SISI plans regional food testing lab

Buoyed by the good profits earned by the agriculturists this season and the increasing export potential for the agri products from this region, the Small Industries Service Institute (SISI), Coimbatore division, is planning to set up a regional food testing laboratory on its own premises here.

"The lab would be set up with an investment of Rs 80 lakh with an assistance from the Union ministry of food processing. The minstry is yet to give the final nod. Once the project is approved, the lab would become operational in the next three to five months," S Panikkassery, deputy director, SISI Coimbatore, told Business Standard.

The setting up of this lab would facilitate the production and quality of small scale units engaged in food processing, he added.

The lab would also cater to the nearby districts of Coimbatore, including Erode and Nilgiris, which are major producers of a large number of crops including paddy, tea, sugarcane, cotton, banana, turmeric, onion, coconut and flowers besides hatcheries.

The modernisation of the existing lab on the institute's Chennai premises is also in the offing.

The lab in Chennai would be upgraded at an investment of Rs 40 lakh, Panikkassery added.