Food Authority of India FSSAI has issued a notice seeking comments from stakeholders on the recently released FSS (Genetically Modified Foods) Regulations, 2022 – as reported in fnbnews.
Read: December 2022 Issue of Food InfoTech Magazine.
The Food Authority of India has sought comments on Form 1A, Form 1B and Form II related to various procedures for approval and rejection of the application for licensing of the Genetically Modified food products under the proposed regulation.
Form 1A is for application for the approval of foods derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) referred to in sub-regulation 2 (a) and (b) of regulation 1 of the proposed regulations which is applicable on (a) Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) intended for food use and (b) Food ingredients produced from GMOs that contain modified DNA.
According to the FSSAI, application form (Form 1A) should be supported by a full submission dossier, including supporting studies that contain the complete set of data required for the safety assessment. Also, for any information not included, the FSSAI has asked the FBO to provide a rationale ‘as to why the information is not relevant or necessary for food safety assessment of the GMO, or what information is being provided in its place, if applicable’.
The Form 1B is for regulation 2 (c) of the regulation 1 of the draft and applicable on food ingredients produced from GMOs that do not contain modified DNA. It includes ingredients / additives / processing aids derived from GMOs including vitamins, amino acids, functional proteins (e.g., texturants), nutritional proteins, oligosaccharides, flavours, and sweeteners while the Form II is related to the approval/rejection under sub regulation 7 of regulation 4 related to the procedure for grant of prior approval to such food products.
Also Read: Top Food Processing Companies in India 2022.
According to the FSSAI, these forms were not included as part of the regulation when draft was released for the public comment in November 2022, and therefore these forms are now being uploaded in the FSSAI websites for public comments.
