-The Indian Express Food safety is critical for public health as food-borne diseases affect people's well-being,strain health-care systems, and adversely impact national economies, tourism and trade How often do we ask ourselves if the food we are eating is safe? Do we know if it is free of bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, other contaminates, additives and adulterants which can cause over 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancer? Every year, diarrhoea caused...

-Livemint.com US suggests examining food security policies of WTO members to arrive at ‘best practices' for public stockholding Geneva: Recent US proposals aimed at finding a permanent solution to the tussle over public stockholding for food security are inconsistent with what members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required to accomplish as part of the so-called Bali mandate, Indian officials said. At an informal meeting of the Doha agriculture negotiating body...

-The Hindu Business Line Seek clarification on US trade representative's testimony that India has committed to address IP issues that concern America Mumbai: Has India informally agreed to make changes in its Intellectual Property Rights regime on the basis of US concerns? A sizeable section of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and some pro-health groups are worried that it has, following US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman's testimony to the Senate Committee on...

-The Tribune There has been a big political rush to reform Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) or agricultural markets. It is now known that most of the problems of the farm sector start and end with agricultural markets in some way or the other. The Model APMC Act 2003 provided a road map for the states to amend their APMC Acts in order to provide choice of channels to farmer for sale...

-PTI GENEVA: Disagreements flared up between the US and India here today at the first informal meeting to find a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security in developing countries. The G-33 countries led by India and including China want public stockholding for food security purposes to come under the "Green Box" -- domestic support for agriculture that causes minimal or no trade distortion. Please click here to read more. ...