Pragha Jagannathan
The Economic Times, India, via GENET

GMO all set to takeover the bio-tech biz
 
An international market analyst pegged the potential for transgenics in India alone at $400 million. With an opening like that, it is hardly surprising that Genetically Modified Organisms testing is being pitched as the next sunrise industry to watch.
 
The industry has come more sharply into focus with the EU adopting new norms for GM traceability in imports. This requires that all foods with more than 0.9 per cent GMOs should be labelled.
 
A Greenpeace survey released recently revealed that more Chinese consumers would choose non-GM foods over GM foods once labelling based on traceability became more stringent through mandatory laws in that country.
 
With the US taking EU ban on biotech foods to WTO, traceability testing -- virtually non-existent in China as of now thanks to low-technology -- has become more crucial in the industry’s GM discourse here.
 
While the ban is necessary to protect consumer health and sharpen awareness it is expected to impact directly on the value of exports in the future, particularly in GM sensitive regions such as the EU, Japan and Korea, Australia, NZ and even West Asia.
 
A small nation such as Sri Lanka has also begun aligning its quality standards including traceability tests to that of the EU. Given the increasing strictures worldwide on GMO imports, India is busy positioning itself as the largest exporter of non-GMO foods, something that definitely would require a key role for GMO testing.
 
Already now, there are indications that the government is keen to place the onus for traceability testing in industry more heavily on the private sector in the future. And that is where a pioneer agro-biotech and life sciences company such as Avesthagen Quality Agricultural Services (AQUAS) comes into the picture.
 
The Bangalore-based outfit, with its state-of-the-art traceability testing labs for foods in the ICRISAT campus in Hyderabad, has virtually wrangled itself a first mover advantage enhanced further with its cutting edge Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology which, infact, is capable of tracing GMO to the 0.1% level.
 
Speaking with ET, Manan Bhatt, VP (Business Development) emphasises "Strictly speaking, virtually nothing is 100 per cent GMO free. But world over, various stakeholders in agri-business --consumers,
governments, traders and manufacturers--are increasingly becoming aware and anxious of GM crops, food and fiber."
 
"This is especially true for exporters targeting advanced economies so that the consumer there can be offered the choice. And that’s where our services come in. Needless to state, firms with non-GMO certified products will have the competitive edge, percieved value addition and greater acceptance," he added.
 
Bhatt dismisses questions on the international acceptability of its GMO tracing tests, pointing to AQUAS’ clinching alliance for lab testing with world traceability testing major Genetic ID. The firm has won accreditation on all of its analytical methods through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), recognised throughout Europe and widely on five continents.
 
AQUAS is now the exclusive licence holder of Genetic ID for Bangladesh and India, following all of its protocols, procedures and instructions. Now, the company has also begun providing Total Plant Certification ID, which is sample-free, besides moving into Seed Purity Testing including guaranteeing genetic purity through DNA fingerprinting.
 
With 150 lakh quintals of seed requirement estimated for the 10th plan period, and only 15 per cent of certified seeds being distributed from the organised private and public sector, that would be crucial. Currently, it’s cachet of clients include some heavyweights in food product exports -- which is where the company is currently concentrating -- include HLL, ITC, Ruchi (the soya major) and Satnam Over-seas (top rung Basmati exporters).
 
In fact, the country’s top soya producers association, SOPA, invited AQUAS to the country’s soya capital Indore in September for a detailed briefing session on GMO testing. Food export majors are not the only clients for AQUAS, with even smaller sized firms such as guargum exporters Vikas, based in north-west Rajasthan, using AQUAS services.
 
According to Bhatt, intended clients for the industry would include bakery and confectionery products (coffee), cattle feed supplements, tobacco, dry fruits and nuts, spices and derivatives, edible oil and allied products, seeds, flavours and, wheat, pulses and other food grains.
 
GM traceability testing firms can take the initiative in helping food exporters here deal with trade challenges related to meeting regulations, delivering product to consumer on contract specifications involving threshold tolerances and upapproved varieties, optimising samples and testing programmes to achieve cost and efficiency operations, resolving conflicts and providing a competitive advantage to manufacturers.