The product testing laboratory set up by the Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, in Tiruchi has received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) recently.
The lab, inaugurated in February to help the public test the claims of manufacturers and advertisers, received accreditation from the NABL to test consumer products such as edible oil, milk, turbidity in water, and purity of gold ornaments.
Established at a cost of ₹38 lakh, the facility will temporarily function from an 850 sq. ft. space on the premises of the Council office in Kumaran Nagar. It is equipped with an analytical balance spectrophotometer, turbidimeter, ph meter, hot air oven, gold karat meter, water bath, heating mantle, centrifuge, muffle furnace, thermocouple, fume hood, and desiccator.
The lab will extend services across sectors such as soaps, detergents, food, cosmetics, textiles, electronics, grocery and more products after setting up a dedicated facility with additional equipment. “We have approached both the State and Union governments for a piece of land to set up the facility with additional equipment to test more products and yet to receive approval,” said S. Pusphavanam, Council Secretary.
With a highly skilled and experienced team of specialists, the council aims at empowering consumers and educating them on the quality of the commodities they utilise every day. “The lab caters to testing, inspection and certification needs of the consumers and the results of the test will be valid in any court of law,” he added.
A nominal amount of ₹25 is being charged for testing samples of oil, water and milk and ₹100 for gold ornaments. A higher fee has been fixed for commercial establishments.
