Mother Dairy, the Indian food group, is to set up a fruit and vegetable processing plant in Jharkand state, expanding its presence in the east of the country.
The company, a subsidiary of the government agency the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has invested US$11.5m in the fruit and vegetable processing project, that has an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes.
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Speaking to just-food, a Mother Dairy official said the plant will process tomatoes for making ketchups and green peas. The plant will also process fruits like banana, guava, mango, papaya and litchi for juice and pulp concentrates.
The state of Jharkand was selected as fruit and vegetables grown there have less pesticide used on them than in northern India, the official added.
The plant is expected to be operational by the end of this fiscal year March 2017.
Mother Dairy’s fruit and vegetables arm is called Safal, selling branded products and having its own retail outlets in Delhi. The division also has a plant in Bangalore that produces and sells aseptic fruit pulp and concentrate to companies including Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. It exports fresh fruit and vegetables, fruit pulp and Concentrate, plus frozen fruit and vegetables to 40 countries.
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By GlobalDataMother Dairy was set up in 1974 to help make India a milk sufficient nation. As well as dairy and fruit and veg, its portfolio now also includes products edible oils and jams.
