JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC RESEARCH FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY Impact Factor 1.625, ISSN: , Volume 3, Issue 6, July 2015

Transcription

1 CONSUMER PROTECTION THROUGHLABELLING GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS ASHAMOL V* *Assistant Professor, Department of Legal Studies, Kerala university of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kerala, India ABSTRACT We can t live without food because it is a basic necessity. As we know every human being is a consumer in his day to day life, it is very important that what we are eating should be taken care of by us. Therefore it is very important to know about the laws which deals with this kind of making inform the consumer about what are the ingredients in it. KEYWORDS: Consumer Protection, Labelling INTRODUCTION Food is one of the basic necessities for sustenance of life. It is no wonder to say that community health is national wealth. Over the centuries of human existence on planet Earth, food, clothing and shelter have emerged as the three basic necessities. While clothing and shelter have emerged as basic needs in the due course of human evolution, right from the beginning of life, food has been the major sources of energy and existence. Every human being is a consumer in day today life availing goods and services for his necessity and fittest survival. A comparative approach to the visualization of food related laws with special reference to consumer is always valuable and advantageous. In this stage of development it is very important to have a discussion on the importance of labelling of foods for the protection of the rights of the consumer. So we begin our discussion of labelling by defining what we mean by labelling. As per the codex standard of labelling Label means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or impressed on, or attached to, a container of food and Labelling includes any written, printed or graphic matter that is present on the label, accompanies the food, or is displayed near the food, including that for the purpose of promoting its sale or disposal or simply it is a panel found on a package food which contains a variety of information about the nutritional value included in particular product.labelling is an important process in the food processing chain and should not be overlooked. The label is the first point of contact between a consumer and the producer. It is used to identify one product from another and also to make a decision over which product to purchase. The label 101

2 is therefore the most important marketing tool for a product. It should be attractive and eye catching while at the same time being informative. A dirty, confused, untidy label will not help to sell a product. General requirements of labelling as per the FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS (PACKAGING AND LABELLING) REGULATIONS, 2011 is that every packaged food shall carry a label containing information like the particulars of declaration should be in Hindi or English DO CONSUMERS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE INFORMED DISTINCT FROM A RIGHT NOT TO BE DECEIVED? Our economic system is based on the belief that free and intelligent decisions in the marketplace, rather than by government fiat, will produce the most efficient allocation of resources toward the achievement of private and social goals. To exercise free and intelligent choices in the marketplace, consumers must have access to terms of sale and product information. However, it is likely that the loss of personal relationships in the marketplace has reduced both the availability and the reliability of product information. A second factor contributing to the problem is the rising level of technology. New materials, new operating principles, new functions, new designs, and new packaging have increased the difficulty of choosing one product or brand over another. THE PURPOSE OF A FOOD LABEL: There are some important purpose of labelling.they are 1) To provide consumers with information on the product 2) To advertise the product 3) To distinguish the product from that of competitors (establish a brand) 4) It is a legal requirement WHAT SHOULD WE INCLUDE ON A LABEL? The following are legal minimum requirements in most countries: Product name Manufacturers name and address Date of manufacture and best before date (sell by date) Ingredients list (in descending order of weight) Net weight of product in the package. 102

3 The following are additional information that is optional: The brand it is optional to include a brand logo but if it is given by that way the consumer will quickly be able to find a particular product and come back to buy them. Instructions for preparing the product Storage instructions or instructions on storage after opening Examples of recipes in which the product can be used A bar code. LEGAL ASPECTS OF FOOD LABELLING In some countries, food producers can be prosecuted if their label is incorrectly designed. It is in the processors' interest to involve the local Bureau of Standards at an early stage of label design to ensure that the label meets all local requirements. There are general labelling requirements that describe the information that must be included on a label, but in many countries there are also very detailed laws concerning some or all of the following aspects: specific names that must be given to different types of ingredients ingredients that are exempt from the law the use of words such as Best before and Sell by the declaration of alcohol content in spirit drinks locations of the name of the food, the sell-by date and the net weight (they must all be in the same field of vision when a customer looks at the label) the visibility of information and the ability of customers to understand it (including the relative print sizes of different information) claims and misleading descriptions, especially about health-giving or tonic properties, nutritional advantages, diabetic or other medicinal claims Specifications of the way in which certain words such as flavour, fresh, vitamin etc. can be used. INTERNATIONAL LAW APPLICABLE TO LABELING The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and 103

