A REPORT ON PATENTED FOOD PRODUCTS IN INDIA

A patent can only be issued for a new and beneficial invention, according to Indian Patent
Law. The invention must be related to the substance, object, or machine of a manufacturer, or
the manufacturing process for an article. A patent can also be obtained to protect the
development of a new product or manufacturing process.
In the case of medicine or drugs, as well as certain chemical groups, no patent is issued for
the substance itself, even if it is novel; however, both the manufacturing process and the
substance are patentable. The first inventor or the person who has acquired title from him
must file a genuine patent application, and the right to file a patent application must be
assignable.
A utility patent applicant must show that their innovation is useful. The invention must be
functional and have a practical application. A machine that does not function as intended is
not considered useful, and thus is not granted a Patent. A utility Patent can only be granted for
a machine, a composition of matter, a process, or an improvement to one of these.
Patents are valid for 20 years from the date of filing, with an annual renewal fee. Indian
Patent Law is governed by the ‘first to file’ concept, which means that if two people apply for
a Patent on the same invention, the first to file will be granted the Patent.
Useful insights on a Food Item Patented in India
It might not seem like the idea of patents applies to food products. However, a lot of
organizations do patent food items. Additionally, ICAR and CSIR are well-known
organizations in India that have patented intellectual property in the field of food sciences.
However, there is one minor proviso that should be mentioned. Recipe books can be the
subject of a food recipe patent. It would also fall under the category of literary works. A
patent of this type would grant the author sole ownership of the published work. Furthermore,
rather than simply prohibiting others from publishing the recipe, this patent would prevent
others from copying it.
3 basic requirements must be met in order to patent a food item in India
Novelty – The recipe should have an element of ‘newness,’ rather than simply being an
extension of an older method.
Industrial application – In the case of food, this criterion implies that the recipe should be
industrially useful for either humans or animals.
Non-obviousness – A recipe cannot be patented simply by combining raw food ingredients
that produce an obvious result.
Primary factors to Consider When Applying for a Food Recipe Patent in India
The Indian Patent Office states:
 An inventive step is required for an invention.
 It should not be published in India or any other country.
 In India, it should not be claimed in any specification.
The inventive step is an important consideration for people who want to patent a food recipe.
Similarly, the Indian Patent Office defines an inventive step as one that “does not make the
invention obvious to a person skilled in the art.”
A food recipe applicant must also ensure that it does not violate Section 3(e) of the Indian
Patent Act, 1970. Section 3(e) mentioned that a product or process that simply combines
ingredients to produce a clear result cannot be patented.
Different ways to Patent a Food item in India
Food variations
Many existing foods contain well-known ingredients. Finding different ingredients to replace
the established ones is a clever way to obtain a patent. These food combinations should
emphasize healthy eating or other similar advantages. The goal is to create a new matter
composition that is more desirable than comparable foods and recipes.
Viable Substitute
New foods in special diets: Vegan and gluten-free diets have become commonplace. Many
restaurants provide meals to meet these requirements. An inventor who discovers a new
method of producing these foods has a strong patent claim. For example, Vegetarian do not
consume eggs. Because many recipes call for eggs, the inventor of a viable substitute maybe
granted a patent. The new matter composition must be innovative while also meeting the
needs of people on special diets.
Brewing recipes and ingredients need to be developed
In recent years, the number of microbreweries has increased dramatically. Science is used in
the development of new flavors in craft beers. Any creator of a flavorful beer should patent it.
Beverages are precious in the marketplace. You should meticulously record the brewing
process. It is difficult to explain the application’s steps. You must meet the requirements for
novelty and non-obviousness.
Information on obtaining a Patent for a Food Product
The Indian Patent Office recommends that applicants apply for a patent in the office closest
to their home. Documents can be filed online, by mail, or in person.
After an applicant submits an application, the information is published 18 months later.
Others are given the opportunity to object to such a publication. Following that, an
examination is conducted, which results in either the grant or refusal of a patent. If someone
objects to the grant of a patent, the Controller makes a decision.
Bottom Line
Food items can be patented, but they must have a distinctive feature that sets them apart from
other recipes, such as a different method of baking or the inclusion of a medicinal
composition in the recipe. It can be patented in this manner, and it is not required that the
cooking method be different; patents could also be based on appearance, shelf life, texture,
flavor, or any other key feature that distinguishes your recipe.
History
Amul was found on 19 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of small dairy farmers
by traders and agents. At the time, milk prices were arbitrarily determined, giving Polson an
effective monopoly in milk collection from Kaira and its subsequent supply to Mumbai.[10][11]

