09/09/2025
Press Release
ICMR-FoodNet Annual Review Meeting 2025 at SMIMS, Gangtok
SMIMS Gangtok, 9 September 2025: DAY 1
The Annual Review Meeting of the ongoing ICMR-FoodNet task force project entitled “Surveillance of Food Borne Pathogens (FBP) from North East India” commenced today at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS), Gangtok. The two-day meeting (September 9–10, 2025) brings together leading scientists, medical experts, and policymakers from across the nation, along with participating FoodNet centres from the North Eastern states, to review Phase I and Phase II progress under this critical national initiative.
The ICMR-FoodNet project is the first multi-centric initiative in the North Eastern region aimed at generating systematic data on foodborne pathogens, with the goal of strengthening national food safety surveillance and providing evidence-based guidance for policy formulation.
The inaugural session featured welcome remarks by Dr. Karma G. Dolma, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, SMIMS, Sikkim Manipal University, followed by an address from Pro-VC and Dean, Dr. Muralidhar V. Pai, SMIMS, who underlined the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling food safety challenges in North East India. The session also included the felicitation of resource persons.
Dr. Taruna Madan, Scientist G & Head, Development Research, ICMR Headquarters, New Delhi, outlined the vision of ICMR’s FoodNet initiative, while Chairperson Prof. Iddya Karunasagar (NITTE University, Mangalore & International Consultant, FAO) shared insights on the global relevance of strengthening laboratory networks and implementing data-driven interventions.
The meeting included presentations from ICMR Headquarters, C-DAC Kolkata, ICMR-NIRBI, and FoodNet centres across the North Eastern states. Presentations were delivered by Dr. Karma G. Dolma (SMIMS, Sikkim), Dr. Suranjana Hazarika (Gauhati Medical College, Assam), Dr. Tapan Majumder (Agartala Government Medical College, Tripura), Dr. Dilem Modi (BPGH & TC, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh), Dr. S. Indira Devi (IBSD Imphal, Manipur), Dr. W. Valarie Lyngdoh (NEIGRIHMS, Meghalaya), and Dr. Hosterson Kylla (State Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Meghalaya). Discussions focused on annual reports, surveillance data, challenges in foodborne disease monitoring, outbreak investigations, regional strategies to strengthen food safety, and Knowledge-Attitude-Practice awareness programmes.
The technical proceedings of Day 1 began with an overview of the FoodNet programme and its accomplishments, presented by Dr. Madhuchhanda Das, Principal Investigator and Overall Coordinator, FoodNet, ICMR Headquarters, New Delhi. This was followed by a session from C-DAC Kolkata, led by Mr. Samaresh, Scientist D, on the development of digital tools and platforms for data integration.
Subsequently, Dr. Asish K. Mukhopadhyay, Scientist G, ICMR-NIRBI, Kolkata, presented institutional updates on microbiological surveillance and laboratory advances. Phase I centres presented findings highlighting trends in pathogen isolation and antibiotic resistance.
Post-lunch discussions centred on challenges in sample collection, inter-laboratory harmonisation, and strengthening diagnostic capacities across centres. Each presentation was followed by interactive discussions and recommendations.
The concluding session of Day 1 featured reports from Phase II centres. These centres presented their six-month progress reports, highlighting baseline findings and strategies for future data collection.
Day 1 ended with recommendations focusing on standardisation of methodologies, enhanced data sharing across centres, and the integration of digital dashboards for real-time monitoring.
