Bharat Chauhan New Delhi , As a prominent food safety conference, it brought together nearly 300 analytical
professionals—including top government food safety regulators, eminent scientists,
academicians, industry partners, laboratory owners, researchers and students. Globally, food
safety issues have caused crucial crises; and this two-day event will provide a unique
opportunity to assess the emerging trends in this field and discuss strategies to overcome
various problems for building our planet a safer place to live.
The opening session began with a keynote lecture by Mr. Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO,
FSSAI, where he highlighted the not-profit partnership between FSSAI and AOAC-India and
mentioned how government regulators and the private sector can join hand in hand for
building a robust analytical ecosystem in the country. A MoU was signed between AOAC
and FSSAI earlier for adopting official AOAC’s methods for regulatory control purposes in
India. Mr. Agarwal during the keynote address also proposed that FSSAI should collaborate
with AOAC India Section for jointly organizing the Annual Conference involving more
stakeholders. He further hoped to double the analysis of food products sold in country every
year to improve the public perception related to food safety and security. Mr Agarwal also
applauded and appreciated how AOAC India Section played a pivotal role in the release of
the book on Key Analytical Tools in Food Analysis authored by Dr. Lalitha Gowda. He
stated that this book would help the entire analytical community, and FSSAI shall procure
500 copies of this book to propagate in all the referral and notified laboratories in the country.
Other distinguished speakers were Dr S.K. Saxena, Director, EIC, Dr N. Bhaskar,
Advisor, FSSAI, Dr Palmer A. Orlandi, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Science
Officer, AOAC, Prof. Samuel Godefroy, Université Laval, Dr Kaushik Banerjee,
Chairman, AOAC-India, Ms. DeAnn Benesh, AOAC’s Past President, and Mr. N.
Venkateswaran, Director, NABL.
Dr. Ranjan Mitra, President, AOAC-India, commented, “We’re very pleased to have held
our Section’s 6 th annual conference. We trust that it will offer immense chance to debate on
what it means to develop new food testing methodologies and how it relates to the future of
food safety”.
The conference comprised keynote lectures, plenary presentations, poster sessions and
interactive group discussions, creating a platform for information exchange and knowledge
transfer. The eminent speakers (from India, USA, UK and Europe) covered various facets of
food analysis, global food safety issues, quality control regulations, food authenticity and
capacity building for the running of effective global food systems within the nation.
The attendees will also have opportunities to witness the launch of e-learning portal which
will act as a FSSAI’s food analyst examination guidebook.
Over 50 leading organisations from 6 different countries participated to converse on how to
solve complex analytical problems and develop compliant solutions to ensure human health.
Overall, this conference was packed with thought-provoking presentations, stimulating group
discussion forums and an interactive exhibit floor.
