India’s Food Standards Body Initiates Framing of GM Food Regulations

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)  has started to develop regulations for genetically modified (GM) food after being accused of failing to restrict the import of such items. Stores in Delhi, Punjab, and Gujarat recently were found to be selling GM foods, according to the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of India, claiming that out of 65 products tested 21 were found to be GM-positive.  These products included cooking oil, packaged food and infant food.  

FSSAI said the regulations would “lay down procedures for safety assessment and approval of foods, derived from genetic modification processes based on the internationally well-established and accepted scientific principles, procedures before being approved for food purposes”.   These regulations will be in addition to the Food Safety and Standards (Labeling and Display) Regulations 2018, which the regulator said would for the first time include mandatory labeling for packaged food items with 5% or more GM ingredients.

After formal approval of FSSAI’s Scientific Panel, Scientific Committee and the authority itself, the draft regulations will be notified in the Gazette of India to elicit comments from various stakeholders.  FSSAI said these will be duly considered, after which the regulations will be finalised with the approval of the Government of India. Prior to the approval of such foods, FSSAI would be in charge of the assessment of their food safety, while the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change would assess aspects related to their environmental impact.