How to choose a food testing lab in India and read its report
Choose a food testing lab in India by checking its accreditation scope, FSSAI status, six-monthly testing duties and the limits used in its report.
For six-monthly licence testing, a food testing lab can be your own lab, a NABL-accredited lab or an FSSAI-notified lab (Condition 12). For an external lab, the NABL scope must cover your product and the exact tests. The report should name the sample and give the method, result and legal limit for each parameter.
Which food testing labs count under FSSAI rules
Licence Condition 12 requires tests for relevant chemical and/or microbiological contaminants. It asks you to test "through own or NABL accredited /FSSA notified labs at least once in six months" (FSSAI conditions of licence). Test more often where historical data and risk assessment require it. A producer of vegetable oil, edible oil or their products needs its own laboratory facility for analytical testing. This is in the same document, under other conditions, item 4.
FSSAI itself recognises labs at three levels, listed on its food laboratories page:
| Tier | What it is | Current list |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (notified) labs | Accredited labs notified under Section 43(1) of the FSS Act | 240 labs with valid NABL accreditation as on 7 September 2026. The FSSAI notified labs list is Annexure I of the validity order |
| Referral labs | Government-owned or government-controlled labs that handle appeal samples | List dated 05.12.2025 |
| National Reference Laboratories | Methods, validation, proficiency testing and training (Reg. 3) | 12 NRLs and 1 ancillary NRL. NIFTEM Kundli was added on 25 March 2025 |
To be notified, a lab needs ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from NABL or another body FSSAI approves, a person qualified as a Food Analyst and the equipment for its scope (Recognition and Notification of Laboratories Regulations 2018, Reg. 4).
For pesticide testing laboratories, the referral list includes NIPHM Hyderabad for pesticide residues. The National Food Laboratories at Kolkata and Ghaziabad are also referral labs. Check scope before commissioning a residue test.
When you must test and upload
The six-monthly cycle follows the financial year: April to September, then October to March. Two mandatory tests of the same product must be at least three months apart. A new licence issued in September or March is exempt for that half (FSSAI order of 8 July 2021, Annexure 1 here).
The 13 January 2023 order requires all manufacturers, including repackers and relabellers, to upload six-monthly testing reports on FoSCoS. Upload by 31 October for April to September, and by 30 April for October to March. If an FSSAI-notified lab tested the sample, you can link the report from InFoLNet instead.
Check the conditions printed on your own licence or registration in FoSCoS before you plan the year. They decide which duties apply to you.
What a food testing lab checks, and against which limits
Condition 12 concerns contaminants, so a nutrition panel alone won't meet it. Ask the lab to select the relevant parameters and limits for your product from these FSSAI texts:
- Chemical contaminants and residues: the Contaminants, Toxins and Residues Regulations 2011 (Version IX, 03.02.2026). Reg. 2.1 covers metals, 2.2 crop contaminants and natural toxins such as aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin and deoxynivalenol, 2.3.1 pesticide MRLs and 2.3.2 antibiotic and veterinary drug residues.
- Microbiology: Appendix B of the Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations 2011 (Version 2, 04.11.2024).
- Product composition, such as moisture or fat: the product standards in the same regulations, indexed in the FSSAI compendium.
- Nutrition: regulation 5(3) of the Labelling and Display Regulations 2020 sets the declaration per 100 g or 100 ml, and per serve. That is energy, protein, carbohydrate, total sugars, added sugars, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol.
Methods come from FSSAI's Manuals of Methods of Analysis. Ask which method the lab will use before you pay.
Water is a separate line. The licensing schedule says water must be potable and tested "at regular intervals at any recognized laboratory" where required (licensing compendium).
Four checks before choosing a food testing lab
- Search the lab on NABL's lab search by name, certificate number or city. Open its scope and confirm your product type, parameter and method are listed. A lab accredited for microbiology may have no accreditation for pesticide residues in your matrix. NABL 131 says a lab can claim accreditation "for only those premises, and scope for which it has been accredited" (NABL 131, Issue 08, clause 23).
- Check NABL's suspended accreditation list.
- If you want a notified lab, find it in Annexure I of the FSSAI validity order. Annexure II lists 17 labs whose accreditation has expired, or which are suspended or being denotified. Each Annexure I row has a NABL certificate number (TC-xxxx), separate validity dates for chemical, biological, radiological and other testing, and a note on whether the lab went through the NABL-FSSAI integrated assessment. Make sure the date for your test type runs past your test date. The order says the detailed scope is on the NABL website, so confirm scope there rather than relying on the lab's own claims.
- Ask whether the lab can link results into FoSCoS through InFoLNet. The upload order permits this route for reports from FSSAI-notified labs.
When you compare food testing services, compare quotes on the same parameters and methods.
What a food test report shows
Use ISO/IEC 17025 clause 7.8, restated in NABL 160A, to check an accredited lab's report. Look for:
- a report title, the lab's name and address, a unique report ID and page numbers
- your name and contact details
- the sample's identity and condition, the date received, and the sampling date or sampling plan where the lab has them
- the test dates, the date of issue and the method for each test
- results with units, any deviations from the method and who authorised the report
- a statement that results relate only to the items tested, with any externally provided results identified
If the lab didn't draw the sample, the report must say the results apply to the sample as received. A pass or fail statement must name the specification and the decision rule. Measurement uncertainty appears when it affects a limit decision or when you ask for it.
Ask for a result table showing each parameter, method, result and applicable limit. Form B of the Laboratory and Sample Analysis Regulations uses those columns, records whether the sample was fit for analysis, and can use the label claim as the prescribed standard for proprietary food.
Do not treat Form B as the required format for every sample. The 15 October 2024 order specifies Form VII A for surveillance and enforcement samples. Referral appeal reports use Form XI, while imported food reports use Form 2.
Look for the NABL symbol on the report. The FSSAI order requires it for tests within notified labs' accredited scope. But a symbol does not replace a scope check. Match each parameter to the lab's accredited scope and ask it to identify any unaccredited results. You can ask RegAffairs AI which FSSAI lab and testing rules apply to your product and get an answer with each source cited inline.