Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd., India's largest frozen processed foods company and part of the OSI Group, recently commissioned a new frozen foods further processing plant in Madanapalle, near Bangalore. This plant in South India adds to Vista's existing processing base in Taloja, near Mumbai. It will initially focus on the manufacturing of vegetable products for Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and retail, for both the domestic and import markets.

Vista Processed Foods, in collaboration with Global Nutri Foods, Ltd. which owns the facility, aims to further expand the processing capabilities and capacity of this plant to a wider range of products and categories for India’s rapidly growing QSR and retail markets, which are expanding by more than 25% annually.

“This is an exciting time in Vista’s 16-year history in India to build upon the solid track record of our brand in product quality, safety and innovation, as well as our dedicated employees,” said Bhupinder Singh, Vista’s CEO. “This latest expansion of our value-added processing capacity demonstrates OSI’s recognition of the sizeable opportunity in the Indian market and the important milestone of growth ahead.”

Recently, a report from Bernstein Research noted that the focus on the foodservice market in India has intensified, and the economic growth of that country could exceed China’s rate of growth by 2014.

OSI, operating in India as Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd., opened its first plant in the country in 1995, in Taloja in Navi Mumbai. The company today employs more than 500 people across its chicken and vegetable operations in India. Across the Asia Pacific region, OSI’s footprint also includes China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Australia, employing more than 5,500 people. OSI was an official supplier to the 2008 Olympic Village in China and has received numerous food quality and innovation awards from its key customers across the Asia Pacific region as well as in other countries around the globe.

Global NutriFoods, a subsidiary of Katra Group, acquired this plant in 2010. It is South India’s largest food processing facility, located in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh. Its immense storage infrastructure offers the flexibility for year-round processing. The facility is in excellent shape with a wide range of capabilities including production of IQF fruits and vegetables and ready-to-eat, fully-cooked frozen meals. The plant has only operated for 1,100 hours since it was first commissioned as a turn-key facility by Rheinhold and Mahla of Germany. With all imported equipment, the plant conforms to international standards, making it one of the finest frozen food processing units in India. The installed processing capacity is up to 20,000 tons per annum for raw-to-frozen fruits and vegetables and 6,000 tons per annum for frozen meals. It boasts a footprint of more than 14,000 square meters with land available for expansion.

Source: OSI Group