13     Food Safety and Quality Literacy

13.1   There is need to put in place food safety standards. Ministry of Science and Technology along with ICMR and M/o Health should take the lead and play a greater role in setting codex alimentarius standards in the area of GM foods. The safety impact should be assessed in the case of both animal feeds and human foods. DBT, ICMR, ICAR, CFTRI (CSIR), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministries of Agriculture and Health and the Law Ministry should jointly develop a National Food Safety Protocol, which covers both the production and post-harvest (processing and consumption) phases of GM crops. The protocol should cover all stages in the production, processing, marketing and consumption chain. It should take into account the potential impact of GM crops on the environment and the health of human and animal populations. As a signatory to the Cartagena Protocol, (i) Biosafety clearance of these mechanisms may be expeditiously provided and operationalised, (ii) A Biosafety Data Base System be established and (iii) the trans-boundary movement of Living Modified Organisms (LMO) be monitored/ regulated and provisions of the Advanced Informed Agreement (AIA) etc. be effectively executed. 

13.2   There is a need for putting in place a mechanism to facilitate segregation, identity preservation and certification and labelling of GM/non-GM products.

13.3   Food quality literacy is presently very weak in the country. The Year 2004 has been declared by the Government of India as “Year of Scientific Awareness”. It will be appropriate for the Department of Agriculture, ICAR, DBT, ICMR (National Institute of Nutrition), CSIR (Central Food Technological Research Institute) and the Ministry of Food Processing to launch a Quality Literacy Movement among farm women and men during this year.