Labels must for GM food

Letters - July 31, 2012

Backdoor trade The write-up, “Death on mounds of a bumper crop” (July 1-15, 2012), is a realistic analysis of farmers’ woes in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. I have quit my corporate life to start farming. When I reached Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh in May, I saw many people making temporary shelters on their tractors or heaps of wheat and waiting outside procurement centres.

Food safety mess

Eat at your own risk

Food authority backtracks

Six states and a union territory feed their people milk that does not meet the standards set by India’s food regulatory body at all. Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Daman & Diu are the “100 per cent non-conforming” states. In Delhi, 70 per cent of the samples failed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) test. Yet, the authority claims there is no danger in drinking the milk.

FSSAI's scientific panel reconstituted

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has reconstituted its scientific panel and brought independent scientists and experts in its fold. The reconstitution was done after the Supreme Court reprimanded FSSAI, in February this year, for inducting members from the food industry in the panel, defeating it's very purpose of regulating the food industry. Of the eight scientific panels, seven had 18 members from big food businesses.

Free food body of corporate influence

THE Supreme Court has directed the food regulatory body to reconstitute its scientific panels. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had inducted members from the food industry, defeating its purpose of regulating that very industry.

Caffeine hits energy drinks

Maharashtra food regulators seize consignments energy drinks sold in restaurants and grocery stores have caught the eye of food regulators in Maharashtra. In the first week of April, they seized large quantities of beverages sold under brands like Red Bull, Cloud 9, Fighter and SoBe Adrenaline Rush from