German safety, quality certification and testing major TÜV SÜD has expanded its seafood testing business with a lab in the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

It is in the process of setting up another lab at Agra for the footwear industry during the year.

The Indian business arm of the 150-year-old Munich-based Euro 2.2-billion in revenue quality certification company has announced it received accreditation from Export Inspection Council (EIC) for their seafood testing lab in Vizag. The seafood testing lab is also the first in Vizag to be accredited by the International Accreditation Service (IAS) of USA. Given the huge business opportunity for seafood export from the catchment area of about 600 km of coastline known for shrimp and other fish catch, TÜV SÜD has been focusing on seafood testing services in Vizag,

The lab set up with latest equipment has been recognised by the EIC to carry out chemical and microbiological analysis of fish and fishery products, fresh fruits and vegetables, spices, milk and milk products.

TÜV SÜD’s lab will now be able to ensure that seafood exporters comply with the pre-defined standards of importing nations as prescribed by Export Inspection Agencies (EIA). The lab will help exporters reduce the risk of rejection by addressing issues of managing safety, quality and logistics throughout the supply chain. The quality assurance services at the testing lab will act as a quality gate between producers, manufacturers and buyers.

Dr. Pankaj Jaiminy, ‎Asst. Vice President (Food, Health & Cosmetics)- Testing, Certification & Inspection at TÜV SÜD South Asia told Business Line, “The Indian seafood sector is largely labour intensive and the awareness of compliance with global standards and hazards of contamination is low. At TÜV SÜD, we provide market intelligence based guidance to exporters and through detection of antibiotic residues or microbiological contamination at early stages, and thereby help minimise the risk of consignment recalls that incur heavy losses.”

Jaiminy said, “This lab will cut short time to market for exports from this country’s biggest seafood export hub. One of our biggest objectives is to help exporters uphold the country’s reputation on a global platform through our seafood quality assurance services.”

“With the increasing retesting at European borders for Indian seafood shipments, which has increased from 10 per cent earlier to 50 per cent now, the accuracy and reliability of testing has gained importance,” he explained.

With its network of labs and experts across key markets such as European Union, ASEAN, US and UK has knowledge of compliance in importing nations, TUV SUD guides exporters with compliance related issues and cut short on time to market.

(This writer was in Vizag on the invitation from TUV SUD.)