By the end of this academic year, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University will have a state-of-the-art laboratory to test fruits, vegetables and even end products made out of farm produce.
The products will be tested for quality, toxicity, microbial contaminants and nutritional value apart from testing pesticide residue.
The laboratory is being established at a total cost of Rs. 23.8 crore on 32,000 sq.ft. and construction has started. Funds have been allotted for procuring equipments for Rs. 18 crore.
“The problem we are facing is concerning tests for pesticide residues as per the Food Safety and Standards Act norms. The upcoming laboratory is established with futuristic plans to conduct tests to be carried out as per international standards, for export and for domestic consumption,” Vice-Chancellor of the university K. Ramasamy told The Hindu .
The facility will have two sets of equipment. The first set will be to render services to farmers and those who want to get agricultural produce and products tested. “The parallel laboratory will be established for giving hands-on training to students to ensure that the required manpower is made available,” he said. Students will be trained to collect samples, process them and analyse the value with international permissible limits. This will help the students become entrepreneurs to set up laboratories, when more certification laboratories would be required for certifying and labelling food products for export. The laboratory will also identify items that are not matching the food safety standards.
Products will be tested for toxicity, microbial contaminants and nutritional value
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