- Government of Meghalaya
On the 27th of April 2023, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong organized a visit to the State Food Testing Laboratory, Pasteur Hills, Shillong, whereby, a total of 30 students (6th Semester) and two faculty members, namely, Dr. Baphilinia Jones Mylliemngap and Dr. Saibadaiahun Nongrum from the Department of Biochemistry were present. The event was initiated with a welcome speech by Dr Wadamika Lyngdoh, Head of State Food Testing Laboratory, followed by a brief presentation on the ‘Overview of the State Food Testing Department’. After the presentation, the students were divided into three groups and visited all the 3 different units of the department, namely, Microbiology Unit, Chemical Unit and high End Equipment Unit, respectively. Each unit were assigned with trainers as well as assistant trainers whose roles were to demonstrate the various standard operating procedures of all water and food testing parameters. Lastly the event ended with Group Discussion followed by vote of thanks by Dr. Saibadaiahun Nongrum and felicitation by the representative of Biochemistry Department St. Anthony’s College, Shillong.
The trainers demonstrated the purpose and function of the various instruments used in the microbiology lab such as the Autoclave, Hot air oven, Laminar Air Flow, BOD, incubator and microscope. The students were taken to the media preparation room whereby they were shown the different types of media and how each is prepared. They were then taken to the culture room and the trainers showed them the different types of isolation techniques such as streak plate method, pour plate method as well as the pure cultures of the target organisms in different media. Lastly, the students also observed the microscopic view of the gram positive and gram negative bacteria.
The trainers from Chemical Unit showed a brief demonstration on the various analysis conducted to check the quality of the food products such as determination of moisture content (spices), extraction of fat in dairy product (cheese) and analysis of water quality through turbidity check, pH and total hardness of the water.
A walk through of the sample preparation process of rice and water sample for all the three sophisticated instruments, namely ICPMS, LCMS/MS and GCMS/MS was shown to the students. The students were also briefed about the principles, applications and different components of the instruments.
