Food laboratory at Nepal border to boost trade ties

NEW DELHI:  The Central government has set up a National Food Laboratory under the Indo-Nepal bilateral agreement, which will make it easier and quicker to test food products being brought into the country from Nepal.

Earlier, all imported samples with legal sanctity were sent to National Food Laboratory in Kolkata for testing. The new National Food Laboratory, under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, was inaugurated by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Bihar’s Raxaul on Sunday, near the Indo-Nepal border.

Officials said the laboratory had been established under Indo-Nepal bilateral agreement to reduce the time to test imported food samples brought in via Raxaul from Nepal. Now, businesses in Nepal would find it easier to scale up export of food products into India, the minister said.

The laboratory is likely to get the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation by July-August this year. They will test and analyse all the imported samples under the product categories of cereal and cereal products, fat and oil, spices and condiments, fruits and vegetable products and packaged drinking. The minister also said that India is willing to provide any assistance needed to get NABL accreditation to the Kathmandu food lab.