JBT Marel: Equipping Food Processing Industry With End-Of-Line Solutions

ANUGA FOODTEC-2025 witnessed a congregation of industries from across the food processing domain, be it processing, packaging, ingredients, logistics, or machinery.

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On the second day of the three-day mega event, we interacted with Mr. Shailesh Khatavkar, Sales Manager, handling India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh at JBT Marel. During the interview, Manas Nandi, Editor-In-Chief of Food Infotech Magazine for Food Processing, enquired about innovations, sustainability, and new developments across different segments of JBT Marel’s product portfolio and innovations by the company in processing, freezing, and chilling as well as packaging segments.

What are the objectives of JBT Marel? What types of machinery do you provide to the food processing industry?

JBT Marel is a US-based company with its headquarters in Chicago. Globally, we have more than 25 manufacturing units. In India, we are present in Pune and handling the India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Maldives markets. Currently, we cater to six different segments of the food processing industry. These are poultry, meat, ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, Pet Food, dairy, ice cream, and fruits and vegetables processing industries. JBT has been active in Pune for the last 40 years. JBT is known for its state-of-the-art freezing technology. We are proud to say, globally, 50% of frozen food is coming out of the JBT-supplied production lines. Last year, JBT merged with Marel, which is again one of the giants in the global food processing industry. Now it has become JBT Marel.

You have been there for 40 years, so you understand this industry much better than many people out here. How has India's food processing sector transformed in the last decades?