Soon, referral lab at IITR for testing adulteration in food items

LUCKNOW:In a major boost to infrastructure for testing adulteration in edible food items, a modern facility of food testing is scheduled to be set up at Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow by June this year.

“The facility will be a referral lab for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It will provide technological support and expertise in identification of adulteration in food items,” said Alok Dhawan, director of IITR.

The laboratory will provide testing facility for adulteration in a wide range of prepared food items, cereals and edible oil. The infrastructure will reduce the time required for testing adulteration in food.

Primarily a regulating authority, FSSAI has a limited scope in scientific aspect for prevention of adulteration. In UP, FSSAI has only three food safety institutes, one each in Agra, Varanasi and the state capital. This shortcoming will be compensated by the involvement of IITR.

The Lucknow based institute was selected as a referral centre last year. Later in July, 2018 the

› Currently we assist FSSAI to identify adulteration but after establishment of referral centre this work will become streamlined. ALOK DHAWAN, director of IITR

Centre agreed to provide a fund of ₹4.3 crore to purchase required equipment and others items needed to establish the referral centre.

“Currently we assist FSSAI to identify adulteration but after establishment of referral centre this work will become streamlined,” Dhawan explained.

IITR’s indigenous technologies to identify adulteration of butter yellow and argemone alkaloid in edible oil will be put in place at the centre. Other technologies to identify adulteration and contamminents like pesticide residues, heavy metals and microorganisms in different food materials will also be used.

Beside the tests, the institute has also developed portable testing kits for adulteration of argemone oil and testing adulteration in mustard oil.