Strengthen labs, safeguard health

Food safety depends not only on regulations and inspections but on the scientific capacity to detect what consumers cannot see. The recent review of the Food Laboratory, Kashmir by FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani is therefore important, when food adulteration and contamination can pose serious risks to public health. The laboratory’s capabilities are encouraging. As an FSSAI-notified and NABL-accredited facility, it has advanced instruments such as GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS and ICP-MS and a NABL scope covering 354 parameters. Yet the testing figures also underline the scale of the challenge. The laboratory analysed 11,479 samples in 2023-24, 9,938 in 2024-25 and 6,722 in 2025-26, with 440, 266 and 381 samples respectively found non-conforming. The proposed expansion to 3,500 parameters by March 2027 and eventually 5,000 is a welcome objective. Such expansion, however, must be matched by adequate infrastructure, trained technical manpower, chemicals and certified reference materials. An advanced laboratory cannot deliver its full potential when constrained by space. The fact that the Kashmir laboratory operates from an old, shared complex makes construction of dedicated modern facilities at Srinagar and Jammu an urgent requirement. Faster processing and wider testing coverage would strengthen enforcement and help identify unsafe food before it reaches consumers. The proposal to build an integrated food-testing network by leveraging institutions such as SKUAST and IUST is equally significant. A coordinated system can reduce delays in sample analysis and improve coverage across the Union Territory. Food safety enforcement should be measured not by the number of inspections conducted, but by the ability to detect violations, act against them and prevent unsafe products from reaching the market. Strengthening laboratories is therefore an investment in public health, consumer confidence and accountable food regulation.