Food officials suspect GM mustard in oil

Hyderabad: Food inspectors  find it difficult to identify the GM mustard oil with the commercialisation of GM mustard. They said that it is illegally imported into the Indian market.

India imports 15 million tonne edible oil. Food inspectors, who check random samples, said that whether it is GM crops or non-GM crops is difficult to identify. 

According to sources in the food department, there is no proper labelling on these products. The GM protein is not in the refined oil and it can’t be traced easily which makes it easy for importers to put it across as non-GM crop.

According to the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, GM products cannot be sold in the country without approval. But the draft bill on labelling these products has not been approved by the government. 

From 2005 to 2016, the FSSAI has been actively working to identify the products in the category of GM and non-GM. But it is facing challenges at the ground level. For this reason, the food body wants all importers to bring in the products into the country with proper labels. 

A senior food inspector in TS explained, “We had meetings as these products are making the way into the market in the form of non-labelled products. Hence, the importer has to strictly bring in those products which are labelled. This will act as deterrent till we can work out the testing methods.”

With a boost in the food production and also the increasing demand for processed and ready-to-eat foods, it is becoming important to check the ingredients which are being used at the commercial level to ensure that the health of the people is not at risk. 

GM foods have been in the market since 1994 and the risk factors which have been found during the clinical testing in laboratory on animals are altered metabolism, inflammation, kidney and liver malfunction. But there has not been any conclusive research on the human health.