The hearing comes in the wake of a complaint by Greenpeace India that the tests on the chips have confirmed the presence of GM Mon 863 and NK 603, both of which are Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) corn varieties.

The other three products randomly picked up by Greenpeace from a Delhi supermarket for testing — American Garden popcorn, Gerber baby food and Green Giant sweet corn — were free of any GM product, said Rajesh Krishnan (sustainable agriculture wing), Greenpeace.

The committee, which has been in existence since 1989, has never rejected a food product with GM content except when it banned food from CARE that was meant for the Integrated Child Development Services of the Women and Child Development Department.

This was after it was pointed out that it contained Starling corn, a GM corn known to have caused allergies in the US.

Says Vasantha Muthuswamy, deputy director general, Indian Council for Medical Research, and a member of the GEAC: "Our markets must be full of GM food as we don't have a mechanism for testing imported food for GM content. In the US, GM and non-GM food are mixed."

Dorito chips are being imported directly by PepsiCo USA through dealers and the Indian arm has nothing to do with it, says Greenpeace.

Meanwhile, PepsiCo India, in a statement, said: "While Doritos is a PepsiCo brand, the product in question is not manufactured in India, and we neither import it nor authorise others to do so."

"Though India has a law prohibiting sale of any genetically modified food products without the permission of GEAC, their presence in the supermarket proves that the regulatory system is in a shambles," said Krishnan.