Difference between pharma and food sector is lack of structured regulations in the latter: Ella Foods MD Jalachari Ella

We are often asked this and sometimes quite frankly we ask ourselves. I will answer this by saying that science has always been our life blood. Food is also science and that is how we ideated a microbe-free, low sodium, Vitamin-D, and probiotic foods.

You may call it a diversification of sorts getting into the food in agri-sector but the core root of it is still science and here also what we are doing is what we do best- innovation.

Currently, it is a family run and a promoter driven entity. We do not have any external stakeholders and we did that primarily because we wanted to see our vision implemented. Also, you see our own surname on the brand so it’s something that we want to really stand by steadfastly. I am not sure if it’s very foolish or the smart thing to do, but we have done it because we want to hold ourselves accountable.

Vaccines are a form of preventive healthcare that can prevent diseases from happening and prevent your incidence rates of going into a hospital. If you take it one step further food can also be considered a preventive healthcare mechanism. It has minerals, it has vitamins, it has essential nutrients that we need to thrive as human beings.

It plays an essential role in being healthy. Now the challenge or difference which we see coming from pharma industry is the lack of a sound regulatory eco-system. While Indian pharma is known globally, there is a lot to be done in the food sector, particularly with regards to regulatory framework.

Being used to work on a checklist — the norms pharma sector must follow — the fact that there is not too much around in food sector makes it difficult for people like us because we are used to having a checklist. We are used to having a nice sound framework to work within and suddenly coming into an industry that may not have that framework, the onus is on us to create benchmarks.

We are looking at setting very high standards for ourselves as well as setting high standards for the industry at large including that for procurement and processing. Besides, marketing itself is a whole new world. We are learning along the way. It’s very different from the Pharma marketing that we are used to, but it’s exciting.

If you ask me, it is  99.99 per cent the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure that the quality of raw materials -- all the quality of ingredients they are processing -- are of higher standards and adhere to the regulatory framework. But I must say, here, the 0.1 per cent that I possibly left behind is the consumer. The consumer definitely wants quality, but they want quality at the lowest price possible.

Now, when we look at quality, we don’t really attribute low pricing to good quality. If you find something premium, you know, you’re going to have to pay a higher price tag for it, and that’s quite evident. Also in food, one example would be organic. If you’re going to farm in the organic manner, you cannot do the regular crop cultivation. That is, if it’s three crops a year that a farmer would average, he now has to limit himself to one. Economically, it is going to affect the farmer.

As I mentioned before, the food regulatory system could be a bit stronger in our country, we don’t question where our ingredients come from, how they’ve been processed, yet we question how a drug is manufactured. Food should be treated like a preventive healthcare ingredient, secondly, it should also be processed in the same way or the same attention to detail that we give to pharmaceutical ingredients.

I’m glad you ask that question, actually, because being in the forefront is something that I find very challenging. In the world where I come from, you usually don’t see the promoters coming out too much except when there probably is a product launch.

We do it in a fairly simple way. And we have the best name as the brand ambassador, Dr Krishna Ella himself. So being in the forefront is definitely challenging. It is important for the consumer to know who is packaging it and who is developing product lines. Every brand needs a story and the consumer wants to know why you’ve started it.

In terms of business expansion, we’re looking at deepening domestic and international model prints definitely.

We have a really great and large eco-system with manufacturing unit in Malur, Karnataka, and we are located within a designated food park, so that in itself has area around which it is very agriculturally fertile.

Also we are collaborating with farmers and larger FPOs to identify farms that are growing and cultivating in nice, ethical manners and who are willing to share data with us as well as are willing to be educated. We incentivise them by suggesting that we will pay more (30 per cent more than the regular market would pay them) for an ingredient if they followed some steps in ethical farming that would enhance the product. Many of them are very happy to do so. We have done this successfully with mangoes.