Food safety is a serious issue be it baked cockroaches in muffins or
squirming worms in deep-fried chicken. The hue and cry that is raised in
such cases is conspicuously missing when it comes to the more
controversial issue of genetically modified (GM) food, the safety of
which cannot be guaranteed even by its own creators.
The very fact the manufacturers of GM food are resisting labelling of GM food (so that a consumer can choose between GM food and non-GM food) is itself ample testimony. So the onus is now on the non-GM food industry to label their products as GM-free. Just as it happened in the case of addition of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to instant noodles. All other noodle manufacturers had to label their product - ‘Contains no MSG.’
Technically, India does not allow genetically modified food crops. However, genetically modified food is already in our food chain through non-food GM crops like cotton. The cottonseed oil is becoming one of the major edible oils in the country and our bakeries, both large and small, are welcoming the cheap oil with open arms.
Not only is it used in making breads, but also in snack food like potato chips, margarines and mayonnaise and even whipped toppings for cake. The use of cottonseed oil for toppings helps promote the desired consistent texture and smooth, creamy appearance in shortening, toppings and spreads used in bakeries.
With no system of GM-labelling existing in the country, when bakeries buy cottonseed oil they do not have any way of assessing whether it is a GM oil or non-GM oil. The sad part is this cottonseed oil is replacing many of our traditional cooking oils.
The Gujarati cuisine, that was so dependent on traditional groundnut oil, has now started replacing it with cottonseed oil. When the groundnut oil prices hit the roof, many Gujaratis who were conscious about their health shifted to sunflower oil, while others, who were more conscious about the cost, shifted to cottonseed oil.
Apart from all this, GM food also reaches us through the food chain. The oilseed cakes produced from the cotton, mostly genetically modified cotton, are used for feeding animals. Animal feed, in turn, reaches humans through milk and meat.
As of now, almost 90 per cent cotton cultivated in India is transgenic. The Parliamentary committee that looked into the issues of GM crops had asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) whether it had received any request for manufacture, distribution and sale of cottonseed oil during last five years and the action taken on each of those requests. FSSAI replied in the negative and said this was handled by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
With GEAC involved in just the approval of environmental release of GM crops, a lot of ambiguity remains on who should approve oils and imported food that may have been derived through the GM pathway.
‘’In the opinion of the Parliamentary committee, this dilly-dallying and delay in bringing GM food and products thereof, is not a simple act of oversight or a genuine inability to do the needful and needs to be thoroughly investigated and responsibility for this callous neglect of health safety be fixed at the earliest,’’ said the report of the committee.
It also noted that long-term environment impact assessment and chronic toxicology studies of the effects of transgenic agriculture crops have not even been attempted till now. ‘’The government is yet to take a final call on labelling. There is a complete lack of post-market surveillance, as has been pointed out in one particular example of lakhs of tonnes of BT cottonseed oil having gone into the food chain during the last ten years without anybody in the government being aware or concerned about it,’’ said page 376 of the report.
(Keep track of the Sci-bug every Saturday)
The very fact the manufacturers of GM food are resisting labelling of GM food (so that a consumer can choose between GM food and non-GM food) is itself ample testimony. So the onus is now on the non-GM food industry to label their products as GM-free. Just as it happened in the case of addition of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to instant noodles. All other noodle manufacturers had to label their product - ‘Contains no MSG.’
Technically, India does not allow genetically modified food crops. However, genetically modified food is already in our food chain through non-food GM crops like cotton. The cottonseed oil is becoming one of the major edible oils in the country and our bakeries, both large and small, are welcoming the cheap oil with open arms.
Not only is it used in making breads, but also in snack food like potato chips, margarines and mayonnaise and even whipped toppings for cake. The use of cottonseed oil for toppings helps promote the desired consistent texture and smooth, creamy appearance in shortening, toppings and spreads used in bakeries.
With no system of GM-labelling existing in the country, when bakeries buy cottonseed oil they do not have any way of assessing whether it is a GM oil or non-GM oil. The sad part is this cottonseed oil is replacing many of our traditional cooking oils.
The Gujarati cuisine, that was so dependent on traditional groundnut oil, has now started replacing it with cottonseed oil. When the groundnut oil prices hit the roof, many Gujaratis who were conscious about their health shifted to sunflower oil, while others, who were more conscious about the cost, shifted to cottonseed oil.
Apart from all this, GM food also reaches us through the food chain. The oilseed cakes produced from the cotton, mostly genetically modified cotton, are used for feeding animals. Animal feed, in turn, reaches humans through milk and meat.
As of now, almost 90 per cent cotton cultivated in India is transgenic. The Parliamentary committee that looked into the issues of GM crops had asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) whether it had received any request for manufacture, distribution and sale of cottonseed oil during last five years and the action taken on each of those requests. FSSAI replied in the negative and said this was handled by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
With GEAC involved in just the approval of environmental release of GM crops, a lot of ambiguity remains on who should approve oils and imported food that may have been derived through the GM pathway.
‘’In the opinion of the Parliamentary committee, this dilly-dallying and delay in bringing GM food and products thereof, is not a simple act of oversight or a genuine inability to do the needful and needs to be thoroughly investigated and responsibility for this callous neglect of health safety be fixed at the earliest,’’ said the report of the committee.
It also noted that long-term environment impact assessment and chronic toxicology studies of the effects of transgenic agriculture crops have not even been attempted till now. ‘’The government is yet to take a final call on labelling. There is a complete lack of post-market surveillance, as has been pointed out in one particular example of lakhs of tonnes of BT cottonseed oil having gone into the food chain during the last ten years without anybody in the government being aware or concerned about it,’’ said page 376 of the report.
(Keep track of the Sci-bug every Saturday)
No comments:
Post a Comment