Frustrated with the trade practices (which they perceived as unfair), the farmers of Kaira, led
by Tribhuvandas Patel, approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who advised them to form a
cooperative. If they did so, they would be able to directly supply their milk to the Bombay Milk
Scheme instead of working for Polson.[12] Sardar Patel sent Morarji Desai to organise the farmers.
[11]

Following a meeting in Chaklasi, the farmers formed the cooperative and resolved not to provide
Polson with any more milk.[12] Milk collection was decentralised, as most producers were marginal
farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each
village.[13] By June 1948, the KDCMPUL had started pasteurising milk for the Bombay Milk
Scheme. Then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed
factory. On 31 October 1964, he spoke to farmers about their cooperative. After returning to
Delhi, he set in motion the creation of an organisation, the National Dairy Development
Board (NDDB), to replicate the Kaira cooperative in other parts of India. Under the leadership of
Tribhuvandas Patel, in 1973, Amul celebrated its 25th anniversary with Morarji Desai, Maniben
Patel, and Verghese Kurien.[14]

The cooperative was further developed through the efforts of Verghese Kurien and H. M. Dalaya.
Dalaya's innovation of making skim milk powder from buffalo milk was a technological
breakthrough that revolutionised India's organised dairy industry.[15]

With Kurien's help, the process was expanded on a commercial scale, which led to the first
modern dairy cooperative at Anand. This cooperative would go on to compete against the
established players in the market.[16]

The success of the trio (T. K. Patel, Kurien, and Dalaya) at the cooperative's dairy soon spread
to Anand's neighborhood in Gujarat. Within a short span, five unions in other districts
– Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha, and Surat – were set up, following the
approach sometimes described as the Anand pattern.[11]

In 1970, the cooperative spearheaded the "White Revolution" of India. To combine forces and
expand the market while saving on advertising and avoiding competing against each other, the
Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., an apex marketing body of these district
cooperatives, was set up in 1973. The Kaira Union, which had the brand name Amul with it since
1955, transferred it to GCMMF. Technological developments at Amul have subsequently spread
to other parts of India.[17]

In 1999, it was awarded the "Best of All" Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award.[18]

The GCMMF is the largest food product marketing organisation in India. As the apex
organisation of the dairy cooperatives of Gujarat, it is the exclusive marketing organisation for
products under the brand name Amul and Sagar. For more than five decades, dairy cooperatives
in Gujarat have created an economic network that links more than 3.1 million village milk
products with crores of consumers in India. In 2007, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd crossed US$1 billion in its sales turnover and entered the elite club of food
companies having this distinction from India.[19] In one more major achievement, the dairy
cooperatives of Gujarat under the GCMMF fold crossed the mark of milk procurement of
10 million kilograms per day on 27 December 2007, which is the highest ever milk procurement
achieved by any dairy network in India, be it private or cooperative. The entire quantity of milk
received was accepted without any milk holidays and was processed successfully into milk and
other milk products.[19]
In 2018, Amul inaugurated a new chocolate plant in Mogar, Anand, near their headquarters, with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance. The new plant has been built with an increased
capacity of 1,000 tonnes per month against the earlier 250 tonnes per month capacity. GCMMF
has invested around ₹3 billion in this project. It is a fully automated production factory with
minimal human intervention.[20]

AMUL INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATE LIMITED

Amul Infrastructure Private Limited is a Non-govt company, incorporated on 27 Jun,
2007. It's a private unlisted company and is classified as'company limited by
shares'.

