Parliament Question: Consumer Product Testing Mechanism/Labs

ORIGINAL IN HINDI Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *530 (OIH) TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 CONSUMER PRODUCT TESTING MECHANISM/LABS *530. SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA: (OIH) Will the MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government proposes to set up a Consumer Product Testing Mechanism/Labs and if so, the salient features thereof; and (b) the details of the sites identified for setting up the said mechanism/Labs, State-wise? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI) (a) & (b) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ****STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*530 FOR 01.04.2026 REGARDING CONSUMER PRODUCT TESTING MECHANISM/LABS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (a) & (b) : The testing ecosystem in the country includes testing facilities set up across different sectors by the respective Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India (e.g. FSSAI, CDSCO, MSME, Textile, etc) as well as by the State Governments. In order to check compliance of the food products with the respective provisions under FSS Act, Rules and Regulations made thereunder, the samples of food products are tested at FSSAI notified food testing laboratories for all quality and safety parameters applicable for the respective product. As per Section 40 of the FSS Act 2006, the purchaser of any article of food other than a Food Safety Officer may get the article analysed by the Food Analyst on payment of such fees and receiving from the Food Analyst a report of his analysis within such period as may be specified by regulations. Consumer may get their samples analysed in any of the 252 notified labs under Section 43(1) of the FSS Act, 2006 having valid scope of accreditation. To strengthen the food regulatory ecosystem in the country, FSSAI has notified 252 food testing laboratories for analysis of food samples and 24 Referral Food Laboratories for the analysis of appellate samples. FSSAI has also provided funds for Mobile Food Testing Laboratory (MFTL) referred to as "Food Safety on wheels" (FSW) to States/UTs. It is an important means to combat adulteration as FSWs are equipped with basic infrastructure for on spot testing of adulteration in various food commodities. Currently, 305 FSWs are deployed across 35 States/UTs. Food Safety Magic Boxes, facilitates the detection of adulteration in food. It consists of reliable "quick screening tests" that a common person can perform at the household level, enabling a broad assessment of potential adulteration in their food in cases of doubt. It consists of a total of 107 tests across 06 food categories which includes detection of adulterants like starch, urea, detergent, cellulose, maltodextrin salicylic acid, glucose etc. FSSAI has facilitated rapid food testing methods to reduce the screening time of the food products at the field level and accelerate surveillance as well as monitoring activities. RAPID Kits are advanced, easy to use, portable and handheld devices and they don't require any sophisticated equipment or conventional reagents to conduct the tests. Currently, 86 RAFT Kits have been approved by FSSAI. Ministry of MSME has set up four MSME -Testing centers (TCs) at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. MSME -Testing Centers provide testing and calibration facilities to industries and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises for raw materials, semi-finished and finished products, manufactured by them. These centers are equipped with the state of art indigenous and imported equipment in the disciplines of Chemical, Mechanical, Metallurgical and Electrical to undertake Performance test, Type test and Acceptance test of semi-finished, finished products etc. These centers also undertake calibration works for Measuring Instruments and Equipments conforming to national and International standards. These centers are accredited by internationally recognized National Accreditation Board of Testing & Calibration laboratories (NABL) certification as per ISO (17025).These centers are recognized by various Departments/Autonomous Bodies like Bureau of Indian standards, Railways (RDSO), Defense (CSD & DGQA) etc.In order to provide testing facilities in the area with cluster of industries and some strategic areas, the Government of India has set up seven MSME -Testing Stations (TSs) at Jaipur, Bhopal, Kolhapur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Puducherry and Ettumanur. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries provides financial assistance for setting up Food Testing Laboratories (FTLs) under the guidelines of Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure (FSQAI). The salient features/objectives of the scheme are as follows:  To strengthen food testing infrastructure across the country.  To enhance the availability and accessibility of quality testing facilities for the food processing sector and other stakeholders.  To reduce the turnaround time (TAT) for testing and analysis of food samples. Ministry of Textiles has a network of 20 labs across the country. Besides, under the administrative control of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was established for the harmonious development of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods. For testing of samples meant for the purpose of Conformity Assessment Schemes operated by BIS, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has its own 10 laboratories at Sahibabad, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangaluru, Patna, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Bari Brahmana. It has also recognized 426 outside laboratories and empanelled 347 specialized Government laboratories across the country under its Laboratory Recognition Scheme. Creation of test facilities and recognition of outside laboratories is a continuous process in order to support the implementation of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for consumer products and strengthen BIS’s ability to test emerging product lines for supporting conformity assessment schemes. National Test House, again under the administrative control of the Department of Consumer Affairs also plays a role in testing, calibration, and quality evaluation of a wide range of industrial and consumer products. It operates six regional labs in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Jaipur and Guwahati; besides a satellite centre at Varanasi. Besides supporting BIS for testing of samples for Conformity Assessment, it also tests samples received from industry and acts as a referral Laboratory. State-wise details of the Laboratories of FSSAI, MSME, Textiles, BIS and NTH are given at Annexure. *****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*530 FOR 01.04.2026 REGARDING CONSUMER PRODUCT TESTING MECHANISM/LABS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The State-wise details of the Laboratories of FSSAI, MSME, Textiles, BIS and NTH is as follows:- FSSAI MSME Labs of No. of NTH No. of BIS Notified Testing Textile BIS Regional States Recognized Labs Centres/s Committ empanell labs Labs tation ees ed Labs Andhra Pradesh 5 0 1 8 6 0 Andaman & Nicobar 0 0 0 0 2 0 Assam 3 0 0 2 7 1 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bihar 4 0 0 1 7 0 Chhattisgarh 1 0 0 3 3 0 Chandigarh 0 0 0 0 2 0 Daman 1 0 0 1 0 0 Delhi 16 1 0 49 28 0 Gujarat 19 0 1 32 17 0 Goa 2 0 0 0 2 0 Haryana 19 0 1 57 11 0 Himachal Pradesh 2 0 0 2 5 0 Jammu & Kashmir 2 0 0 0 5 0 Jharkhand 2 0 0 5 7 0 Karnataka 20 1 1 32 29 0 Kerala 17 1 1 4 13 0 Madhya Pradesh 9 1 1 10 10 0 Maharashtra 38 2 3 56 39 1 Manipur 1 0 0 0 0 0 Meghalaya 1 0 0 0 1 0 Nagaland 1 0 0 0 1 0 Odisha 2 0 1 5 12 0 Punjab 3 0 1 17 11 0 Puducherry 0 1 0 0 1 0 Rajasthan 16 1 1 15 18 1 Sikkim 0 0 0 0 1 0 Tamil Nadu 25 1 5 32 24 1 Tripura 2 0 0 1 1 0 Telangana 12 1 1 8 22 0 Uttar Pradesh 15 0 1 67 34 1 Uttarakhand 2 0 0 3 12 0 West Bengal 12 1 1 16 15 1 *****