India’s first NABL-accredited honey testing lab inaugurated

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday inaugurated India’s first honey tests lab set up by Nationwide Dairy Enhancement Board (NDDB) at Anand.

The tests lab will unlock opportunity for apiarists to not just get domestic company but also get edge of exports to the US and Europe. Until recently, the exporters were being expected to ship their samples to Germany for tests.

The growth arrives after Nationwide Bee Board’s ten years-prolonged wait for a authorities tests facility for honey.

“Standard excellent tests and certifications are the major necessities and preconditions for exporting honey to the markets this sort of as the US and Europe. The new lab will examination honey as for every the norms specified by the meals basic safety regulator FSSAI. The excellent honey will raise exports and make certain better fees for farmers,” claimed Tomar adding that this shift will lead to India’s endeavours to double farmers’ money by 2025.

The lab — set up with ₹7.7-crore funding from the authorities — has been accredited by the Nationwide Accreditation Board for Tests and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and Export Inspection Council. It has also obtained an approval from FSSAI as a national reference lab. The authorities has allocated ₹500 crore for bee-keeping infrastructure growth beneath Atmanirbhar Bharat package deal.

NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath claimed that the Board has set up the facility after FSSAI notified excellent benchmarks for honey, as there was no thorough tests lab in the country.

Rath also mentioned that a proposal has been sent to the Union Agriculture Ministry to provide Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) tests to determine ‘Country of Origin’.

Through the e-inauguration, Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh claimed, “Honey’s authenticity experienced grow to be a serious situation as suppliers indulged into unethical techniques for economic gains. The tests lab will help honey farmers, cooperatives and honey field to produce excellent honey for domestic usage and exports.”