India’s first NABL-accredited honey testing lab inaugurated

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday inaugurated India’s initially honey testing lab set up by Countrywide Dairy Progress Board (NDDB) at Anand.

The testing lab will unlock opportunity for apiarists to not just get domestic enterprise but also choose benefit of exports to the US and Europe. Until recently, the exporters have been necessary to ship their samples to Germany for testing.

The enhancement comes following Countrywide Bee Board’s 10 years-extended wait around for a govt testing facility for honey.

“Standard good quality testing and certifications are the most important specifications and preconditions for exporting honey to the markets this sort of as the US and Europe. The new lab will exam honey as for each the norms specified by the food stuff safety regulator FSSAI. The good quality honey will strengthen exports and guarantee improved fees for farmers,” explained Tomar adding that this shift will contribute to India’s initiatives to double farmers’ profits by 2025.

The lab — set up with ₹7.7-crore funding from the govt — has been accredited by the Countrywide Accreditation Board for Tests and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and Export Inspection Council. It has also obtained an acceptance from FSSAI as a nationwide reference lab. The govt has allotted ₹500 crore for bee-keeping infrastructure enhancement underneath Atmanirbhar Bharat deal.

NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath explained that the Board has set up the facility following FSSAI notified good quality criteria for honey, as there was no detailed testing lab in the region.

Rath also said that a proposal has been despatched to the Union Agriculture Ministry to give Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) testing to discover ‘Country of Origin’.

Through the e-inauguration, Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh explained, “Honey’s authenticity had turn out to be a severe issue as suppliers indulged into unethical methods for economic gains. The testing lab will help honey farmers, cooperatives and honey industry to produce good quality honey for domestic intake and exports.”