The increasing poor conditions of the state testing labs has led the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to make major changes. FSSAI has now taken the responsibility of improving the conditions of the state testing labs by providing financial help and capacity building training.
At present, FSSAI has total 62 state testing labs spread across the country. Out of which, only 10 are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
Ashwin Bhadri, CEO, Equinox Labs, said, “The private sector has 150 labs which are all NABL accredited. Besides strengthening primary testing labs, the FSSAI is making efforts to put in place a network of appellate labs or referral labs in the entire food testing ecosystem”.
Mobile testing labs are also encouraged by FSSAI. Already 30 such labs are in the field. Rapid testing and creating awareness about food safety are the major objectives of mobile testing labs.