Tirupati: Food testing lab to come up at SV University

Tirupati: The home science and food technology department of SV University got Rs 10 crore project sponsored by AP Food Processing Society. Through this, the society will support the establishment of state-of-the-art National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited food testing laboratory under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme.

In a letter to the university vice-chancellor Prof K Raja Reddy, the CEO of AP Food Processing Society said that the Rs 10 crore grant is meant for establishment of the laboratory, laboratory equipment and machinery with civil constructions. As the university has been offering food technology and allied courses at UG and PG level, this advanced facility can be of real assistance for teaching and research.

Further, it has innumerable food processing units of all sizes in nearby districts which can facilitate third party testing in the proposed lab which can also be an additional source of revenue to the university. The vice-chancellor said that under this project, the department of food technology is tied up with food production industries and under the aegis of department of Home Science a food production research centre will be established.

The centre tests the quality of food products of the farmers and processed food products of the industries and certifies them. This facilitates easy export of food products. Registrar Prof O Md Hussain said the products that could not be stored for long are processed in a special way in the centre.

Project coordinator Dr K V Sucharita said that they applied for the project in 2019 and due to Covid it was delayed. Projects like this will help to control the wastage of food products and a lab like this is an honour to SVU.