Our Municipal Analyst Laboratory (MAL) was established by the Public Health Department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 1903, primarily for testing clinical samples and later water samples. With the introduction of the Bombay Prevention of Food Adulteration Act in 1925, the laboratory initiated testing of certain categories of food samples. Thereafter, implementation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) in 1954 and PFA Rules 1955 in Greater Bombay from 1956 increased the number of food samples tested for chemical and microbiological parameters. Considering this expansion, our laboratory—initially located in the old BMC building—was shifted to the centrally located G/North Ward office building in Dadar West.
Currently, our laboratory is the only Food and Water testing laboratory of BMC in Mumbai. The laboratory is accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration (NABL) for complying with International Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Chemical and Biological Testing. The laboratory is headed by the Municipal Analyst, who also serves as a Food Analyst. He is nominated by the Central Government and appointed by the State Government through Gazette Notification to carry out analysis of food articles as per the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 under Section 45. As a Food Analyst, he also provides expert opinions in court cases where samples are declared adulterated or unsafe for human consumption.
The major purpose of the laboratory is to provide testing services to the Public Health Department of BMC to test food and water samples for safeguarding community health.
Our Vision:
The laboratory aims to provide cost-effective and high-quality testing services to our customers, considering the importance of food safety from farm to fork, ensuring that safe food products are available for human consumption.
Our Objective:
• To give importance to the quality standards of testing operations.
• To provide accurate and timely analytical results consistently.
• To provide regular training to staff to enhance their technical knowledge and competence.
• To maintain impartiality, confidentiality, and operational integrity.
• To achieve an overall customer satisfaction index (CSI) of 95% and above.