KP Food Minister Visits High-Tech Central Food Testing Laboratory in Hayatabad
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Food, Zahir Shah Toru paid a detailed visit to the under-construction Central Food Testing Laboratory in Hayatabad, a flagship project of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety & Halal Food Authority.
During the visit, Director General Wasif Saeed briefed the minister on the ongoing civil works, the deployment of advanced food testing equipment, and the laboratory’s readiness to support scientific food safety protocols across the province.
The state-of-the-art facility is being outfitted with cutting-edge machinery including Milko Scan, Meat Testing Lab, CDR LAB, P-NIR, IDEX Solution, ELISA Reader, and incubators, which are already functional. Additional sophisticated devices such as TDS Meter, iCheck Chroma, Sonicator, Laminar Flow Hood, Autoclave, pH Meter, HPLC, UHPLC, Spectrophotometer, PCR, Proximate NIR, and BAX Q7 are installed and will soon be fully operational.
The minister was further informed that the laboratory is designed to test a wide variety of food items snacks, beverages, ghee and oil, meat, spices, milk, water, and other consumables, ensuring compliance with national and international food safety standards. It also includes specialized systems to detect halal and non-halal ingredients in food products.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Zahir Shah Toru expressed satisfaction with the lab’s partial functionality, noting that the project is now in its final stages. He announced that the Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, will soon perform the formal inauguration of the facility.
“This is the first-of-its-kind high-tech food testing laboratory in Pakistan, and a major step toward strengthening scientific food regulation in the province,” said the minister. Toru added that 12 mobile food testing laboratories are already operational and providing services across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The minister reiterated the provincial government’s commitment to ensuring safe, healthy, and high-quality food for all citizens, stating, “Healthy food is the foundation of a healthy society.”
He further emphasized that the establishment of the static laboratory will not only improve quality control at production units but will also raise awareness among stakeholders regarding food safety standards. The provincial government is actively working to equip the Food Authority with even more modern and robust testing technologies in the near future.
