Food festival to be part of meet on shellfishes

Meet aims at creating awareness about their food value

A farmer hoisting a mussel-studded rope from the backwaters.

‘ShellCon 2014’, a two-day convention of experts on shellfishes, organised under the aegis of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), will begin here on March 22 with a view to building awareness among the public on oysters, mussels and clams.

A press release from the convenor of the convention V. Venkatesan said here on Saturday that the focus of the meet was to create awareness about their food value and their benefits in building better immunity and providing better mental and reproductive abilities.

Shellfish farming

The convention will also bring together research and development professionals in the government and in the private sector to debate the progress made in shellfish farming in the country and evolve policy on future development.

Coastal pockets It said that though globally shellfishes are popular food items, they are not so widely consumed in India, their use being limited mostly to the coastal pockets of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.

Kerala has a per capita fish consumption three times the national average, though shellfishes formed only a small portion of this.

The round-table conference will be followed by a cookery competition, an exhibition and a food festival.

The last date for registration for the cookery competition is March 18 (for registration, contact phone numbers: 9961993450 or 9446154269).

Famous shellfish dishes from Goa, Malabar, Kochi and Travancore will be part of the food festival.

India produces about 20,000 tonnes of mussels and oysters in aqua farms. Significant changes have been brought about through various schemes in shellfish production in the country of late, the press release said.