Cagayan de Oro - The Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD - DOST) has installed here a state-of-the-art satellite facility for shelf life testing to cater to food micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in Mindanao provinces.

PCIERD- DOST senior science research specialist Grace Estillore, in an interview with the Manila Bulletin, said they have installed one of the three satellite testing facilities here to enable MSMEs to test their food products and thus help them to export in the long run.

PCIERD held a consultative forum with industry and energy stakeholders here Thursday to bridge the gap among the industry, academe and the science community.

Estillore said that aside from Cagayan de Oro, PCIERD also established DOST laboratories in Region IV-B for Luzon and Cebu for Visayas as satellite testing facilities for food analysis.

“They are now capable of offering shelf life testing,” she said, adding that a complete facility costs at least P 10 million.

Scientists in the said regions were trained by Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) on nutrition analysis while training on shelf life testing was conducted by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI). Both are also under DOST.

According to Estillore, the upgrading of the facilities started in 2007. All satellite testing facilities now offer food analysis testing services. All three are also ISO/IEC 17025 accredited, which is the international accreditation for analytical testing.

 “This is good news for MSMEs who won’t need to go to Manila for food testing services. It will save them a lot of time and money,” she said.

Food analysis will save MSMEs the trouble of product recalls brought about by food contamination.