How to start a food testing lab in India: NABL and FSSAI

What are the steps to start a food testing laboratory in India?

Scope first, NABL second, FSSAI third; each step depends on the one before.

1. Decide the scope: which foods, which parameters, which methods.
2. Plan premises around that scope, with microbiology physically separated from chemistry.
3. Buy equipment that the chosen methods need, and get it calibrated with traceability.
4. Hire and train staff, and record their competence for each test.
5. Write and run the quality system to ISO/IEC 17025:2017: methods, validation or verification, quality control, records.
6. Take part in proficiency testing and complete an internal audit and a management review.
7. Apply to NABL for accreditation of the scope you can already deliver.
8. Once accredited, apply to FSSAI for recognition and notification for the accredited scope.

Our NABL accreditation guide and ISO/IEC 17025 checklist cover steps 5 to 7 in detail.

What scope should a new food testing lab offer?

Pick a scope your customers will pay for and your budget can support. Many labs start with chemistry and microbiology, then add residues and metals.

FSSAI publishes Manuals of Methods of Analysis of Foods, and its microbiological standards in Appendix B name IS and ISO reference methods. Using these methods makes it easier to defend results in a regulatory dispute. For microbiology, read our guide to FSSAI microbiological standards and n, c, m and M before you plan the micro scope.

Why must NABL accreditation come before FSSAI recognition?

FSSAI recognises only accredited labs. Its own 2022 notice quotes sub-regulation 4(2) of the Food Safety and Standards (Recognition and Notification of Laboratories) Regulations, 2018: "For being recognized and notified, every food laboratory shall have accreditation against ISO/IEC 17025 by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories or such other equivalent accreditation agency as may be approved by the Food Authority."

The same notice explains the legal basis. Section 43 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 lets the Food Authority notify food laboratories accredited by NABL or another accreditation agency for analysing samples taken by Food Analysts.

In the same 2022 notice, FSSAI also said it had decided to engage accreditation bodies other than NABL for food labs, so check which bodies the Food Authority has approved when you apply. Whichever body you choose, accreditation is for the lab and its listed scope, not for any software or equipment you buy.

How does FSSAI recognition and notification of food labs work?

Once accredited, a food lab applies to FSSAI to be recognised and notified for its accredited scope. The 2018 regulations set the criteria for notifying and recognising labs, and the procedure for notification, de-notification and de-recognition.

Three points matter for planning:

• Recognition depends on accreditation, so keep your NABL scope and validity current. Plan surveillance and renewal assessments well ahead.
• Apply only for tests that are already in your accredited scope, and keep the scope wording identical in both applications.
• The process and forms change. Check the current notices on FSSAI's food laboratories page before you apply, and keep a copy of what you submitted.

Where can you find the FSSAI notified lab list and FSSAI approved NABL lab list?

Both are on FSSAI's food laboratories page. FSSAI publishes separate lists for notified (primary) food laboratories, referral food laboratories that analyse appeal samples, and national reference laboratories. Each list carries the date it was last updated.

There is no separate "FSSAI approved NABL lab list". The notified list is the list of NABL-accredited labs that FSSAI has notified. To check a competitor's or a subcontractor's accredited scope, search NABL's directory of accredited labs on nabl-india.org.

The FSSAI notified lab list is also useful market research: it shows which districts already have a notified lab.

What space and layout does a food testing lab need?

Among food testing lab requirements, layout is the one that is hardest to fix later: it has to stop cross-contamination and keep incompatible work apart. NABL's guide to writing a quality manual (NABL 160A, January 2026) asks labs to describe how they restrict access, prevent cross-contamination and keep "effective separation" between areas whose activities are not compatible.

For a food lab, plan these areas:

• Sample receipt and registration, with chilled and frozen storage for perishable samples.
• Sample preparation, kept away from the instrument room so dust and fat do not travel.
• Chemistry wet lab with fume hoods for digestion, solvent work and Kjeldahl.
• Instrument room for AAS or ICP, HPLC, GC and LC-MS/MS, with stable power and air conditioning.
• Balance room or a vibration-free balance bench, with controlled temperature.
• Microbiology suite: media preparation, sterilisation, a clean inoculation area with a biosafety cabinet or laminar air flow, incubation, and a separate decontamination point for used media.
• Records and document control.

Microbiology needs its own entry and, ideally, one-way movement from clean to dirty areas. If you plan to test regulatory samples, remember that FSSAI's Appendix B asks for micro samples to be kept below 5 °C (not frozen) and analysis to start within 24 hours of sampling, except for products the maker says to store at room temperature. Your receipt area must be able to log arrival times and temperatures.

What equipment does a food testing lab need?

Buy for the methods in your scope, not from a generic list. Treat this table as a starting point.

Every measuring instrument then needs a calibration programme, labels, intermediate checks and an equipment register. Our guide to instrument calibration in a testing lab explains what NABL expects.

What staff does a food testing lab need?

A small lab can run with a few people in clearly defined roles. ISO/IEC 17025 requires that each person's competence for each task is defined, trained, assessed and authorised, with records.

• A technical manager who owns methods, validation and technical review.
• A quality manager who owns the management system, audits and corrective action.
• Chemists for proximate, residue and metal analysis.
• Microbiologists, kept separate from chemistry work where possible.
• Front office staff for sample receipt, registration, reports and billing.
• An authorised signatory for each discipline you report.

In a small lab one person can hold two roles, as long as the authorisations are written down.

What decides the food testing lab setup cost?

The biggest cost drivers are scope and instruments. A lab that offers proximate chemistry and microbiology needs far less capital than one that adds pesticide residues and trace metals, because LC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS and ICP-MS dominate the equipment budget.

Plan for these heads, and get written quotes for each:

• Premises fit-out, air conditioning, fume hoods, power backup and the microbiology suite.
• Instruments, with installation, qualification and first calibration.
• Reference standards, certified reference materials and media.
• Proficiency testing schemes for each discipline.
• NABL application, assessment and annual fees, as set out in NABL 100A.
• Annual calibration, maintenance contracts and consumables.
• Software for sample registration, worksheets, reports and records.

Running costs matter as much as setup. Retyping results from registers into Excel and Word costs staff time daily; see the hidden cost of Excel in labs and LIMS software price in India.

A worked example: a two-discipline start in a tier-2 city

Consider a new lab that wants dairy and cereal customers. A sensible first scope is moisture, ash, fat, protein and acidity for flours and dairy, plus aerobic plate count, coliforms, yeast and mould and E. coli for milk products and paneer.

1. It fits out chemistry and a separate micro suite, but leaves bench space and power for an LC-MS/MS later.
2. It runs these tests for paying customers, with quality control and proficiency testing, until the records show stable performance.
3. It applies to NABL for this scope only.
4. After accreditation, it applies to FSSAI for notification of the same scope.
5. It adds pesticide residues and metals as a scope extension once volumes justify the instruments.

This keeps the first accreditation small and lets revenue from a working scope pay for the expensive instruments.