Lok Sabha Question No. 530 (STARRED), answered on 2026-04-01
Subject: Consumer Product Testing Mechanism/Labs
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava

## 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 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:-

| States            |   FSSAI Notified Labs |   MSME Testing Centres/s tation |   Labs of Textile Committ ees |   No. of BIS Recognized Labs |   No. of BIS empanell ed Labs |   NTH Regional 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 |

*****