FSSAI draft norms on GM food unacceptable: Activists

Social activists working among farmers led by Kavitha Kuruganti have come out against the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) draft regulations on genetically modified (GM) food, terming it "unacceptable".

FSSAI should explicitly say GM foods will not be allowed into India by way of production or imports, Coalition for GM-Free India, which Kuruganti represents, has demanded. "Any kind of GM food in India is a threat to health of our people, to our environment, and to the diverse food cultures of India," alleged Kuruganti, known for getting India registration certification on PepsiCo's Lay's potato variety revoked by the court. "FSSAI is trying to circumvent all of this," she said.

FSSAI had recently released draft regulations for GM food, proposing all food products having individual genetically engineered ingredients of 1% or more to be labelled as "Contains GMO/ingredients derived from GMO". Activists claimed this like a tacit approval to import of GM food instead of prohibiting them.