Amritsar/Chandigarh, September 12: The Punjab government is preparing to secure a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the famous ‘Amritsari Kulcha’ in an effort to safeguard its culinary heritage and expand market opportunities, officials said Thursday.
A GI tag is granted to products with unique qualities or characteristics tied to a specific geographical origin. Principal Secretary of the state’s food processing department, Rakhee Gupta Bhandari, said the recognition would not only preserve Amritsar’s food legacy but also open new avenues for trade.
“The GI status for Amritsari Kulcha will enhance the city’s culinary identity, strengthen branding, support exports and create new job opportunities,” Bhandari said while chairing a meeting at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
The meeting brought together faculty members from the university’s department of food science and technology, along with industry associations and processing units engaged in products such as murabba, pickle, basmati rice, honey, and jaggery.
Bhandari described the agro-food processing sector as a “sunshine industry” because of its vast potential for growth and employment generation. She noted the need for strong backward and forward linkages for food business operators to ensure sustainable development of the sector.
She also praised Guru Nanak Dev University for its role in bridging the academia-industry divide, saying the food processing department is framing policies to reinforce the value chain “from farm to factory to fork” for greater efficiency.
Participants discussed demands of the food industry and possible solutions to address them. Among the proposals were establishing food parks, developing technology exchange platforms, and ensuring skilled manpower and modern testing labs to maintain quality and safety standards.
The discussions also stressed the need to strengthen processing facilities for a wide range of products, including fruits, vegetables, papad, wadian, honey, spices, and jaggery.
