Introduction:

The world we live in is governed by chemistry, from the air we breathe to the medicines we consume. Thus ensuring the safety and purity of the chemicals involved is more important. Imagine what would happen if you mixed the wrong chemicals, it could put your life at risk or impact the environment. Therefore chemical testing in Indian chemical industries is thriving as it serves as a critical checkpoint between innovation and impact. In this article, we have combined the benefits, advantages, and importance of chemical testing, so you get everything covered in one article. We have also explored some of the strategies and recent developments of Indian chemical testing providers and market scenarios behind chemical testing. Let’s begin.

What is chemical testing and its role in the chemical industry:

Chemical testing is the process of analyzing and evaluating chemical substances to ascertain their composition, properties and quality. The testing methods involve varied methods to determine the presence of specific elements or compounds, assess purity and check the contaminants or hazardous materials. Chemical testing ensures product integrity, protecting public health and complying with stringent regulations.

The role of chemical testing is highly essential as they are involved in:

Quality control: the raw materials, intermediates and finished products meet the required specifications and performance standards.

Safety: chemical testing ensures safety as it identifies toxicity, flammable or inflammable aspects or hazardous chemicals and thereby helps in preventing accidents and health risks for the workers and consumers.

Regulatory compliances: Chemical testing helps chemical companies maintain regulatory compliances by ensuring their products and processes meet both local and international environmental, safety and health regulations. For instance, toxicology testing helps in identifying the harmful or toxic components in products thereby ensuring they meet safety standards set by the Indian regulatory bodies like the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) or global agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Chemical testing also helps in evaluating potential risks associated with the chemicals used in the products. This helps in preventing exposure to harmful substances and avoiding penalties for transporting or using unsafe products.

Any country’s regulatory system mandates tests to check the levels of chemicals in their emissions, effluents, and waste. The testing helps in monitoring the composition and ensuring that they do not exceed permissible limits for pollutants such as heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds and therefore complying with the water and air Acts such as water and air Prevention and Control of Pollution Acts.

Testing of hazardous waste before their disposal ensures proper classification of the products, and treatment and thereby complying with the Hazardous waste management rules.

Likewise, the results of the chemical testing in terms of handling and managing the hazardous materials help in proper labelling of the hazardous substances as per the globally harmonized system of classification and labelling of chemicals and ensuring the users are informed about the potential risks.

Similarly, the role of chemical testing is crucial in generating Material Safety Data Sheets and their accuracy as the law mandates safe handling, storage and transportation of chemicals. In the case of chemical companies that are exporting their products, they must comply with international standards such as REACH in the EU or similar regulations in other regions.

Chemical testing plays an important role in audits and inspections as well as they avoid operational disruptions and legal consequences.

Chemical testing includes toxicology!

Toxicologists perform or conduct tests to determine how the chemicals interact with the biological systems and identify risks such as toxicity, carcinogenicity and environmental impacts.

Toxicologists conduct their series of tests and assessments to determine the lethal dose of chemicals that help in identifying the safe exposure limits for humans and animals. The health hazard evaluation covers the assessment of health risks such as respiratory, skin or reproductive hazards that ensure the products are safe for human use and comply with the regulatory safety standards.

They also assess the ecotoxicity of the chemicals to determine the toxicity they could cause the wildlife and ecosystems. Therefore, toxicology caters to benefits to society that include:

Providing a scientific basis for regulations to preserve the environment and safeguard human health.

Helping industries and manufacturers to regulate their production in terms of safety and design safer work environments. On the other hand, this set of tests and researches explores chemical agents properties. It all begins with the analysis of cellular and biochemical reactions to identify harmful compounds.

Provide consumer information so that they decide to protect their health.

Role of chemical testing in the growing chemical industry:

Chemical testing spans varied sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and textiles. India is becoming a global hub for chemical production and chemical testing is gaining traction that ensures safer chemical products and processes that meet stringent safety, regulatory, and environmental safety.  

Several trends in the Indian chemical market are influencing the chemical testing services in the country. For instance, the rising export activities of food and beverages and other products are increasing the demand for these chemical testing procedures.

Likewise, the emergence of REACH regulations and RoHS directives are considered the most trustworthy and well-established agency responsible for testing, and certifying a wide range of chemical products. Similarly, the chemical testing services market is constantly focusing on strengthening its global share by providing in-house services in rural areas.

Recent developments in the Indian chemical testing providers:

SGS India 2023: SGS India is a global leader in inspection, verification, testing and certification services. SGS India is known for their high-quality services and wide range of services that ensure products and services meet the required standards and regulations. The analytical tests on products and materials ensure they meet safety, quality and performance criteria. Recently they have enhanced their testing capabilities by incorporating state-of-the-art analytical equipment. The expansion allowed them to offer more detailed and accurate testing services for pharmaceuticals, environmental samples and other sectors.

