FSSAI's lab headcount

In the aftermath of the Maggi noodles controversy, the food regulator, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), seems to be going all out with information related not just to the products it has blacklisted, but also to its testing abilities. Facing criticism over the lack of adequate infrastructure for quality tests on Maggi samples and removing Nestle India's instant noodles from the market, the FSSAI has made public a list of 82 accredited laboratories across the country. However, only 65 of these are currently valid for chemical or biological analysis of food samples, the fine print suggests. Maharashtra accounts for the most of these, 18, while the scope of accreditation has expired for two of these. Delhi is next, with a total of 11 labs, of which seven are valid. The list of states with no lab capability is long at 16 - Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura and Andaman & Nicobar.