Company's authorized capital stands at Rs 2.0 lakhs and has 100.0% paid-up capital
which is Rs 2.0 lakhs. Amul Infrastructure Private Limited last annual general meet
(AGM) happened on 30 Sep, 2017. The company last updated its financials on 31
Mar, 2017 as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

Amul Infrastructure Private Limited is majorly in Construction business from last 17

years and currently, company operations are active. Current board members &
directors are HABIBULLA GANIBHAI MEMON, ABDULKARIM GANIBHAI MEMAN,
MANSUKHBHAI GHELABHAI SAVALIYA and RONAK ARUNBHAI GONDALIYA .

Company is registered in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) Registrar Office. Amul Infrastructure

Private Limited registered address is SHOP NO: F/9-10 FIRST FLOOR, AMAR
COMPLEX, RAMOSANA CHAR RASTA, HIGH WAY ROAD, MEHSANA Mahesana GJ
384001 IN.

UHT products and impact[edit]

Amul plant at Anand, Gujarat, showing the milk silos

Amul's portfolio has experienced a growth rate of 53% over the years. Long-life ultra-high-
temperature processing (UHT) products for urban populations, like Amul Taaza, are packed
in Tetra Pak cartons that undergo ultra-heat treatment to remove all harmful micro-organisms
while retaining the nutrition in the milk. Amul sells around 400,000–500,000 litres of UHT milk
and other value-added products per day. Further, forecasts this demand continue growing at
25%. The UHT products have allowed Amul to become the leader in the packaged milk segment
without the requirement of maintaining a cold supply chain.[21]

Promotion & Advertisement[edit]

See also: Amul girl
In 1966, Amul hired Sylvester daCunha, the managing director of an advertising agency, to
design an ad campaign for Amul Butter. DaCunha created an operation consisting of a series of
hoardings featuring topical ads related to day-to-day issues.[22] It was popular and earned a
Guinness World Record for the longest-running ad campaign in the world. In the 1980s, cartoon
artist Kumar Morey and scriptwriter Bharat Dabholkar were involved in sketching the Amul ads;
the latter rejected the trend of using celebrities in advertisement campaigns. Dabholkar credited
chairman Verghese Kurien with creating a free atmosphere that fostered the development of the
ads.[23]
Despite encountering political pressure on several occasions, daCunha's agency has made it a
policy not to back down. Some of the more controversial Amul ads include one commenting on
the Naxalite uprising in West Bengal, one on the Indian Airlines employees' strike, and one
depicting the Amul girl wearing a Gandhi cap.

In 2013, Amul tweeted a picture featuring the Amul Butter Girl, implying that "freedom of choice"
died in 2013, in opposition to the Supreme Court of India overruling the judgment of the Delhi
High Court and criminalising homosexuality again.[24]

On 17 October 2016, the Amul Butter Girl celebrated 50 years since she first appeared in the
topical ad, titled "Thoroughbred". The ad showed a jockey holding a slice of bread during the
horse race season in 1966. The impish Amul girl had appeared for the first time even before that,
with Eustace Fernandez showing her offering bedtime prayers with a wink and a lick of lips,
saying "Give us this day our daily bread: with Amul butter".[25]

Their ad on Aagey Badhta Hai India had an excellent response from the audience. It spoke about
how their milk is seen as a household product, with a catchy tune associated with it. It has over
39 lakh (3.9 million) views on YouTube.[26]

In February 2020, Amul posted a picture of the Amul girl treating Joaquin Phoenix with butter
after his academy award win for his role in the 2019 film, Joker.[27] Since Phoenix is a vegan,
Amul faced criticism from vegans in India and PETA for the poor knowledge of his vegan
activism and life.

