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What may perhaps be India's contribution to what's considered the best-selling chocolate bar in the world? Peanuts! The crunchy taste in Snickers will soon be Indian as <keyword id="237779" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mars-Incorporated">Mars Incorporated</keyword>, which makes the $2-billion chocolate bar brand, plans to source peanuts from Saurashtra for markets right from India and Middle East to South East Asia and China. 
 "From a quality perspective, it is very critical to gpeanuts of a particular variety. We are developing it with a couple of vendors based out of Saurashtra," Mars International India <keyword id="6460379" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="general-manager">general manager</keyword> MV Natarajan said. "India can even be the largest sourcing hub for peanuts," he said. 
 Mars currently does a bulk of peanut sourcing for Snickers bars - which come stuffed with peanuts - from <keyword id="5927" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Argentina">Argentina</keyword>. 
 
For companies, low level of aflatoxins, a type of toxin produced by molds that grow on peanuts and corn among others, is the deciding factor. While Mars follows a strict benchmark of 4 parts of aflatoxins per billion (ppb), the Indian benchmark of aflatoxin is around 30 ppb, while it is 10 ppb in the US. 
 Despite India being the world's second-largest <keyword id="6356809" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="producer">producer</keyword> of peanuts with nearly six-million tonnes annually, its share in the global market is restricted to raw peanuts, with negligible contribution in value-added products like peanut butter. 
 
Mars has teamed up with Gujarat-based Khedut Feeds to help farmers in Saurashtra produce high-quality peanuts with global expertise and best practices. 
 "Over the last few years, we have started an initiative - Project Saurashtra - by partnering nearly 40,000 farmers to educate them on growing high quality nuts and have better crop yield," said <keyword id="975823" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tushar-Patel">Tushar Patel</keyword>, <keyword id="2808110" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="director-at-Khedut-Feeds">director at Khedut Feeds</keyword>. Last month, Mars Inc - which also owns M&amp;M's, Twix, Milky Way and Bounty brands - announced it will <keyword id="47916" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="invest">invest</keyword> $160 million to open its first chocolate plant in India. 
 A year ago, <keyword id="2807967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="AgroTech-Foods-Limited">AgroTech Foods Limited</keyword>, an affiliate of <keyword id="399082" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="ConAgra-Foods-Inc">Conagra Foods Inc</keyword>, announced the opening of its manufacturing unit near Bharuch in Gujarat to start local production of its Sundrop peanut butter for the first time in India. But not many companies are interested, say experts. 
 "Farmers in India hardly use latest infrastructure or technology that helps produce export quality peanuts," said <keyword id="195274" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sanjay-Bajaj">Sanjay Bajaj</keyword>, MD of Ahmedabad-based <keyword id="156468" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bajaj-Food-Products">Bajaj Food Products</keyword>, one of the first peanut butter manufacturer and exporter in the country. "Unless global companies partner them and bring best global practices, it is difficult to match other countries despite low prices in India," he said. 
 
There are other issues, too. Peanuts production is highly vulnerable to rainfall deviations and display huge fluctuation between years. Also, the domestic consumption is huge for peanut oil, and just 5-7 per cent of peanuts get exported to other markets.

Now peanuts for your favourite Mars bars will come from India's Saurashtra

New Delhi, Feb 27 () FMCG majors HUL and Nestle have been jointly ranked first in the industry for their approach to nutrition in the 'India Access to Nutrition Spotlight Index'. They were followed by food and beverages major PepsiCo India, Britannia Industries and Coca-Cola India. The index is published by Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) and hosted by Access to Nutrition Foundation, an international not-for-profit organisation. ATNI report is published once in every three years and this is the second edition of India Spotlight Index. India was selected as a spotlight country as it has a rapidly developing food and beverages sector, a statement said. The initiative is supported by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of the UK and the Netherlands. This season, 16 largest companies in India's food and beverage sector were assessed with the aim to encourage these companies to improve their nutrition practices, it added. The other companies were Amul, Mondelez India, Mother Dairy, Parle Products, AAVIN, Adani Wilmar, Emami Agrotech, Hatsun Agro Product, ITC, Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (Nandini) and Marico Limited. "ATNI sees food and beverage companies in India showing their commitment to provide healthy food and engaging in a dialogue on how to support India's Eat Right Movement," ATNI Executive Director Inge Kauer said. Lifestyle changes in India have caused a shift in consumer habits -- from the consumption of traditional food, to more urban food habits consisting of packaged and processed foods, high in sugar, fat and salt. "In fact, India is among the top 10 consumers of fast food in the world. This, coupled with the fact that India is set to become the third largest consumer economy, presents an enormous opportunity for food and beverage companies to make nutrition a core part of their business plans, and to adopt comprehensive, public and commercial strategies to address issues related to the double burden of malnutrition in India," she said. KRH ABM

HUL, Nestle ranked first in nutrition index

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