COIMBATORE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated through video conference Tamil Nadu’s first Clean Room Food Analysis Laboratory set up on Racecourse road in Coimbatore.
Farman Ali, Project Director of Asian Scientific Industries, a Delhi-based firm that provided the technology, said, “The microbiological section at the laboratory in 1,350 sqft was upgraded as a clean room. The lab has been upgraded under the centrally sponsored scheme funded by the FSSAI for Rs 4.63 crore. It has been equipped with latest equipment and will function with trained microbiologists and paramedical staff.
We will provide manpower for three years. The samples will be processed in a unidirectional flow to get accurate results and avoid contamination for more authentic results. This kind of advanced lab is already available in seven states and now it is being brought to Tamil Nadu.”
(A clean room is a controlled environment that filters pollutants like dust, airborne microbes, and aerosol particles to provide the cleanest area possible.)
Officials said the Food Analysis Laboratory has been functioning in Coimbatore since 1970 and it is known as the Regional Public Health Laboratory. It started to analyse milk, cereal and products made of cereal in this region.
Now it analyses all food products listed under the Food Safety and Standards Act and analyses both chemical and microbiological parameters and legal samples from four districts — Chennai, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar, and Tiruchy — and reports to the concerned designated officers for further legal action. Along with legal samples, the laboratory also analyses or ensures quality control of noon meal as well as hospital and private samples.
They added, “The laboratory has the infrastructure to analyse 500-600 samples per month. The laboratory recently procured equipment to estimate pesticides, antibiotics, vitamins and free fatty acids and it was accredited and certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) in 2021 for food and agriculture products and also received NABL-FSSAI integrated certificate in August 2023. The microbiology section of this laboratory was started in 2013 and samples were analysed for microbiological parameters in various food samples.”