4 promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations. Codex standard of labelling The Codex Committee on Food Labeling drafts provisions on labeling applicable to all foods; considers, amends, and endorses draft specific provisions on labeling prepared by the Codex Committees drafting standards, codes of practice, and guidelines; and studies specific labeling problems assigned by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Committee also studies problems associated with the advertisement of food with particular reference to claims and misleading descriptions. For use in Date marking of pre-packaged food: Date of Manufacture means the date on which the food becomes the product as described. Date of Packaging means the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it will be ultimately sold. Sell-by-Date means the last date of offer for sale to the consumer after which there remains a reasonable storage period in the home. Date of Minimum Durability ( best before ) means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the product will remain fully marketable and will retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made. However, beyond the date the food may still be perfectly satisfactory. Use-by Date (Recommended Last Consumption Date, Expiration Date) means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the product probably will not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers. After this date, the food should not be regarded as marketable. Ingredient means any substance, including a food additive, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and present in the final product although possibly in a modified form. Label means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or impressed on, or attached to, a container of food. Labelling includes any written, printed or graphic matter that is present on the label, accompanies the food, or is displayed near the food, including that for the purpose of promoting its sale or disposal. 104

5 UNITED STATES Government intervention in labelling in the United States has served three main purposes: to ensure fair competition among producers, to increase consumers access to information, and to reduce risks to individual consumer safety and health The U.S food administration and drug policy on the labelling of biotech foods ensures consumer safety and protection, and encourages the continued development and support for food biotechnology. This policy is broadly supported throughout agriculture, which seeks to benefit from improved crops, and the food industry, which strives to maintain the trust and safety of the public. The FDA requires that any food, whether it is developed through biotechnology or another method, must carry a specific label if its nutritional profile or other characteristics are significantly different from its traditionally grown counterpart. Such a label would describe the new characteristic of the food and how it differs from the traditional food. For example, if a food were developed to contain more vitamin C, a label would be required to indicate that the food contains higher levels of vitamin C than is traditionally expected. LABELING OF GENETICALY MODIFIED FOODS In recent years, an increasing number of countries have adopted labelling policies for genetically modified (GM) food. The first labelling policies were introduced by the European Union (EU) in 1997, but since then many other countries, including all developed countries, have adopted some type of labelling policy for GM food. However, these labelling policies differ widely in their nature, scope, coverage, exceptions, and their degree of enforcement. Consequently, the observed effects of these policies on consumer choice, consumer information, food marketing, and international trade also vary significantly. Current Law and Policy In 1992 the FDA established a policy that all foods derived through biotechnology be regulated in the same fashion as those developed through traditional methods. This means: Products of food biotechnology are subject to the same FDA labelling and safety policies applied to all foods in the U.S. marketplace. Different labelling is required when, for example, biotechnology results in a significant change in the composition of a food product. Developing new oils that 105