SGS India has achieved ISO certifications such as ISO or IEC 17025 for the testing and calibration laboratories.

Bureau Veritas 2023: Bureau Veritas India announced their new chemical testing services range that focuses on compliance with international standards such as REACH and RoHS. Their services are known for detailed analysis of chemical substances and navigating complex regulations. Especially their services related to chemical composition analysis, elemental trace analysis, petrochemicals, and petroleum testing are done in testing laboratories that are equipped with the very latest technologies to provide accurate and certifiable results. They claim that they follow ASTM, GLP, and ISO guidelines.

On May 16, 2022, they linked up with the supply chain traceability leader Optel. Although the company is not an Indian company, it provides similar services in India and their broadened its services to diverse industries in the Indian market. They provide a digital solution that provides added value including risk management, continuous supply chain improvement, and crisis response.

Bureau Veritas has a stronghold towards the petrochemicals industry and petroleum products, therefore their testing services in that area ensure the materials are safe, reliable and meet both national and international quality standards. The testing covers a wide range of parameters such as purity, composition, and performance characteristics.

Their partnership with Optel has helped in multiple factors such as supply chain traceability, risk management and others. Food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries benefit from the collaboration. These products are carefully monitored right from the origin, and journey of raw materials to ensure quality, compliance and safety.

Overall, Bureau Veritas is not an Indian company, yet its services are widely available in India to cater broad spectrum of industries and thereby it has positioned itself as a critical player in the market.

Indocert:

Indocert is an Indian company known for its dedication to research and development in food safety, biochar, and varied organic certifications such as BioSuisse, Rainforest Alliance and Naturland. They have been focusing on sustainability that directly supports advanced testing protocols. They have come up with robust chemical testing techniques to ensure compliance with the organic and sustainability standards.

Recently, they have obtained international accreditations that expand its global footprint in organic product certification. Now they are recognized as an equivalent certification body by the European Union under the regulations EC 834/2007 and EU 2018/848. Therefore the company is now approved to certify unprocessed plant products, food and feed for the international markets.

The Indocert’s compliance with the ISO/IEC 17065:2012 ensures a high standard of conformity assessment, especially in the organic agriculture sector.

They have expanded their offerings in certifications such as Rainforest Alliance and Trustee.

In 2023, they have continued to build their expertise offering a wide range of certification services and have been involved in Rainforest Alliance certification and UTZ certification that focuses on sustainable farming and improving the livelihoods of farmers while protecting the environment.

They also provide certifications for Food Safety Management Systems and their international collaboration with bodies such as Dakks and recognition by the European Union for their equivalent certifications for non-EU countries highlighting their growing role in the global organic movement.

Spectro Analytical Labs Limited:

They have made significant advancements in the testing services that include expanding their capabilities in food safety, environmental monitoring and industrial product testing. The company has been focusing on cutting-edge chemical analysis, especially for trace elements and hazardous substance detection.

Spectro Analytical Labs based in New Delhi offers a wide range of chemical testing services such as food safety, environment and industrial products. They are known for their specialized services in the petrochemical and industrial sectors.

Anacon Laboratories based in Nagpur:

Anacon Laboratories has expanded its testing capabilities to cover a wide range of environmental and industrial parameters. This includes advanced analytical techniques and industrial parameters. In recent years, they have invested in upgrading their technology and equipment for water and soil analysis that improve efficiency and accuracy.

In recent times, the company has understood the need for testing the plant growth hormones and regulators in India as the Agriculture and food industries are considered the most growing and expanding industries in India.

Although hormones in plants are produced naturally, advanced science techniques have helped to keep up the consistency of the production of the plants. The plant growth hormones and regulators are biochemicals that alter the plant growth and specific parts of the plant. The testing of the formulations is important as they play an important role in cell growth as the growth regulators help in root growth, stem elongation, the volume of every individual fruit or vegetable, prevention of leafing, colour enhancement, and other conditions.

Anacon laboratories have developed techniques that test compounds such as Auxins, Gibberel, cytokinin, and Ethylene.

Wrapping up…

The commitment to environmental and sustainable practices across these advanced testing services is becoming more stronger and laboratories are adopting green practices and technologies. On the other hand, the companies based in India and the companies that are serving Indian industrial sectors are intensively focusing on expanding their service offerings by incorporating specialized tests and developing new methodologies. Therefore the laboratories are better equipped to meet the evolving demand across the industries of India. However, the predominant driver is the focus on quality assurance and regulatory compliance. Rigorous internal quality control measures and participation in the proficiency testing programs are further bolstering the reliability of the results. Overall the chemical testing industries are getting closer to excellence and getting better than ever.