India’s food regulator proposes mandatory GMO labeling

Image credit: iStock
Image credit: iStock

Seeking to introduce GMO labelling for the first time in India, the country’s food regulator has proposed all packaged food products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients must clearly state it on their labels.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) also suggests mandatory declaration by packaged food manufacturers about nutritional information such as calories, total fat, trans fat, sugar and salt per serve on the front of the pack.

The FSSAI had [in April] released a 42-page draft notice – Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2018 – making it mandatory to label such food stuffs as “Contains GMO/Ingredients derived from GMO” if such items contain 5% or more GE ingredients.

The authority will notify the provision for implementation after analysing stakeholders’ opinion on the issue.

Sridhar Radhakrishnan, co-convenor of the Coalition for a GM-Free India, who sent the group’s objections on the draft to the FSSAI told TOI that the labelling move will, in fact, allow the GM foods to enter food supply chain when it is anyway illegal to sell GM foods in India currently. “We need preventive action at this juncture rather than regulatory action”, he said.

Read full, original post: Food regulator wants packaged food labels to display if they contain GM ingredients

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