Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Lab to certify meat products

Thiruvananthapuram: The Department of Animal Husbandry is setting up a laboratory with all modern facilities for inspecting and certifying meat and marine products at Kochi. The present laboratory, which was functioning at Ernakulum, was shifted to a building in the Agriculture Urban Wholesale Market at Maradu two years back. The modernisation activities were taken up with a Central assistance of Rs.3 crore.

The new laboratory consists mainly of two divisions — Bio-chemistry and Microbiology. Molecular biology, virology and mycology constitute the microbiology division. It will have facilities for testing chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals, minerals, mycotoxins and levels of antibiotics in food materials. The admissible quantity is ascertained and certificates issued.

Atomic absorption spectrophotometer is used for assessing the presence of heavy metals and minerals, whereas gas chromatography is employed for pesticides, mycotoxin and vitamins. Biogenic amines are scanned using high-performance liquid chromatography. Modern equipment like reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction machine (RTPCR) and thermal cycle is used for detecting the presence of bacteria and virus. This laboratory was originally envisaged to certify products for export.

In future, the public can get the following facilities. All food items for domestic consumption can be examined and certified. Disease-affected prawns, shrimp and other fishes can be diagnosed.

The technical guidance for modernisation of the laboratory was provided by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Kochi. The Livestock Products Technology division of the Kerala Agriculture University also helped at the time of product preparation. The laboratory complex will be inaugurated by Minister for Animal Husbandry C. Diwakaran on Friday. Dinesh Mani, MLA, will preside over the function. A seminar on ‘food safety-for welfare’ is organised in connection with the inauguration.

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