An attempt to assess the employment potential of the food processing sector, while examining the nature of employment and the quality of work. A field study conducted to detail the wages, conditions of workers, employment security, social security, gender bias, etc, in mango jelly and pickle making in the unorganised segment and fish processing and cashew processing in the factory sector in Andhra Pradesh brings out several problems in the quality of employment. The average wage of these workers is only 48% of the statutory minimum. Women, who are the major victims, working under poor conditions without any social security, earn only half of what their male counterparts do. Meanwhile, it is also found out that some of the food processing jobs are denied to the scheduled castes, which suggests discrimination on the basis of caste.