6 actually lower cholesterol levels would be an example of a substantial composition change. FDA requires a label on biotechnology products, as needed, to inform consumers of any potential health or safety risk, such as if a protein poses an allergy risk. Common allergens include milk, eggs, wheat, fish, tree nuts, and legumes (such as peanuts and soybeans). Peanuts are a common allergen. If a peanut gene that causes the allergic reaction is inserted into potatoes or corn - products where consumers would not expect to find peanut allergens - the resulting product would need a label to inform sensitive consumers. A label also is required if a food is changed so that its nutritional content no longer conforms to the normal expectations. Altering the Vitamin C content of an orange to levels significantly above the normal range is a good example. The FDA is able to evaluate the safety of biotech ingredients added to foods in the same way it evaluates any new ingredient, such as a new preservative or a new foodcolouring agent. The FDA can stop a food product from being sold at any time if it determines that a product or ingredient is unsafe for public consumption or if it is mislabelled. In the US, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in September 1999 an independent scientific review of the biotechnology regulatory system. Public meetings, held in December 1999, highlighted public concerns about the lack of labels. In response, the USDA released "Guidance for Industry: Voluntary Labeling Indicating Whether Foods have or have not been Developed using Bioengineering" to provide assistance to manufacturers who want to label, offering examples of acceptable and unacceptable wording. Meanwhile, during November 1999 the GE Right to Know Act was introduced in Congress. The Act would provide for mandatory labeling of GMFs. Mandatory Labeling 22 countries, plus the EU, have adopted or announced plans to implement mandatory labeling systems. Now only a handful of these countries had revealed the full structure of the labeling rules they intend to pursue and only the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, China, and South Korea have formally implemented labeling rules. At least four other countries have announced definite dates to implement mandatory labeling systems. Although many countries have announced plans to implement mandatory labelling, only a few have sufficiently 106

7 developed their proposals enough to be able to identify the tolerance level for GM content that will trigger mandatory labeling. CANADA Canada, the United States (US), Argentina, and Hong Kong have adopted a voluntary labeling strategy. Canada and the US have initiated efforts to assist industry to develop standards and to implement consistent, credible labeling systems. In September 1999, the Canadian government announced it would support efforts by the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) and the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) to develop a Canadian standard for the voluntary labeling of GM foods. The CGSB set up a committee of food industry, producer, and consumer stakeholders, which was scheduled to report recommendations in 2000, but agreement has been delayed by the need for consensus. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada (HC) carry joint responsibility for food labelling policies under the Food and Drugs Act. This applies to all foods, not only biotechnology-derived foods. While HC is responsible for setting food labelling policies regarding health and safety matters (e.g. nutritional content, special dietary needs etc.), the CFIA is responsible for non-health and safety labelling requirements and enforcement of all food labelling legislation Currently in Canada, labelling is mandatory if there is a health or safety issue with a food, which might be mitigated through labelling. For example, if the nutritional value or composition of the food has been changed, or if there is an allergen present in the food, the food must be labelled as such. In this situation, special labelling is required to alert consumers or susceptible groups in the population. This applies to all foods, including GM foods. The Government of Canada recognizes that for many Canadians, labelling of foods derived from biotechnology is an important issue of consumer preference or choice. Under a standards committee established by the Canadian General Standards Board, a Canadian standard for voluntary labelling of GE foods entitled Voluntary Labelling and Advertising of Foods that Are and Are Not Products of Genetic Engineering was developed to address nonhealth and safety labelling (rather, labelling for method of production, for example, whether a food has or has not been produced through genetic engineering). This committee included a broad range of stakeholders, including consumer groups, food companies, producers, general interest groups, universities and government. In April 2004, the national standard was 107

