Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan
| Photo Credit:
Shahbaz Khan
Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan on Thursday raised concerns regarding the “false narrative” being spread by social media influencers against processed food. He called for the need for a collective effort to counter it, cautioning that such a misleading narrative is adversely impacting the industry’s growth. He also said that the industry will play a key role in enabling the country realise the vision of Viksit Bharat-2047.
Addressing the inaugural session of ANVESH-2026, a three-day international conference organised by NIFTEM-K, Paswan said the perception that “processed food means not good” was being actively promoted online.
“This challenge is not just being faced in our country but also globally. There is a kind of false narrative being built by the influencers on processed food. Processed food means not good – such narrative is being set. I don’t know the intention behind it. But this is being done. This is impacting the sector and it will continue to do that. We need to collectively counter this narrative. We need to emphasise that processed means value-addition,” he said.
The minister said ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products have become integral to modern lifestyles with the rise of nuclear families and working couples. He added that the Food Processing Ministry has constituted a committee on misleading advertisements, which recently discussed ways to counter the misleading narrative. He added that this is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders. He urged industry leaders to take ownership of the issue, suggesting that if each leader onboards “one-two influencers,” the narrative could be corrected at scale.”If we start a national campaign on this, we can deal with this challenge,” he added.
On trade, Paswan said India has inked several free trade agreements while safeguarding the interests of the farmers. He added that focus of the industry should be on value-addition without compromising on quality or regulatory standards.
Published on February 26, 2026