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Dr. Kaushik Banerjee

National Fellow (ICAR), BOYSCAST Fellow (DST)

Kaushik Banerjee is a National Fellow (ICAR) and Chief of the National Referral Laboratory on Agrochemical Residues in Horticultural Commodities. He pursued his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemicals at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi with specialization in pesticide residue chemistry and was a Post-Doctoral Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Environmental Research, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.

His current area of research predominantly focuses on development of chromatography and mass spectrometry based residue analysis methods for the estimation of food and environmental contaminants. The other component of research involves safety evaluation of agrochemicals and developing strategies to minimize agrochemical residues in crops at harvest.

Since June 2004, he is actively involved in implementing residue monitoring plan of APEDA, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India to promote the export of fruits and vegetables from India to the European Union countries. He has significantly contributed in developing the analytical competence in APEDA-nominated laboratories across the country regarding advanced sample preparation methods and applications of frontline analytical techniques for trace level residue monitoring in compliance with the EU (DG-SANCO) and AOAC regulatory guidelines. He is also engaged in organizing Proficiency Tests for agrochemical residues in different food matrix across Indian and European laboratories. He played a key role in establishing a successful residue monitoring system in grapes in India and his innovative research articles has helped in developing the competence of Indian food testing laboratories.

In recognition to his research contributions, he has been invited to a number of international meetings and conferences to deliver lectures, such as AOAC Annual Meetings in USA, European Pesticide Residue Workshop, Latin American Pesticide Residue Workshop, Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop, Fresenius Conference (Germany), etc. He is also recognized for clarity of objectives, leadership, and for harnessing strong teamwork at the National Referral Laboratory to accomplish research and developmental mandates.

Dr. Banerjee has more than 55 research papers to his credit, chiefly published in refereed journals of international repute. He served as a Member of the Expert Review Panel of the AOAC International on Pesticide Residues and is currently the Guest Editor of the Journal of AOAC International.

 

Academic qualifications:

  • Post Doctorate in Environmental Organic Geochemistry, INFU, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany (2003-2004)
    Area of Research: Environmental organic geochemistry
    Research topic: Spectroscopic Investigation on the fungicide Trifloxystrobin in Soils of Different Geographic Origins

  • Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemicals from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (1992-1996)
    Area of Research: Agrochemical residue chemistry
    Research topic: Persistence and metabolism of metalaxyl and mancozeb in pearl millet

  • M.Sc. in Agricultural Chemicals from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (1990-1992)
    Area of Research: Agrochemical residue chemistry
    Research topic: Photostabilization of quinalphos by crystal violet on the surface of kaolinite and palygorskite

  • Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing and Sales Management, New Delhi YMCA (1994).

  • B.Sc. (Agriculture) Honours with specialization in Agricultural Chemistry, Biochemistry and Soil Science from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), West Bengal (1985-1989)

Main Duties:

  • Applied Research

  • Development of chromatography and mass spectrometry based single and multi-residue analytical methods for monitoring of the residues of agricultural chemicals and other contaminants in food and environment matrix

  • Environmental fate of pesticides – persistence, metabolism, sorption, safety evaluation

  • Bioremediation of pesticide residues

  • Ph.D. students

  • Thesis completed: 2 (in 2010)

  • Students pursuing Ph.D.: 3

  • M.Sc. students: >20

  • Food safety monitoring

Implementing agrochemical residue monitoring plan of APEDA, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India to promote the export of fruits and vegetables from India to the European Union countries

List of Publications (Click for details) 

Research Paper: 55+

Poster Paper: 30+

Other responsibilities:

  • Capacity building of commercial export testing laboratories of India by organizing training for their human resources

  • Assessment of APEDA-nominated laboratories as per the guidelines of DG-SANCO and ISO/IEC 17025

  • Organizing Proficiency Tests on agrochemical residues in fruits and vegetables

  • Issuing internal rapid alerts in case any export sample fails to comply with the EU-MRL

Other Professional Activities

Reviewer for: Journal of Chromatography A, Food Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Pest Management Science, Food Additives and Contaminants, Journal of AOAC International, Journal of Chromatographic Science, etc.

Professional affiliation

Member: AOAC International, American Chemical Society, Indian Science Congress Association, Indian Association for Nuclear Chemists and Allied Scientists, Society of Pesticide Science.

Invited oral presentations

  • “Pesticide residue management by the National Referral Laboratory in Indian Table Grapes”. Fresh Produce Consortium Meeting, Fowden Hall, Conference Centre, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK, 2nd June 2011.

  • “Pesticide residue management by the National Referral Laboratory in India: Opportunities, Challenges and Resolutions”. Fresenius Conference on Pesticide Residues in Food, Frankfurt, Germany, 24-25th May 2011.

  • “Emerging latest tools and techniques for food safety in compliance with the EU & India regulatory framework for food exports”, Fi India Conference Series 2010, 22 October 2010, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai, India.

  •  “Pre-harvest monitoring and management of pesticide residues in India”,

-        47th Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop (FPRW), 18-21 July 2010, St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA (session: Global Chemical Contaminants: Conflicts and Resolution).

-        Environmental Sciences Technology Centre, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO, USA, 26-27 July 2010.

