The Travancore Devaswom Board recently informed the Kerala High Court that a laboratory would be set up at Pampa for evaluation of prasadam as per Food Safety and Standards Authority of India parameters, including testing for pesticides and toxin levels, before the start of Sabarimala pilgrimage season.
The Division Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and K.V. Jayakumar was informed that the Food Safety department would identify requirements and prepare a time-bound implementation plan. A decision was also taken to obtain National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories accreditation simultaneously, the Board stated. Currently, the samples are sent to a laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram for evaluation.
The Food Safety department had apprised the Board that the equipment for the laboratory would cost around ₹2 crore to ₹3 crore and the laboratory would require an air-conditioned space of about 1000 sq. ft.; these requirements were affirmed by the Board.
The department also agreed to arrange qualified personnel to operate the equipment and conduct the tests. It would examine the possibility of deploying two existing, duly appointed food safety officers for statutory inspection and sampling at Sabarimala.
Published - October 24, 2026 08:22 pm IST