THE chair of the City Council committee on commerce, trade, and industry said Wednesday Mindanao is in need of good packaging and processing facilities to avoid the spoilage of food products.

"A lot of food products go to waste. Thirty percent of our vegetable and 10 to 15 percent of our fish and livestock go to waste. All these can be saved if we have better facilities," Councilor Peter Laviña told Sun.Star Davao.

Laviña said the City Government supports any activity, which can help upgrade the food packaging and processing.

"If we have good packaging, we can maximize our supply and that would mean more food available and consumers can also get them for lower prices," Laviña said.

In behalf of the City Government of Davao, Laviña expressed gratitude for the staging of the four-day Food Processing and Packaging Technology Expo 2008 in the city. The food expo opened Wednesday.

"I congratulated the organizers of this event that once again, this activity was brought to Davao," he said, adding that the event will surely draw a good impact in the food and beverage industry, not only in Davao, but also in whole of Mindanao.