Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has developed and launched three different kits for detection of food borne pathogens, diagnosing iron deficiency anaemia and diagnosing vitamin-A deficiency.

Launching the products here on Thursday, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the kit for detection of food borne pathogens will be very useful to determine the causes of outbreaks of food poisoning and food borne common infections caused by eating of contaminated eggs, poultry, meat, dairy products as well as vegetables, contaminated with water borne infections.

The Minister highlighted that this easy, user friendly and rapid detection system will be of immense use not only to the Food Safety Authority of India (FSAI) but also to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, which reports on food poisoning outbreaks and to diagnostic laboratories in Government as well private sector.

Studies show that about 13 per cent of deaths among children of less than five years of age are due to diarrhoea, which is caused essentially due to consumption of contaminated food/water. The kits developed by NIN in collaboration with Bioserve Biotechnologies are indigenous, less time consuming and cost 1/3rd of the imported kits costs. The rapid testing of food samples for microbiological contamination will reduce the morbidity and mortality in the society. Use of the kits by the food industry will not only help domestic consumers in having safe food but also helps reducing export rejections on account of microbiological contamination.

The second kit launched by the Health Minister estimates the quantity of ferritin and helps in diagnosing iron deficiency anaemia individually as well as for mass level screening. This test will be useful to decide supplementation of iron according to the need and also to avoid iron dosing in conditions where iron accumulates in the body; for instance due to repeated blood transfusions in cases of thalassemia, haemophilia and others.

The Minister said that the present estimates of anaemia due to iron deficiency in different groups vary widely from five to 50 per cent. Besides this variation, there are large numbers of adolescent boys and girls who are anaemic. As per National Family Health Survey, 56 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys in 10-19 years are anaemic.

The third kit is for diagnosing vitamin-A deficiency. The dried blood spot collection system for plasma vitamin-A estimation is a simple system that allows the blood to be collected on a special type of filter paper which can be stored for seven days at room temperature and for several days at refrigerated temperature. It will be valuable for mass screening for deciding on vitamin-A supplementation as and when required. It is a field friendly method for blood sample collection and transportation from remote areas to screen population for sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency. This system will reduce the inconvenience to children, cost of blood collection, storage and transportation associated with conventional vein puncture method of blood collection.