AP’s first state food lab to open next month at Visakhapatnam

The state food lab in Visakhapatnam is coming up at an estimated cost of nearly ₹20 crore in a 12,000 square feet area with state-of-the-art equipment to test the quality of all food items collected by government agencies.
Private parties can also get their food items tested at this lab, for which they will have to make a suitable payment.

Two integrated food labs are coming up in Guntur and Tirupati at an estimated cost of ₹19.76 crore. The one in Guntur is coming up on the premises of the Guntur Medical College over about 12,000 square feet area. In Tirupati, the lab is being built over an 11,000 square feet area. These two labs will test food items collected from both the government and private agencies for a fee.

The food lab coming up at Tirumala is exclusively meant for testing food items prepared by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. It will not test food items from other sources.

The tender process for setting up the regional food labs and installation of basic equipment is almost over. Works will begin soon and the labs will be functional within six months from now.

Significantly, two more district public health labs in Eluru and Ongole are being strengthened by the state government with installation of basic equipment at a cost of ₹6 crore each.

State food safety authorities have underlined that all works pertaining to the establishment and strengthening of food labs are being taken up as per the norms set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Importantly, these laboratories will be of immense utility in checking the quality of water consumed by people in case there is an outbreak of waterborne diseases, such as diarrhoea.

Food safety joint controller N. Poornachandra Rao said, “Once our laboratories come up, we will not have to send our samples for testing to Hyderabad and wait for days to get the reports.”