Growing awareness about the quality and safety of food has resulted in a thriving new industry ? food testing. To tap the growing market, Intertek, a leading provider of quality and safety solutions, is all set to unveil its food-testing laboratory ? the Center of Excellence Food Testing Laboratory ? near Gurgaon, on August 3.?Ahead of its launch, Intertek?s country manager Harsh Chopra, in an interview with FE?s Shishir Behera, speaks about investment, expansion, industry trends and his plans to test genetically modified food in the new lab. Excerpts:

What has led to the emergence of an entirely new industry which specialises in certifying the quality of food?

Today, the consumer wants to know everything about what he is eating?its calorie, protein and mineral content. He wants to know what are the main contents of the product. Therefore, the requirement of ingredient, energy content and fat content declaration brings in the concept of food-testing labs. In many villages in Punjab and Haryana ? the two major producers of food items in the country ? ground water is completely contaminated owing to the extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides by farmers. This passes into the food chain, causing serious health hazards. In the future, this may result in serious consequence because of cross contamination of the water?s sub soil. So, food testing is going to a major area in the coming years.

On what criteria would your analysis of different food products be based?

All food products need to maintain the prevention of food adulteration (PFA) requirement. Also, the Food Safety and Standard Act is being implemented by the Centre. So, all these criteria will help the food sector analyse the food products.

What kind of approvals are needed for food testing?

For the food-testing laboratory, there is a standard called ISO/ICE17025, which is a laboratory accreditation standard. We have laid down systems according to ISO/ICE17025 and will be applying National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), the accreditation authority in India, soon. We hope to get accreditation by January 2011 and this will follow approvals from Apeda, EIC, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Spices Board etc.

What prompted you to set up your first food-testing laboratory in the NCR region? How much investment did it take?

In 2010, this will be Intertek Group?s biggest capital investment in India. We have invested Rs 10 crore for setting up the lab. This is our first food-testing lab in India . We already have a quality control testing laboratory for textiles, electrical and the oil and gas sector in the country.

North India is major producer of foodgrain and also the hub of food processing. So, we decided to set up the lab near Gurgaon.

What are your future expansion plans?

This will be Intertek?s mother laboratory in India and we will set up a small microbiology testing lab at regional level. For perishable products, we plan to set up satellite laboratories in various parts of the country. Our future plans include building capabilities for testing genetically-modified food. Currently, however, India does not allow the cultivation of GM food crop for commercial purposes.

What gives you an edge over other companies?

We have a global presence and are in the quality-control business for many years with clients like Mcdonald?s, Nestle, Coca Cola, Mother Dairy and Amul. We will bring this global experience and expertise in to India . While there are other laboratories which test the environment and food items, our laboratories specialise in food and beverages.