Shoolini varsity to establish first commercial food testing lab in Himachal
THE management of Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences has been establishing a commercial Food Testing Lab called Shoolini Lifesciences with financial support from the Ministry of Food Processing industries, Govt. of India.
A commercial Food Testing Lab has been set up under the financial support from Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Govt. of India in the name of Shoolini Life sciences Pvt. Ltd. (SLS) at Solan. It has a total grant-in-aid of Rs. 1.622 crore. The total outlay of this lab is Rs. 2.85 crore. Institutions and corporations need certification of food items through a recognised Food Testing Lab.
“This is essential to determine the safety of food for consumption purposes to meet national and international standards”, says SLS director Vishal Anand.
He said that new Food Testing Lab will be available for the quality testing of all commercial food processing industries and commercial food manufacturing units. This facility will also help fruit growers as they will be able to certify organic testing of their fruits and vegetables before selling them in the market. Additionally, the lab will offer scientific analysis of different food products and their components before they are made available for public consumption.
Anand said that lab is equipped with high-end modern instruments like gas chromatography mass spectrometry, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer etc. Facilities available in the lab ensure that the food product doesn’t contain any hazardous component and or toxic contaminants.
Several analyses pertaining to pesticides, heavy metals, preservatives, fatty acid profile, trace elements, antibiotics, caffeine, additives etc. can be done here. All analysis is performed in the lab by highly-skilled scientists. The lab is under process of NABL accreditation and will soon offer NABL accredited certification of various food products.
