Probiotic or organic? Who’ll bell the can?

MUMBAI: With an avalanche of probiotic products entering store shelves in the recent past, lack of regulation related to these products is thwarting retailers’ plans to create separate sections to highlight the USP of such products.

There is no regulatory body that certifies the claims made on products as ‘organic’ or ‘functional’ or ‘probiotic’. Retailers, thus, are busy studying the implication of this.
Andrew Livermore, CEO, Hypercity, said there is a need to follow the international certification process to create reliability.

“Companies like Amul and Nestle will not face issues as there is an element of ‘trust’ associated with them. However, new firms will need certification,” he said. 
The size of market is lesser than 0.5% of modern trade. As the base is small, the growth rate is about 400-500%. The functional food category is dominated by organic foods, which are mostly imported.

Organic products are mainly jams and preserves and any product that is agriculturally produced such as brown rice, pulses & spices. 

Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Food Bazaar, said: “Organic certification provided by private firms is a very complex thing. There are various requirements in order to get this certification like separate warehouse, minimum distance of organic food from inorganic and so on. While we recognise that organic food is a desired category, we may not be able to meet all the requirements for the certification”.

“We are also studying the implications as to what it means to call something organic,” Nayak said. 

Organic foods, he said, are untouched by pesticides and have a very short shelf life.
They also need special storage and transportation systems.

“Moreover, margins are not very satisfactory. This is because of the sheer nature of the trade and the fact that there are so many transaction points. We are trying to seek products directly from the vendors,” Nayak said.