Srinagar, Aug 17: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO Rajit Punhani on Monday visited the Food Laboratory, Kashmir, to assess its functioning, testing capabilities and infrastructure, and review measures to strengthen food safety testing in Jammu and Kashmir.
During the visit, Punhani inspected the laboratory’s Microbiological, Chemical and HEE sections and interacted with technical staff. He later chaired a meeting attended by senior officials of the J&K Food and Drugs Administration, including the State Drug Controller, Joint Commissioner Food Safety, Deputy Commissioner Food Safety Kashmir, Accounts Officer and Food Analysts from the Srinagar and Jammu laboratories.
The Commissioner, Food & Drugs Administration, J&K, made a detailed presentation on the laboratory’s analytical capabilities, testing performance, NABL accreditation, infrastructure, manpower and the roadmap for expanding food-testing facilities across the Union Territory.
The Food Laboratory, Kashmir is an FSSAI-notified and NABL-accredited facility equipped with advanced instruments, including GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS and ICP-MS. Its current NABL scope covers 354 parameters—77 quality and 277 safety parameters.
The laboratory tested 11,479 samples in 2023–24, 9,938 in 2024–25 and 6,722 in 2025–26. Of these, 440, 266 and 381 samples respectively were found to be non-conforming.
The department has initiated steps to significantly expand the laboratory’s testing capacity. The scope is proposed to increase to 3,500 parameters by March 31, 2027, covering key commodities such as milk and milk products, fruits and vegetables, cereals and cereal products, oils and fats, and Indian sweets. The long-term target is to achieve coverage of 5,000 parameters.
During the meeting, officials highlighted infrastructure constraints and shortages of technical manpower affecting the laboratory’s functioning. The Commissioner sought FSSAI’s intervention for approval of additional technical manpower, chemicals, certified reference materials and other consumables.
Financial and technical assistance was also sought for constructing new food laboratory buildings at Srinagar and Jammu and upgrading existing facilities to increase both the quality and volume of testing.
The Kashmir laboratory is currently housed in an old, shared Drug and Food Laboratory complex, limiting space for modern equipment and dedicated instrument sections.
As part of a long-term strategy, the department proposed an integrated food-testing laboratory network across J&K, leveraging existing facilities at government institutions, including SKUAST and IUST, with appropriate technical and manpower support. The proposed network is aimed at expanding testing capacity and enabling faster analysis of samples received from different parts of the Union Territory.
Punhani expressed satisfaction with the functioning of the laboratory and called upon J&K FDA officials to continue efforts to strengthen its capabilities.
The visit is expected to provide further impetus to the modernisation of food-testing infrastructure, expansion of NABL-accredited analytical capacity and development of a robust, integrated food-safety laboratory network across Jammu and Kashmir