8 adopted by the Standards Council of Canada. The objectives of the national standard are to provide meaningful criteria for labelling, understandable messages for consumers, and a consistent policy to verify the truthfulness of labels. Canada, the United States (US), Argentina, and Hong Kong have adopted a voluntary labeling strategy. Canada and the US have initiated efforts to assist industry to develop standards and to implement consistent, credible labeling systems. In September 1999, the Canadian government announced it would support efforts by the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) and the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) to develop a Canadian standard for the voluntary labeling of GM foods. The CGSB set up a committee of food industry, producer, and consumer stakeholders, which was scheduled to report recommendations in 2000, but agreement has been delayed by the need for consensus. European Union Labeling of GMFs In the EU, a number of directives set the framework for labeling systems in member states. Directive 90/220 (European Union [EU], 1990), which is an environmental regulation (especially, Annex III), sets the basic legal framework for labeling in the EU, mandating that products that contain GM products should be labeled. Given the original environmental focus of Directive 90/220, it set down requirements for labeling of GM crop varieties in seed guides. However, it did not set tolerances for these products and varieties. It was not until 1997, when the EU Novel Foods Regulation 258/97 (EU, 1997) was enacted that a 1% tolerance level for whole or processed foods was set. In 1998, the EU then passed Regulation 1138/98 (EU, 1998) to cover GM varieties of corn and soybeans that were already released before Regulation 258/97 was adopted. None of these directives or regulations requires labeling of GM additives, flavorings or active ingredients. Furthermore, although GM animal feed must be labeled, the meat produced using such feeds does not require labels under current rules. Finally, EU regulators have ruled that processed edible oils from GM corn, soybeans, and canola will not require labels, as they do not contain any novel proteins; all of the novel traits are left in the meal which, if consumed by humans, must be labeled. Most recently, the EU has adopted a legislative package on GMOs that, once implemented in October 2001, will provide rules for tracing GMOs to support the labeling rules (EU, 2001). Given the practice of subsidiarity in the EU, European Union directives and regulations do not come into effect until member states enact such provisions in their national laws, or establish enforcement mechanisms in their jurisdictions. A number of EU member states have 108

9 indicated intentions to go beyond the EU base requirements, extending labeling laws to food additives and preservatives. UK LABELING POLICIES So far, the UK is the only EU member state to enact national legislation and establish enforcement mechanisms to activate the EU rules. As of March 1999, all foods, additives, and flavorings that have entered the market since September 1, 1998 and that contain more than 1% GM content have been labeled. In April 2000, the new UK Food Safety Agency extended that provision to all GM foods, additives, and flavorings, including those on the market before The UK also requires that all restaurant meals with GM foods be labeled. In support of these rules, the UK has empowered the local authorities to enforce the system and adopted a range of financial penalties for mislabeling of products. JAPANESE LABELING POLICIES Japan implemented a set of mandatory labeling regulations effective April 1, As of September 2000, 29 GM crops and 6 GM food additives had secured the voluntary safety assessments in order to enter Japanese markets. From April 2001 onwards, all products are required to be assessed before they enter the market. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) administers the new rules that require labeling for 24 prescribed food products (no food additives are included). MAFF regulations require labels for recombinant DNA (rdna) ingredients only if the ingredient is one of the top three food ingredients by weight and composes at least 5% of the total weight of the product. Labeling is not required on packages less than 30 cm. In support of this domestic system, Japan requires importers to label as GM all bulk shipments with more than 5% GM content between 1% and 5% tolerances, products would have to be labeled "may contain." Shipments containing less than 1% GM material do not require any labeling. A Review of National Labelling Laws and Their Observed Effects Current Rules in Developed and Developing Countries During the last ten years, more than 40 countries have adopted labelling regulations, but the characteristics of the regulations and their degree of implementation vary greatly While a large majority of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation 109

