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Nandakumar Kalathil, India Country General Manager, Agilent Technologies
As India’s food safety ecosystem undergoes a significant transformation, driven by tighter regulations, rising export ambitions, and increasing scrutiny around contaminants, the role of advanced analytical technologies has never been more critical. Against this backdrop, Agilent Technologies has strengthened its presence in the country with the launch of a state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center (CEC) and a new office in Mumbai. This latest development is aimed at bringing together cutting-edge instrumentation, application expertise, and collaborative problem-solving under one roof, enabling laboratories and food businesses to navigate complex testing requirements with greater precision and confidence.
In an exclusive interaction with NUFFOODS Spectrum, Nandakumar Kalathil, India Country General Manager, shares insights into how these investments align with India’s evolving food safety and quality landscape. He discusses emerging testing challenges, the growing importance of risk-based approaches, the need for global harmonization, and how next-generation technologies are shaping the future of food and environmental safety testing in India. Edited excerpts;
Agilent’s recent announcement regarding the opening of a Customer Experience Center (CEC) and office in Mumbai highlights advancements in analytical and testing capabilities. How do these developments align with the evolving needs of India’s food safety and quality ecosystem amid increasing regulatory scrutiny and export requirements?
India’s food safety and export ecosystem is evolving rapidly, with increasing emphasis on quality, traceability, and compliance with both domestic and global standards. The Mumbai Customer Experience Center brings together hands-on technology demonstrations, application expertise, and collaborative problem-solving to support laboratories across food safety, environmental, and applied testing.
By enabling customers to evaluate regulatory-ready workflows and engage directly with application specialists, the center helps laboratories address real-world challenges such as residue analysis, contaminant testing, and method standardization—areas that are increasingly critical under regulations and international export requirements.
Globally, food safety and environmental testing are also being shaped by growing attention on emerging contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Agilent has been supporting laboratories worldwide with validated analytical workflows and advanced mass spectrometry solutions to help detect and quantify PFAS across food, water, and environmental matrices. This global experience strengthens the application knowledge and analytical practices demonstrated through customer-facing centers like the Mumbai Customer Experience Center.
Food safety risks today are becoming more complex, spanning contaminants, residues, and environmental exposures. What are the most pressing testing challenges you see emerging in the Indian food industry?
Food safety risks today extend well beyond single-parameter testing. Laboratories are increasingly required to address multi-residue pesticide analysis, heavy metals, mycotoxins, veterinary drug residues, and contaminants arising from environmental exposure.
At the same time, exporters are facing heightened scrutiny from global markets, which often applies stricter limits than domestic regulations. This has increased the need for sensitive, multi-analyte analytical methods that can deliver consistent and reliable results across complex food matrices.
In parallel, global regulatory discussions around persistent environmental contaminants such as PFAS are adding another layer of complexity, reinforcing the need for highly sensitive, reproducible analytical techniques capable of addressing both targeted and emerging risks.
How should food companies in India move from a compliance-driven approach to a more risk-based and preventive testing strategy?
While end-product compliance remains essential, there is growing recognition that food safety systems are most effective when testing is guided by risk—starting at the raw-material stage and extending across production and supply chains.
Collaborative initiatives, such as our work with ICAR–National Research Centre for Grapes, demonstrate how targeted analytical workflows can be developed around known risk areas like pesticide residues and fumigants, aligned with both domestic and global regulatory expectations.
How do you see harmonization (or lack of it) between Indian and global food safety standards impacting the competitiveness of Indian food products?
Differences between Indian standards and international limits, particularly in export markets, continue to create challenges for food producers and exporters.
Greater alignment based on validated, science-driven testing practices helps reduce uncertainty for exporters and builds trust among international buyers, ultimately strengthening the global competitiveness of Indian food products.
Capacity building remains a critical gap in India’s testing infrastructure. How is Agilent supporting laboratories in terms of training, method development, and adoption of advanced technologies?
Capacity building—particularly in advanced analytical methods, method validation, and data integrity—remains a foundational requirement for India’s food safety ecosystem.
Through facilities such as the India Solution Center in Manesar, the Mumbai Customer Experience Center, and collaborations with public research institutions, we support laboratories with hands-on training, structured method development, and access to global best practices.
Cost pressures remain a major concern, especially for SMEs in the food sector. How can companies balance the need for advanced testing with affordability and operational efficiency?
Affordability and efficiency are critical considerations, particularly for small and mid-sized food businesses that operate under tight margins.
Improving productivity through integrated workflows, automation, and digital laboratory tools can help reduce repeat testing, manual errors, and downtime—allowing laboratories to strengthen compliance while making better use of existing resources.
Collaboration between industry, regulators, and technology providers is critical for strengthening food safety systems. How is Agilent working with stakeholders in India to drive innovation and standardization in testing practices?
Building resilient food safety systems requires close collaboration across industry, regulators, academia, and technology providers.
Our partnership with ICAR–National Research Centre for Grapes is an example of how joint method development, technical knowledge exchange, and regulatory engagement can support standardization and consistency in testing practices across laboratories involved in domestic and export testing.
What role do you see next-generation technologies like non-targeted analysis and screening playing in the future of food safety testing?
As supply chains become more complex, advanced screening and high-resolution analytical techniques are increasingly important for identifying unexpected or emerging contaminants.
Through application demonstrations and collaborative solution centers in India, we support laboratories in evaluating these technologies within validated and regulatory-relevant analytical workflows.
Globally, these approaches are increasingly relevant for compounds such as PFAS, where both targeted and broader screening capabilities are required to understand exposure pathways and ensure analytical confidence across different sample types.
With regulatory frameworks evolving rapidly, how can food companies build testing systems that are not just compliant today but adaptable to future requirements?
Ongoing revisions to contaminant tolerance limits and testing requirements highlight the need for flexible, adaptable laboratory systems.
Modular instrumentation, robust method transfer, and digital lab platforms help laboratories respond to regulatory changes while maintaining data integrity and operational continuity.
Looking ahead, what are Agilent India’s key priorities over the next 3–5 years in terms of innovation, partnerships, and supporting emerging areas in food and environmental safety?
Agilent’s focus is on strengthening customer engagement, building local scientific capabilities, supporting regulatory-ready analytical science, and partnering with public research institutions to advance food and environmental safety.
These priorities are already visible through our experience centers, solution hubs, and long-standing collaborations that connect India’s laboratory ecosystem with global expertise and best practices.
This also reflects learnings from Agilent’s global work across food, water, and environmental testing, including emerging contaminant analysis, where science-led collaboration and robust analytics are essential for supporting evolving regulatory and industry needs.
Mansi Jamsudkar Padvekar