Amul posted a picture of its mascot, the Butter Girl, celebrating with PV Sindhu for winning the
bronze medal in Women's singles Badminton tournament at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021.
[28]

Recognition[edit]
In August 2019, Amul became the first Indian dairy company to enter Rabobank's Global Top 20
Dairy Companies list

Amul Products

Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel founded the organisation in 1946 and

served as its chairman until his retirement in the 1970s.

full form of Anand milk

AMUL: Anand Milk Union Limited

AMUL stands for Anand Milk Union Limited. It is a milk product cooperative dairy
company based in the small town of Anand in the Gujarat state of India. Amul is the
largest producer of milk products and milk in India.
Various kinds of amul products
Some facts about Anand Milk Union Ltd. – AMUL  Amul was established in Anand, Gujarat in 1946
to prevent the exploitation of farmers by middlemen.  Amul is operated by Gujarat Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), jointly owned by more than 3.6 million Gujarat milk producers.  Amur
instigated the White Revolution in India, making India the number one milk producer.  Amul
Corporation was founded by Dr. Vergese Kurien, who is popularly known as the father of the White
Revolution in India.  More than 15 million milk producers distributed milk to dairy cooperatives of
144,500 dairies across the country.  Amul has operations in more than 50 countries, and there are
more than 7,200 exclusive salons in India alone.  Amul was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi National
Quality Award “Best” in 1999, in recognition of its factory maintaining the highest level of quality. 
Amul was certified as the longest advertising campaign by Guinness World Records. Success Factors
in Amul brand 1. Amul Girl – Amul Girl is the advertising charm used by the company to promote its
brand. The brand cleverly used cartoons in its longest-lasting advertising campaign, adding a touch of
humor to its print ads. The content is very popular with people and promotes a better customer
experience. This increases the brand’s souvenir value to Amul. 2. Innovation – Amul continues to
innovate, whether it is new product launches, creative marketing activities, or fighting traditional
social trends to seek the best. In the 1960s, Amul was the first brand in the world to use buffalo milk
to produce skimmed milk powder. In addition, with its three-tier cooperative structure, Amul has
transformed from traditional operations to a more profitable and efficient structure. The Amul brand
won the CNN-IBN Innovation Award for a Better Future and the World Dairy Innovation Award in the
year 2014. 3. Powerful Brand – Amul follows the road of Branded House Architecture and promotes
everything in it; they promote it under a common brand name: Amul. The focus is on promoting the
parent brand rather than individual products, which helps them build brand awareness and reduce
marketing and advertising costs. 4. Efficient supply chain – Amul follows the three-level cooperative
structure of the village-level dairy cooperative society, which is connected to the regional dairy
cooperative, which is part of the state-level dairy association. A rural dairy product company
acquired and processed in the regional dairy association and sold in the national dairy association.
The scale of this model is that Amul was the first company to follow this model and was replicated
across the country as part of the flood operation in the 1970s. This model ensures the efficiency and
speed of operation. The Amula model makes India the largest milk producer in the world. 5.
Diversified product portfolio – With a diversified product portfolio, Amul can meet the needs of all
market segments. By providing benefits to target market segments, Amul has built strong brand
relationships with its customers over the last years.

impportance

The AMUL model has changed these dynamics by creating a globally well known brand, a market
and a strong sales marketing organization and distribution network. It is a proven model and has
worked for over 60 years now and can be replicated. It takes zero investment and self-regulated as
the weight of the society bears upon it and hence it is not easy to hijack it or sabotage it.

Traditionally when there is distress, governments announce ad hoc measures which cost a lot but
accomplish very little in the long run.

Even today a large part of our population lives of agriculture. By creating organizations like AMUL,
we accomplish many things in one stroke: Rural empowerment, women entrepreneurship, providing
opportunities at village level to stop migration into cities, creation of income in villages which
would allow Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (one of the main cause of migration to cities)