In a bid to cool down the domestic prices of Soya Meal, Government on December 24, 2021 notified an Order under the Essential Commodities Act to declare ‘Soya Meal’ as an Essential Commodities up to 30th June, 2022 by amending the Schedule of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
- Government of India has issued an Order where it has mentioned that in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, in the Schedule, after serial No. (8), the following item shall be added, “(9) Soya Meal”.
What is Soya Meal?
- Soybean meal or Soya meal is the most commonly used protein supplement in dairy rations and is the standard used for determining the value of other protein supplements.
- It is left over after oil is extracted from the bean and it is the main protein ingredient in the feed, especially for broilers.
Benfits:
- The decision would empower the Union Government and all States/UTs to regulate production, distribution etc. of Soya Meal and to smoothen the sale and availability of this item in the market.
- It will stop unfair market practices and enhance the availability for consumers like Poultry farm and Cattle feed manufacturers.
GM Soya Meal
- In August 2021, India had allowed the imports of genetically modified (GM) soya meal for the first time to help the poultry industry, which was reeling from a surge in local soy meal prices that tripled in a year to a record high.
- The Ministry of Environment (MoEF) had clarified that there was no concern from the environmental angle for GM soya meal as it does not contain any living organism.
- In India the only GM crop that have been allowed to be comercially cultivated is GM Cotton.
- The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said that anything which is non-food [not consumed by humans] is not within the ambit of the FSSAI Act, 2006 and thus it would not regulate animal feed.
What is GM Crop?
- The term genetically modified (GM) refers to the transfer of genes between organisms using a series of laboratory techniques for cloning genes, splicing DNA segments together, and inserting genes into cells. Collectively, these techniques are known as recombinant DNA technology.
- Insect-resistant crops contain genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The protein produced in the plant by the Bt gene is toxic to a targeted group of insects—for example European corn borer or corn rootworm—but not to mammals.
- The GM crops grown commercially included: potato (USA), squash/pumpkin (USA) alfalfa (USA), aubergine (Bangladesh), sugar beet (USA, Canada), papaya (USA and China), oilseed rape (4 countries), maize (corn) (17 countries), soya beans (11 countries) and cotton (15 countries).
What is Essential Commodities Act 1955?
- The Essential Commodities Act 1955, which was amended in 2020, is mainly used to curb inflation by allowing the Centre to enable control by state governments of trade in a wide variety of commodities.
- The Act gives powers to the central government to add or remove a commodity in the Schedule.
- The Centre, if it is satisfied that it is necessary to do so in public interest, can notify an item as essential, in consultation with state governments.
- States can dictate quantities traders can store and also restrict the movement of any commodity deemed “essential”.
- The supply of certain foodstuffs — including cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, potato — can be regulated only under extraordinary circumstances, which include an extraordinary price rise, war, famine, and natural calamity of a severe nature.
- In the amended act, a stock ise imposed only if there is a 100% increase in retail price of horticultural produce and 50% increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items.
- The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution implements the Act.
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