India will sign-up its concern with France and the European Union about remaining unjustly determined as the issue of origin of 500 tonnes of genetically modified broken rice transformed into rice flour by a French company, Westhove, placing apart the actuality that the nation does not generate any professional wide variety of GM rice, government officials have reported.

The contamination could have happened at a afterwards phase even though the imported broken rice was getting processed in the EU and might also be a conspiracy to malign the picture of India as a trusted provider of top quality rice, the Commerce Ministry contended in a statement.

‘Unjustly identified’

“Agriculture Ministry officials are in contact with officials at the Indian Mission to the European Union in Brussels who will consider up the issue of the place getting unjustly recognized as the resource of GM rice with France’s representative business office at the EU and the EC,” an formal explained to BusinessLine.

Authorities in India from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee and IARI are investigating the matter in the gentle of allegations, but they have re-verified that commercial GM wide range of rice is not developed in India, the Commerce Ministry assertion pointed out.

Before this year, the European Commission’s Quick Inform Method for Foods and Feed mentioned that 500 tonnes of Indian rice converted into rice flour by France’s Westhove had been flagged in the course of a regular check for its GM content. France issued a notification alerting Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the United kingdom and the US as the possible destination of goods created with the contaminated flour.

‘Something is fishy’

“Something is undoubtedly fishy. GM traces are currently being claimed in rice powder and not rice grain that is becoming exported from India. Considering that India does not produce any GM rice, there is a likelihood that rice from which the powder has been made is not of Indian origin,” explained Vinod Kumar Kaul, All India Rice Exporters’ Association.

Kaul said that although the alerts have not afflicted rice exports to the EU from India, the episode could have a detrimental long term effect if not sorted out. India, a top rice exporter, posted a 13.7 for every cent increase in rice exports throughout April-August 2021 to ₹28,269 crore, per govt figures.