Rajasthan HC halts sale of GM foods until safety regulations are established

The Coalition for a GM-Free India has welcomed Rajasthan High Court order stating that no import of any food stuff/edible items/packaged food shall be permitted, unless they have been certified and labelled to be GM-Free by the exporting country, even as it restrained grant of permission for sale, manufacture, distribution or import of any GM food stuffs/edible items in India without first framing of statutory regulations under Sec.22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. 

The HC Bench which passed the Order on 13th October 2025 stated that their observations and conclusions are very much in line with the July 2024 judgement of the Supreme Court of India on a batch of PILs related to gene technologies in our food systems. The HC also asked FSSAI as well as the Union Government to frame and notify regulations on GM foods within six months. 

The Coalition has already pointed out a serious anomaly in the SC judgement of July 2024, which ordered for implementation of Sec.23 of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 (regarding labeling), without ordering for implementation of Sec. 22 first. To have labeling regulations implemented without any regulatory framework for ensuring safety, through Sec.22 regulations is meaningless and a mockery of the food safety law. 

The HC order directed the “FSSAI as well as the Union of India to implement Sec.22 of the Act of 2006 in its true letter and spirit, and to provide standards and safety protocols regarding genetically modified/genetically engineered articles of food in a time bound manner”.

The Coalition applauded the High Court order and pointed out this should logically extend to, and expand the extant regulations from the FSSAI (issued as an ‘advisory’ and not as a statutory regulation, and limited to only a small set of foods and excluded processed foods at present), to include all food imports into India.  

The Coalition said that the ruling from the Rajasthan High Court has come at a crucial time when the USA has been attempting very hard to push its GM products into India, compromising on domestic laws, regulations and policies, and when news reports are indicating that the Government of India is wavering on the red lines reportedly drawn earlier. This ruling also ensures that self-certification is not put into place, and only an authorised agency in the exporting country can certify the GM-free status of all foods being exported to India. The US govt has in the past also weakened FSSAI's attempt to tackle processed GM food coming to India by raising objections on proposed regulation.

The HC’s Jaipur Bench noted, “No GM food stuffs, whether grown domestically or imported, including edible oils, cannot be permitted to reach Indian kitchens without comprehensive legal checks, as already cautioned by parliamentary committees.”

According to The Coalition, in the past, the FSSAI had denied the presence of GM ingredients in some food products, when Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) exposed the presence of illegal GM foods in India. FSSAI’s denial is shocking, given that some of the food companies themselves had marked GM presence on their labels! 

Kavitha Kuruganti for the Coalition for a GM-Free India said, “GEAC and FSSAI have consistently failed to perform their statutory mandate duty to ensure biosafety and food safety, and protect Indians. The Rajasthan High Court Order is the right reminder for these statutory regulatory bodies to fulfill their mandates in a responsible and accountable way. The HC’s order ensures that ordinary Indians are not made scapegoats by American pressure on the Indian government”.