German testing and certification company TÜV SÜD, on Wednesday, inaugurated its ultra-modern seafood, spices and commodity testing lab in Visakhapatnam.
The laboratory will be spread across an area of 20,000 sq ft with state-of-the-art testing, inspection and certification infrastructure that will be at par with international standards. It will help reduce turnaround time for food exporters resulting in assured go-to-market strategies. The lab was inaugurated at the hands of Dirk Eilers, member of the board of management, TÜV SÜD AG.
The lab will help address issues of managing safety, quality and logistics throughout the supply chain. The quality assurance services at the lab will act as a quality gate between producers, manufacturers and buyers. It will also house the experienced food safety auditors to offer certification for BRC, HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000.
Detection of antibiotic residues or microbiological contamination at an early stage, minimises risks of costly product recalls and helps uphold exporters’ reputation. The company will conduct sampling and contaminants analysis, DNA testing for identification of species and toxin analysis among many more, to identify chemical and microbiological impurities. The lab is outfitted with state-of-the art equipment like LCMSMS, GCMSMS, ICPMS and a cutting-edge microbiology lab.
Speaking at the announcement, Niranjan Nadkarni, CEO, TÜV SÜD South Asia, said, “This is our 16th lab in the region. Exports from India have surged in the recent past and the business climate is improving by the day. India exported a record one million tonne of seafood fetching foreign exchange of US$5.5 billion in the last fiscal. This lab will present us with the opportunity to improve our footprint in south Asia. Globally and in India, our labs are located at the doorsteps of food producers and our lab in Vizag is no different. We look forward to working closely with local exporters and help them improve the acceptability of their consignments across the globe.”
Some of the globally recognised seafood inspection services at the lab will include, during production (DUPRO) inspection, initial production check (IPC), final random inspection (FRI), hygiene inspection, post-shipment inspection, packaging container and storage checks.
The Vizag port exported maximum amount of seafood from the country to the tune of Rs 7578.27 crore in the first half of this year. MPEDA figures indicate that the country earned an all-time high turnover of Rs 33,441.61 crore in 2014-15 through seafood exports. Spice exports from India had touched Rs 3976.65 crore as per Spice Board figures released in September 2015. The lab will partner with food exporters by working with them right from the procurement to shipment stage. They will carry out tests for international and national standards, including China, Japan, the Middle-East, Saudi Arabia, US FDA and EU standards.
