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PESHAWAR, Apr 23 (APP): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister for Food, Zahir Shah Toru on Wednesday visited the under-construction Central Food Testing Laboratory of Food Safety & Halal Food Authority in Hayatabad.
During the visit, Director General of the Food Authority, Wasif Saeed, briefed the minister on the installation of advanced testing equipment, ongoing civil work, and the laboratory’s overall performance.
Wasif Saeed said, the lab has been equipped with cutting-edge food testing machinery, including Milk Scan, Meat Testing Lab, CDR, P-NIR, IDEXX Solution, ELISA, and Incubators—ready for the qualitative testing of edible items.
He further informed that other state-of-the-art equipment such as TDS Meter, iCheck Chroma, Sonicator, Laminar Flow Hood, Autoclave, PH Meter, HPLC, UHPLC, Spectrophotometer, PCR, Proximate NIR, and Box Q7 will soon be fully operational.
The DG added that the laboratory will be capable of testing a wide range of food items including snacks, beverages, oils and ghee, meat, spices, water, milk, and more. It will also house a system for determining the halal or haram status of food products.
Minister Zahir Shah Toru appreciated the partial functionality of the laboratory and stated that the remaining work is nearing completion. He noted that Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur will soon inaugurate the lab officially.
He emphasized that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the first province to establish such an advanced food testing facility.
Additionally, he highlighted that 12 mobile food testing laboratories of the Food Authority are already operating across the province. The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to providing safe and quality food to its citizens, considering it essential for a healthy society.
He added that the establishment of this static laboratory will also raise awareness among production units regarding food quality standards, and the government is taking further steps to equip the authority with more advanced tools.