“Access to nutritionally adequate and safe food is a right of each individual.” The work on this book was triggered by deployment of a Food Safety Team at VOICE in late 1990s. Our resolve to intensify work on food standards and safety issues was strengthened when over 66 consumers died in the National Capital Region as a result of consuming mustard oil adulterated with argemone in 1998. These deaths could be attributed to systemic failure. The system could not prevent these deaths due to failure of the Indian food safety law, its administration and food safety policy. We saw the need for some voluntary action to inform, educate and influence state policy to reform the food safety system and law. This effort continues because the food safety system in 2002 had not changed since the deaths in 1998 and there is an urgent need to change as new risks and greater dangers loom ahead in a globalised Indian market.

      An increasing number of consumers, and most governments, world-wide are becoming extremely aware of food quality, safety and security issues. It is now common for consumers to demand that their governments take legislative action to ensure that only safe food is acceptable and the risks related with food-borne health hazards are minimized. Food-borne diseases can be fatal, damage trade and tourism and can lead to loss of earnings, unemployment and litigation. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have increased the awareness of consumers regarding food safety and related issues. The international food standards body Codex Alimentarius Commission has done pioneering work for the development of food standards. In the light of such safety standards for food, each country is safeguarding the interest of their citizens. Although it is a good sign, yet the emphasis is to demand and maintain safe food standards in each country. The process to reform the Codex System in a globalising world is highlighted in Chapter 1 of this book.

       An attempt has been made in this book to address diverse perspectives of food safety issues for consumer education and awareness. Although food laws and regulations vary in each country, yet their mere existence does not protect us from unsafe foods. What are the differences between our food laws as, for example, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1955 and Codex Food Standards for various categories of food is presented in Chapter 3. Readers are introduced to food security problems in the Indian context in Chapter 2 with relevance of indigenous foods. How the indigenous foods offer a better nutritional and sustainable alternative is analysed in Chapter 7.

       Presently, biotechnological revolution is knocking every aspect of human life, and therefore an attempt has been made in this work to analyse the safety of genetically modified foods. Since they have entered the markets world over, we need to know the implications of such foods. The health and environmental issues connected with them have been analysed in great detail. The precautionary measures like labeling of genetically modified foods must be made mandatory for consumers to have informed choices. Regulatory procedures and risk analysis methods required to assess health and environmental risks associated with such foods have also been examined along with the testing procedures in Chapters 4 and 5. Once released the GMOs multiply and may cause hazards, which have no recall.

     Vegetarian preferences of food are based on religious, cultural and moral values in India. To address their needs, labels must be put to inform the consumers about the product to be completely vegetarian having ingredients of plant origin or ingredients of animal origin. How VOICE as an organisation with the strong support of Mrs. Maneka Gandhi (Central Minister at that time) fought for the rights of Indian and South Asian Vegetarian consumers and persuaded the Government of India to ensure mandatory vegetarian labeling of food, has been discussed in Chapter 6. This chapter also includes a discussion on changes required in the Indian Prevention of  Food Adulteration Act.

     Infant Food Safety Issues, Codex Standards and WTO have also been dealt with in great detail in Chapter 8 to inform readers about the problems world markets face. The dangers arising out of aggressive marketing has led to infant mortality, malnutrition and various kinds of disabilities in children.

     The book has been compiled by us on behalf of Consumer-voice.org as a reference book for consumers, students, food technologists, scientists, consultants, food safety officials, research workers and law makers working in this field to understand how food safety may not be sacrificed for commerce. The book presents an exhaustive and critical account of the impact caused by unsafe food and to advocate our view that commerce in food should be guided by scientific truth and public health rather than profits.

Professor Sri Ram Khanna received his M.Com from Shri Ram College of Commerce in 1975 and Ph.D degree from the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi in 1980. He also holds a degree in Law. Currently, the Head of Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Prof. Khanna took up the teaching career and alongside took active interest in the consumer movement and its varied facets including consumer and competition law and redressal system. He has served on the Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS) and The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) of the Government of India as a consumer representative for a number of terms since 1984. As Managing Trustee of VOICE, which was set up at the Delhi School of Economics Campus in 1983, he has been working on food safety issues. He is currently the Managing Editor of Consumer Voice magazine, which publishes comparative product testing results, and a member of the Council of Consumers International (CI), London which consists of over 250 consumer organisations in 110 countries. He has participated and presented papers at various seminars, conferences and workshops at the national and international levels in different countries of the world. He is a member of the National Codex Committee and has participated as member of the official Indian delegation at important Codex meetings like CCFL and CCNFDSU held in Ottawa and Berlin respectively. He has also participated in CCGP (Paris) as member and Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia meetings, as head of the Consumers International (CI) delegation. As an academic expert, he specialises in Marketing and International Business. His understanding of the complex field of WTO, international law, consumer affairs and food safety provides a unique multidisciplinary framework. He is a highly acclaimed consumer activist of India and was awarded the Indian Merchants Chamber Award for Consumer Protection in 2001. He has published three books and a number of papers in national and international journals.

 Dr. Madhu Saxena is currently working as a scientist with Consumer-Voice.org, New Delhi. She completed her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D from the Department of Botany, University of Allahabad. Dr. Saxena was awarded her Ph.D. in Microbiology and plant pathology in the year 1979. She has 21 years of research experience and was awarded various research scholarships by ICAR, CSIR and UGC. She has worked as a Post-doctoral fellow, Research Associate and Senior Research Associate for 14 years and  carried out extensive research work. For IIT (Delhi), she developed a bioprocess for the removal of hexavalent chromium from effluent waters successfully.

     She has multidisciplinary experience of work in the areas of biology, soil microbiology, plant pathology, agriculture, environmental biotechnology, food safety, genetically modified organisms, and health. She has published a number of papers, articles, and reports in national and international journals in her areas of specialisation. She is also a regular contributor to Consumer VOICE magazine.