Strengthen regulation of GM food; ‘Ban GM food’-demand unreasonable
iasparliament
January 31, 2022
What is the issue?
The anti-GMO activists demand to scrap the draft Food Safety and Standards (Genetically Modified or Engineered Foods) Regulations, 2021 is certainly ill-founded and unscientific.
What is the draft regulation for GM foods?
(FSSAI) has released draft regulations to bring regulatory clarity on genetically modified foods.
The regulations will apply to
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEOs)
Living Modified Organism (LMOs) intended for direct use as food or for processing.
The regulations will apply to food products made using food ingredient or processing aid derived from GMOs even if GM content is not present in the end-product.
It outlines the procedure for
prior approval.
safety assessment.
labelling norms.
It also specifies norms that labs will need to adhere for testing GM foods.
What are the regulations?
GMO or GEO shall not be used as an ingredient in infant food products.
No person shall manufacture, store, distribute, sell or import any food or food ingredient derived from GMO without prior approval of the Food Authority.
Labelling norms – Food products having individual Genetically Engineered (GE) ingredient 1% or more shall be labelled —Contains GMO/Ingredients derived from GMO.
What are the concerns raised?
The activists contend that the move to allow food products with GMO label is a tacit approval of imports of GM food.
So they demand the FSSAI to scrap its draft Regulations and ban GM food/ingredients.
Why banning GM-food products look obsolete?
Indian consumers are already exposed to GM-food products, directly and indirectly.
32% of the 65 food products available in the market and tested by the Centre for Science and Environment had GMO content.
Nearly 80% of these products were imported.
Besides GM-crop based animal feed and imported animal and plant produce that likely have GM origins/exposure are currently marketed in India, though very likely adhering to provisions of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Against this backdrop, labelling GM origin food benefits the consumer, helping her decide between a GM product and a non-GM alternative.
What can be done?
Genetic modification plays a larger role in food technology. It is unavoidable in the long run.
Also India has high levels of Vitamin-A-deficiency-related vision loss. So, India aims to boost nutrition levels among its vulnerable population.
In such as case product like golden rice (rice fortified with Vitamin A) is essential.
Without a scientific attitude towards GM-foods, we won’t be able to benefit from the development of genetically-engineered golden rice.
At the same time, the regulatory landscape should inspire faith among the masses through scientific rigour.
So FSSAI must relook and plug gaps in the regulations by strengthening the it.
How can we strengthen the regulations?
GM content - FSSAI should mandate the explicit mention of GM content.
The package must indicate the exact degree to which the product contains each individual GM ingredient.
This is in line with Delhi High Court’s recently direction to mention the vegetarian/animal origin of each ingredient in a dish/food product.
Reduction of Threshold limit - India has the laboratory capacity to detect as low as 0.01% GM content. So, the 1% threshold is indeed too high.
This is because the standards must not just enable food safety but should also be choice for the wise consumer.
Approval - FSSAI needs to clearly list the jurisdictions/authorities whose approval will be acceptable.
Approvals by other authorities that may not have an acceptable rigour of testing must not be allowed.
Conduct local studies - Consumables such as gut biome enhancers, microbes-based food supplements, may contain multiple Living Modified Organisms
In such case there is a need to conduct local studies to determine that the interplay of such organisms is safe.
Infants - GM-based ingredients can’t be used for any infant food. Running safety tests on infants is a near-impossibility.
However if the FSSAI has reservations about GM-content in infant consumables it can put a hold in the years of early development.
