Research facilities

• Well equipped laboratory to carry out molecular as well as microbiological studies.
• Microbiological quality assessment of meat, milk, feed, and other food products and development of HACCP based integrated quality assurance programmes for the food industry.
• Evaluation of microbiological and chemical quality of water.
• Evaluation of microbiological quality of air
• Isolation and identification of pathogens of public health importance from various food products.
• Rapid detection of various zoonotic agents by modern diagnostic methods (PCR, ELISA)
   

Major thrust areas

• Zoonoses diagnosis, surveillance, control, prevention and eradication
• Occupational hazards and diseases associated with live animals
• Control of vectors and reservoirs( domestic and wild life)
• Prevention and control of food-borne illness of animal origin
• Participation in outbreak investigations
• Environmental activities including air, water quality monitoring, hazardous waste management etc.
• Biomedical research
• Emergency actions including natural and man-made disasters
• Organization and Management of VPH Programmes.
• Education, Training and Extension in VPH.

Research projects (last 10 yrs)

1. Microbiological quality assessment of duck egg production chain
2. Occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in fishes and its public health significance
3. Assessment of quality of well water in Eloor, Kerala
4. Assessment of microbial quality, adulterants and preservatives in pasteurized milk
5. Application of polymerase chain reaction for rapid evaluation of hygienic status of milk
6. Microbial quality and safety of raw milk with reference to contamination.
7. Assessment of Bacterial quality and shelf life of pasteurized milk
8. Bacterial quality of raw milk at the society level with special reference to quality assurance programme
9. Bacterial quality of milk at the point of production with special emphasis on the quality assurance programme.
10. Microbial Quality Assurance of Milk in its production, processing and storage.
11. Microbial Quality Assurance of Dahi during its production and storage.
12. Effect of refrigeration on the quality of beef frankfurter and chicken pepperoni.
13. Evaluation of bacteriological quality of beef carcasses in meat processing plant
14. Evaluation of bacteriological quality of pork carcasses in a processing plant
15. Evaluation of bacteriological quality of processed chicken
16. Bacteria of public health significance in broiler dressed chicken
17. Isolation and identification of certain bacteria of public health importance from market milk
18. Bacterial profile of market beef and its public health significance

Externally Aided Projects

1. ICAR AD HOC Research project on ‘Bacterial quality assurance of meat in processing plant- KAU
2. ICAR AD HOC Research project on ‘Evaluation of quality of market milk with special reference to quality assurance programme in Kerala
3. ICAR project on outreach programme on Zoonotic disease.

Research News and Events

• Evaluated hygienic quality of market beef, chicken and pork
• Developed organic acid based sanitizers to improve the microbiological quality of meat
• Developed HACCP based Integrated Quality Assurance Programme for cattle , pig and poultry slaughter lines for commercial meat processing plant in Kerala
• Evaluated hygienic status of various meat and dairy products.
• Monitoring of chemical and microbiological quality of raw and pasteurized milk marketed in the state
• Developed a HACCP module for pasteurized milk production
• Evaluated microbiological quality of curd during production processing and storage
• Developed PCR protocol for rapid detection of pathogens from milk
• Developed PCR protocols for rapid detection of hygienic status of milk
• Evaluation of quality of well water in Eloor , Kerala to assess the physio-chemical and microbiological quality and high values of total hardness, fluoride, iron, lead, aerobic plate count and coliforms was observed