  •  “Multiresidue analysis of pesticides by GC-MS/MS”, Seminar on “The Next Evolution and Scientific Advances in GC-MS Technology”, Thermo Scientific GC-MS Meet, 12 July 2010, Kolkata, India.

  • “Management of pesticide residues in Indian grapes for export through comprehensive pre-harvest residue monitoring – a success story”, 8th European Pesticide residue Workshop (EPRW), Strasbourg, France, 20-24th June 2010.

  • “Analytical challenges in Food Safety – Pesticide Residues” Waters Food Safety Summit, 26 November 2009, Royal Orchid – Goa, India.

  • Chaired a session on “Pesticide residues in horticultural commodities” at the 2nd Latin American Pesticide Residue Workshop, 8-11th June 2009 at Santa Fe, Argentina. http://www.laprw2009.unl.edu.ar/invited_speakers.html  (http://www.laprw2009.unl.edu.ar/final_programme.html, 10th June 2009) and presented Invited lead talk on “Management of pesticide residues in Indian grapes for export through comprehensive pre-harvest residue monitoring – a success story” on 11th June 2009.

  • “GCxGC-TOF Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Pesticide Residues” presented at the 121st Meeting of the AOAC International, 16-20 September 2007 at Anaheim, California, USA.

  • “Multiresidue analysis of Pesticide Residues in Grapes” at the Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis on 12th September 2007.

Selected Awards/Recognitions:

  • ICAR National Fellow Award 2011.

  • Guest Editor of the Journal of AOAC International for a special section on “Non-target screening methods for the analysis of contaminant residues in food matrix by GC-MS and LC-MS” – 2011.

  • Guest Editor of the Journal of AOAC International for a special section on “New Methods of Pesticides Residue Analysis” – 2009.

  • The research paper viz. Validation and uncertainty analysis of a multi-residue method for pesticides in grapes using ethyl acetate extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. A 1173, 98-109, appeared as the topmost downloaded article in the “Top 25 Hottest Articles” of the Journal of Chromatography A during October-December 2007. 

  • Member, Expert Review Panel of the AOAC International for “Pesticide Residues in Soft Drinks” in 2006-2007.

  • GITS Award for the Best Paper on Marketing conferred by All India Food Processors’ Association conferred on 18th December 2004 at Bangalore, India.

  • BOYSCAST fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India for post-Doctoral research in Environmental Organic Geochemistry conferred in 2003.

  • Award for the Best Research Paper at International Conference on Pesticides, Environment, Food Security, 19-23 November 2001, Organized by the Society of Pesticide Science, New Delhi.

  • IARI Merit Medal for outstanding research in Ph.D., 1996

  • ICAR Junior Fellowship, 1990

Visits abroad

  • Rikilt Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen, Netherlands, 17-21 January 2011.

  • Environmental Sciences Technology Centre, Monsanto Company, 26-27 July 2010.

  • Visit to Citrus Research and Education Center, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Lake Alfred, FL, USA, 22-25 July 2010.

  • Visit to Institute of Environmental Research, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, 25-28 June 2010.

  • Visit to BASF, Limburgerhof, Germany, 23rd June 2010.

  • Laboratorio de Investigaciones y Servicios Ambientales Mendoza (LISAMEN), CCT-CONICET-Mendoza. P.O. Box 131, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina, 13-15th June 2009.

  • Mass Spectrometry Centre of Waters Corporation at Atlas Park, Manchester, UK, 15-17th October 2008.

  • GC-MS application Centre of ThermoFisher Scientific, Austin, Texas, USA, 25-27th September 2008.

  • 122nd AOAC Annual Meeting of the AOAC International at Dallas, Texas, USA, 21-24th September 2008.

  • European Pesticide Residue Workshop, Berlin, Germany, 2-5th June 2008.

  • Institute of Environmental Research (INFU), Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, 6-7th June 2008.

  • 121st AOAC Annual Meeting of the AOAC International at Anaheim, California, 16-20th September 2007.

  • Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, 9-14th September 2007.

  • Centre for Analytical Chemistry, California Department of Food and Agriculture, 12th September 2007.

  • US Environment Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Analytical Chemistry Branch, Ft. Meade, Maryland, USA on 15th December 2006.

  • Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland, USA during 13-16 December 2006.

  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Maryland, USA on 13th December 2006.

  • Microbial Biophysics and Residue Chemistry Research Unit, Eastern Regional Research Centre, United States Department of Agriculture, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, USA, during 12th and18th December 2006.

  • Chemical Residue Laboratory, Florida State Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee, Florida on 11th December 2006.

  • Leco Corporation, Florida, USA during 7-10 December 2006 to attend workshop on application of 2D (GCxGC)-TOF mass spectrometry in chemical analysis.

  • 120th Annual Meeting of the AOAC International at Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA during 17-21 September 2006.

  • The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, USA on 22 September 2006.

  • Central Science Laboratory and Pesticide Safety Directorate, Government of the UK, York, United Kingdom during 26-30 September 2005.

  • Institute of Environmental Research, University of Dortmund, Germany during June 2003 to June 2004 as visiting post-Doctoral Scientist.

Email: kbanerjee@icar.org.in, kbgrape@yahoo.com

Phone: 91-20-26956091

Postal Address 

National Research Centre for Grapes, P.B. No. 3, Manjri Farm Post, Solapur Road, Pune - 412 307, Maharashtra, India.

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