To create awareness on minimising the post-harvest loss of fruits and vegetables, a national workshop is being organised for the MSME sector here on Saturday.

With the theme “Packaging for Processed Foods”, the one-day workshop will provide knowledge to industries to enable them sustain in this competitive world, an official release said today.

Despite favourable conditions, India was witnessing a loss at the national level since as much as 40 per cent of fresh fruits and vegetables were lost due to improper harvesting, lack of storage facility, mishandling, loss in transit, and improper and unscientific packaging, it said.

Though packaging used to be neglected by industries, in recent days its importance was being recognised by the product manufacturers, traders, retailers and end users.

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, K. Ramasamy, and President of local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, D. Nandakumar will address the workshop, to be attended by over 100 industries representatives.

The workshop is organised by the Indian Institute of Packaging in the Ministry of Food and Processing.