds. It is doubtful if this will really work because many microenterprises do not operate from the same address and have the ability to change their address frequently unlike larger players. There appears to be a misconception that licensing will take care of all the ills of the country whether in food sector or other areas of commercial activities. Before enacting any new regulations, government must justify the same and in the case of licensing itself there exists a system of local licensing of all manufacturers and dealers of food  with local authorities which is adequate enough to exercise vigilance if it is made to work efficiently. if these local bodies can transfer their data to FSSAI that can create a national data base for monitoring the activity of food industry as well as traders. Where is the need for a centralized licensing system?   

Looking from another angle the FSSAI evolved standards do not permit creation and marketing of healthy products as these are based on old concepts and understandings of nutrition science. During the last few years the yardstick for good health has changed dramatically with sugar, fat and salt becoming pariahs as far as health pundits are concerned, obviously because of their proven role in fostering many health disorders like Diabetes, CVD, Blood Pressure, Kidney ailments etc. Obviously it is unfair on the part of authorities to insist on minimum amounts of these ingredients in any food product. Take a product like ice cream which is mandated to contain a minimum amount of fat and sugar and industry developing healthier products containing less fat or sugar is bound o be penalized for violating the existing standards! There are many such products which have no business to be there in the market if nutrition becomes the corner stone of any standards frame work. One has to appreciate the dilemma of the food standards and safety agencies in balancing the needs of the nutrition science and that of the food technology before evolving safety related policies and standards.   

Why not think differently and simplify the food safety regime dramatically without compromising on essential things? Why not evolve a guideline that will draw two set of lists, one negative and the other positive, for the industry to follow while manufacturing food products in the country. Negative list must contain all those additives, processes, practices and conditions industry must avoid while the positive list includes desirable additives, safety aspects, nutritive ingredients addition, etc for bettering the quality of the products in general. There can be a general standard which defines any food and what they should not contain or if present the maximum limits. The onus of quality must be left to the industry and each product must confirm to the data presented in the labels. If FSSAI is truly a functional organization they must centralize the data on labels of all manufactured products with the address of the manufacturers for correcting misdeeds if any, on a continuous basis. This has to be a 24x7 activity for which adequate infrastructure must be created. Such commitment only can earn the confidence of the consumer in the long run.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com