Bhubaneswar, Aug 17 (LocalWire): Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) opened its refurbished Quality Control Laboratory at Nayapalli tody, which will carry out high-precision tests using state-of-the-art equipment that can also detect banned antibiotics.
The facility, which has shifted to Raptani Bhavan was inaugurated by MPEDA Chairman Mr. K S Srinivas on Saturday.
It will facilitate testing of antibiotic residue in farmed shrimps as per the regulatory requirements prescribed by the importing countries and the Export Inspection Council (EIC) of India.
The lab will also issue PHT (pre-harvest test) certificates to aquaculture farmers as per the regulatory requirements for export of farmed shrimps to the European Union.
The lab will pursue accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) as per ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and approval by the Export Inspection Council (EIC) soon after inauguration.
The inaugural ceremony was held over video-conferencing in the presence of Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Department Commissioner-cum-Secretary Mr. R Raghu Prasad IFS, MPEDA Director Dr. M Karthikeyan, Seafood Exporters Association of India Managing Committee Member Tara Ranjan Patnaik, its Odisha Regional President Dr. Kamlesh Mishra among others.
Mr. Srinivas noted that Odisha has shown an average annual growth of 13 per cent in the export of marine products over the past decade: from 21,311 metric tonnes (worth Rs 800 crore) in 2011-12 to 66,654 MT (Rs 3,243 crore in 2019-20.
Odisha is India’s third-largest state’s producing cultured shrimp, with a 6.2 per cent share in the country’s total shrimp production.
When it comes to cultured shrimps of the exotic vannamei variety, the state has registered an average of 52% yearly growth in production: from 100 MT in 2012-13 to 44,007 MT in 2019-20.
Odisha’s seafood finds major markets in China (37 per cent) and USA (36 per cent). The other countries that buy the products are Japan, and other Southeast and European nations.
MPEDA, formed in 1972 under the Union Ministry of Commerce, is a coordinating agency with central and state-level establishments engaged in fishery production and allied activities.
LocalWire
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