Known unknowns

India's apex food regulator has no data on presence of genetically modified organisms in fresh produce imported by the country over past five years VIVEK MISHRA NEW DELHI

- VIVEK MISHRA

THE FOOD Safety and Sta- ndards Authority of India (fssai), the country’s nodal food regulatory body, does not know if the fresh food produce imported in the past five years included genetically modified (GM) varieties. Neither does fssai have information on tests undertaken to check for the presence of such varieties. These are the findings of a Right To Information (rti) investigation by Down To Earth (dte). This raises questions whether the fruit and vegetables sold currently in the country— at supermarkets and by roadside vendors—are free of GM varieties or not.

When a new variety of plant is created by inserting in it the genes of another plant, organism or bacteria, the variety becomes a genetically modified organism (gmo). Since there is not enough data or research on the long-term impacts of gmo on human health, there is no unanimity in the scientific community on their regular consumption.

Globally, about a dozen gmo species are being farmed on a large scale. Some 28 countries allow large-scale farming of these gmo crops, states a 2015 report by The Royal Society, a London-based fellowship of scientists and the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. In India, the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, prohibits import, manufacture, use or sale of GM food without fssai’s approval (see ‘We all eat genetically modified food’, dte, 1-15 August 2018). So far, the country has allowed cultivation and import of only one gmo—cotton, a non-food crop. In 2022, India also allowed commercial cultivation of GM mustard, but the move has been challenged and is pending at the Supreme Court.