Food safety is an essential part of the food ecosystem to assure that the food is safe for the consumers, and the activities start with the Quality testing of a variety of food products in the laboratory.We need to build up a robust food testing eco-system in the country that would cater to the requirements of different stakeholders,such as State/Nodal Regulators and Food Business Operators.The ambit of Food Safety testing also includesstandardization of test methodologies, validation of existing methods, development of new methods and their validation for a variety of food products.
The National Food Laboratory, Ghaziabad was established as one of the two Premier Referral Food Laboratories under the direct administrativecontrol of FSSAIwith a state-of-artinfrastructure,equipment,reference materials forcalibration, maintenance and operating the systemdigitally at par with any International Standards projecting the benchmark of a ‘State of Art’laboratory system.
The Laboratory provides centralized facilities for new and modern techniques in the inter-disciplinary areas of Food Analysis and allied Food Sciences for‘Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’(FSSAI) which is an ‘Apex Statutory Agency’ to safeguard the quality and safety of Food in India.The laboratory has end to end analytical capabilities to test most of the food samples for compliance as per FSS Act and Rules &Regulations.At present, the Laboratory is working in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode, with M/s Arbro Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (M/s APPL) carrying out the sample analysis on behalf of FSSAI, whereas the sample management, reporting and the legal activitiesare being taken care of by the NFL/FSSAI officials.
National Food Laboratory, Ghaziabad has established itself as a model state-of-the-art food laboratory having ability to test variety of food products for more than 2467FSSAI-NABL integrated accredited parametersas per Food Safety & Standards Act 2006, Rules &Regulations 2011.In addition to testing the food samples for regulatory conformity, both for quality and safety as per the Food Safety and Standards Rules & Regulations, 2011 toensure safe, healthy and wholesome foods for all Indians, NFL, Ghaziabad also takes up assignments for developing new methods, validation of methods and capacity building for laboratory personnel.
Dr. Harinder Singh Oberoi
Advisor (QA)
Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (fssai)
Kotla Road,New Delhi-110002