The consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch is calling on supporters to submit comments to the Codex Alimentarius Commission before its November 15, 2008, deadline on a proposal to allow an “acceptable” level of Listeria monocytogenes in food. According to the organization’s senior food organizer, “Those who are advocating this change argue that some Listeria monocytogenes in foods can be tolerated by most people and it is virtually impossible to guarantee the complete absence of Listeria monocytogenes in food. In Europe and Canada, where the weaker standard is already in place, there has been an increase in the incidence of consumers getting sick from foods contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes in recent years.” Apparently, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene will debate the standard in early December. Food & Water Watch urges commenters to “Tell the Codex Committee that you are opposed to lowering food safety standards for imported foods.” The…
Category Archives Issue 282
FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) will conduct a roundtable discussion with stakeholders on December 12, 2008, and is tentatively scheduled to “communicate FDA’s nutrition activities” and provide status updates on functional foods, health claims, evidence-based review guides, Critical Path Project on Biomarkers for Use in Health Claims, front-of-pack labeling, and sodium status, among other matters. According to CFSAN, the format will consist of a panel of experts led by the agency’s director, with remarks from David Acheson, FDA Associate Commissioner, and a question and answer session. See CFSAN Constituent Update, November 7, 2008.
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a correction to a proposed rule regarding the “importation, interstate movement and release into the environment of certain genetically engineered [GE] organisms.” Where the October 9, 2008, notice indicated that the rule would preempt “no State or local laws or regulations,” the correction substitutes “All State and local laws or regulations that are inconsistent with this rule will be preempted.” Comments on the entire proposal must be submitted on or before November 24, 2008. The original proposal represents the “first comprehensive review and revision of the regulations since they were established in 1987,” bringing the rules “into alignment with provisions of the Plant Protection Act” and updating the rules “in response to advances in genetic science and technology.” Among the changes proposed are provisions to revise the rules’ scope “to make it clear that decisions regarding which organisms are regulated…
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