The National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) and GS1 India (an organisation dedicated to implementing global supply chain management standards) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the former's campus in Sonepat, Haryana on Friday to develop courses and syllabus focussing on making students aware of the global developments in the food safety sector.

This arrangement will also lead to faculty-student exchange programmes between the two organisations to bridge the skill gap through the inclusion of modules on food safety in the academic curricula. The MoU would help develop courses that would include subjects like traceability, stock management, demand forecast, tracking of product and checking counterfeit products.

“NIFTEM already started a programme based on food safety through traceability and recall,” informed Ashutosh Upadhyay, associate professor and head, Department of Food Science and Technology, NIFTEM.

Earlier while delivering address on the occasion, Ravi Mathur, chief executive officer, GS1, said that the MoU also envisaged collaboration and cooperation between the two organisations in spreading awareness on the prevalent and emerging global trends on food safety, which could be adopted by the Indian food industry, leading to greater consumer confidence in Indian food products and their increased acceptance in global markets.

“A lot of innovation is happening in the field of food safety, and there is need to incorporate these developments in the curriculum of the future food safety managers, and technologists that would address all relevant subjects related to food safety,” he said.

He added that this would help in equipping the food safety system with corrective and precautionary measures and subsequently lead to greater confidence amongst consumers.

Hailing the MoU, Ajit Kumar, vice-chancellor, NIFTEM, said that the institute was ready to incorporate all relevant global subjects of food safety. He added that there would be a series of training programmes, workshops and collaborations for strengthening the courses at the institute.