India: Food regulator plans a GMO label

The Indian consumers are becoming more aware of health risks of  GM food. Photo c Karin Heinze

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made a proposal to label all packaged food products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. 
Furthermore it 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

According to the Times of India without a mandatory labeling consumers are clueless whether packaged food items they buy have genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. There are ‘unproven’ concerns in certain quarters about adverse affects such transgenic food can have on human health, says the newspaper in an article.

The FSSAI had 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, informs the Times of India.