Are food items with genetically modified components being sneaked into the Indian market, violating government norms?
Environmental activist group Greenpeace on Friday claimed to have found GM components in packets of corn chips, being sold under Doritos brand name. The manufacturer is PepsiCo.
Greenpeace has tested the samples in a German laboratory before making the allegations public. The laboratory test results clearly show the packets contain genetically modified DNA.
When contacted, a Pepsi spokesperson told Deccan Herald, “While Doritos is a PepsiCo brand, the product in question is not manufactured in India. We do not import it to India and we do not authorise others to import it to India.”
PepsiCo denies
“PepsiCo works very closely with our suppliers to ensure that ingredients for the products we make and sell in India do not contain genetically modified organisms,” says the spokesperson.
This only means, explains Greenpeace campaigner Rajesh Krishnan, the complete absence of any checking of the processed food items at the air and sea ports, though the government is supposed to screen the import consignments for GM components before allowing their sale in the country.
The corn chip samples were picked up from a shop in Vasant Vihar in a South Delhi market. The shop had picked up the chips from a Delhi-based importer, Suresh Kumar and Co, which may have imported it.
This is not the first time that such violations are coming to the light. A few years back, Greenpeace did a similar testing on potato chips picked up from the Defence Colony market in the capital. Those samples were also found to contain GM components.
While there is a ban on the import of GM products for commercial purposes, the government has recently approved import of refined and crude soybean oil without any check. This means edible oil derived from GM soybean has been permitted.
But the approval has not been extended to any other GM food, said Dr Ranjani Warrior, member-secretary of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) — the highest decision making body on GM items.
Government’s stand
There has been no mention of any recent approvals or rejections from the GEAC. In fact, last month the government informed the Supreme Court that it would not allow import of any GM product till September 30, 2008.