10 and Development (OECD) have implemented some type of labelling policy, only a few developing countries have introduced labelling laws, and even fewer have implemented them. Among the countries with labelling laws, the only common feature is the quasi generalized requirement to label products derived from GM crops that are not substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts. This labelling requirement concerns GM products with novel traits, such as high oleic content canola, or the future nutritionally enhanced rice (e.g., Golden Rice). Labelling is mandatory for these products in all countries with regulations because they recognize that consumers should be informed of the novel traits and properties of the food products in order to make informed decisions. On the other hand, for products that are considered substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts, which includes products derived from all transgenic crops with input related traits (i.e., virtually all GM products today), there is a large international heterogeneity in labelling regulations. A first major dichotomy separates countries with voluntary labelling guidelines (e.g., Canada, Hong Kong, or South Africa) from those with mandatory labelling requirements (e.g., Australia, the EU, Japan, Brazil, or China). Voluntary labelling guidelines dictate rules that define what food can be called GM or non GM, and let the food companies decide if they want to use such information signals on their products. In contrast, mandatory labelling requires food companies (processors, retailers, and sometimes food producers) to display whether the targeted product/ingredient contains or is derived from genetically engineered materials. A certain number of countries with mandatory labelling for GM ingredients also have voluntary guidelines for the labelling of non GM food (e.g., Japan and the EU). This mixed mandatory/voluntary system is in place in countries with mandatory labelling for which consumers are willing to pay a premium to completely avoid GM ingredients, even at a residual level. Secondly, the scope of the regulations widely differs among countries with mandatory labelling according to the following main characteristics a. Coverage: countries may require labelling for: A list of particular food ingredients or all ingredients in packaged food products that include detectable transgenic protein or DNA; Highly processed products derived from GM ingredients even without quantifiable presence of GM ingredients; Animal feed; Additives and flavourings; 110

11 Meat and animal products fed with GM feed; Food sold by caterers and restaurants; Unpackaged food. b. Threshold level for labelling of GM ingredients: Applied to each ingredient or only to major three or five ingredients; Level, ranging from 0.9% to 5%, except China with no threshold level. In particular, one of the major differences in regulations among countries with mandatory labelling depends on whether the regulation targets the presence of GM in the finished product (like Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) or on GM technology as a production process (like the EU, Brazil, and China). In the former case, only products with detectable and quantifiable traces of GM materials or ingredients are required to carry a label. In contrast, in the latter case, any product derived from GM crops will have to be labelled, whether it contains any traces of GM material or not. This means that canola or soybean refined oils are required to be labelled even if current detection techniques cannot detect significant traces of transgenic DNA or proteins in the final product. This difference is crucial for enforcement: a product based system can be enforced with testing equipment and can filter a cheater, whereas a process based system requires viable and trustable documentation systems, which will lead to identity preservation or traceability requirements for the producers and importers, i.e., systems that track or identify GM food or GM free food from their origin to their final package and cannot guarantee the absence of cheaters. Last but not least, national regulations differ by their degree of implementation and enforcement. Many developing countries have approved laws requiring the labelling of GM food, but have not implemented the laws, or have only partially enforced the laws. To a certain extent, other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, have only partially implemented their regulation. They may require importers to label their food as GM, but consumer products are not carrying GM labels. China has implemented labelling since 2004, and can be considered the only developing country with an effective labelling policy in place. Product labelling, particularly with respect to the provision of health and environmental information, is increasingly being used to provide information about product characteristics such as biotechnology content that cannot otherwise be observed. There are no clear international policy con-senses about whether biotechnology labelling should be mandatory or voluntary. The United States supports voluntary labelling while the European Union 111

12 supports mandatory labelling and just recently tightened their mandatory labelling regulations. In the United States, truthful labelling has been used historically to provide consumers with information on calories, nutrients, and food ingredients, under regulatory guidelines. In contrast, the European Commission adopted GM food labels in The Commission requires each member country to enact a law requiring labelling of all new products containing substances derived from GM organisms. Japan, Australia, and many other countries have also passed laws requiring GM labels for major foods. The inter-national environmental lobby has frequently argued that "consumers have the right to know whether their food is GM or not". Labelling, however, involves real costs, especially the costs of testing for the presence of GM, segregating the crops, variable costs of monitoring for truthfulness of labelling and enforcement of the regulations that exist, and risk premiums for being out of contract. CONCLUSION By labelling the food items, the consumer is protected because the consumer gets much information about the content of food and he can have a better choice between the product he prefer more and others. In most cases the consumer can have a better choice between the genetically modified foods and other. Thereby they can protect themselves from unsafe foods introduced in the market. 112