Briefs: World's largest food park

Early 2010, the world's largest food park opened 20 km from Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. The 95-acre Patanjali Food and Herbal Park is to provide direct employment for 7000 people. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) plans to set up a food park in every state of India. Under India's 11th 5-year plan (2007-2012), the first 10 out of a total of 30 food parks are to be set up. The aim is to establish sound manufacturing and processing units, to integrate supply chain management and to reduce wastage of agricultural produce. The Patanjali project is to provide a source of income and revenue generation for farmers by creating a demand for conventional and non-conventional produce. Long-term, 32 processing units will be established and funding is from governmental and private sources. The park comprises warehouses, and research and development centres. Variable humidity stores and multi-commodity cold storage, a pre-cooling chamber, and a ripening chamber have also been constructed. Source: www.foodprocessing-technology.com/projects/patanjalifoodandherb