Report

The Visakhapatnam Research Centre of the Indian Institute of Agricultural Research and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT) is hosting a five-day training course for graduate students titled “Enhancing the Safety of Fish and Fishery Products Through Microbiological Testing.” The course, which runs from December 16 to 20, is part of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP), a key initiative by the Government of India.

Program Objective

The program aims to enhance students’ skills in testing fish and fishery products for food safety, with a focus on microbiological and biotechnological techniques. Twelve graduate students from the Biotechnology and Microbiology departments of Andhra University, Dr Lankapalli Bullayya College, and Government Women’s Degree College in Visakhapatnam are participating. V.V.S.S. Sharma, Chief Scientist at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Visakhapatnam Regional Centre, officially launched the program. He also released a training guide on the schedule and distributed it to all attendees.

ICAR-CIFT’s Outreach Efforts

U. Sreedhar, Scientist-in-Charge and Principal Scientist at the Visakhapatnam Research Centre of ICAR-CIFT, led the gathering. He highlighted ICAR-CIFT’s outreach efforts through flagship programs such as SCSP, STC/TSP, and NEH.

Training Program Overview

B. Madhusudana Rao, Principal Scientist at ICAR-CIFT, presented the training program and explained that, over the five days, students would learn to analyze fish samples for total bacterial counts, faecal indicator bacteria, and pathogens like Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. K. Ahamed Basha, Scientist at ICAR-CIFT and SCSP Coordinator, along with M. Prasanna Kumar, Technical Officer, also addressed the inaugural session.

Source: The Hindu