The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a statement cautioning people older than age 40 about eating too much black licorice—2 ounces per day for two weeks. FDA experts explain that black licorice contains glycyrrhizin, a sweetening compound that can cause the body’s potassium levels to plummet, leading to an irregular heart rhythm, high blood pressure, edema, lethargy, and possibly heart failure, said FDA. The agency also warned that black licorice can interact negatively with some medications and supplements. According to FDA Director of Cosmetics and Colors Linda Katz, potassium levels are usually restored with no permanent health problems when black licorice consumption stops.
Category Archives Issue 502
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a draft of its spice risk report, which calls attention to the most common microbial hazards and filth in imported spices, along with possible sources of contamination. The report, “Pathogens and Filth in Spices,” also evaluates current mitigation techniques, recommends options and identifies research needs and data gaps. According to FDA, a notice about the report will be published in the November 4, 2013, Federal Register. Calling the findings a “wake-up call” to spice producers, FDA revealed that of the products tested between 2007 and 2010, (i) spices are twice as likely to be contaminated as other types of imported food; (ii) 12 percent of spices imported into the United States were contaminated with insect parts, excrement, rodent hair and other materials; (iii) 7 percent of the shipments contained Salmonella; and (iv) spices imported from Mexico and India apparently have the highest rate of contamination.…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a proposed rule that would establish current good manufacturing practice (CGMP), hazard analysis and risk-based preventative controls for animal food. According to an October 29, 2013, Federal Register notice, FDA is taking this action to provide greater assurance that animal food is safe and will not cause illness or injury to animals or humans and is intended to build an animal food safety system for the future that makes modern, science and risk-based preventive controls the norm across all sectors of the animal food system.” Billed as “part of the Food Safety Modernization Act’s larger effort to modernize the food safety system for the 21st century,” the proposed rule would require domestic and foreign animal-food manufacturing facilities registered under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to develop a formal plan to prevent foodborne illness as well as respond to “any…
Three days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) filed a motion for emergency stay pending appeal before the Ninth Circuit, the federal district court that had established November 30, 2013, as the deadline for the agency to publish notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for specific food safety rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act denied the motion for stay pending appeal that FDA filed before it in September. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Hamburg, No. 12-4529 (N.D. Cal., order entered October 21, 2013). Details about the emergency stay request based on delays attributable to the federal government shutdown appear in Issue 501 of this Update. According to the district court, FDA failed to show that it would be irreparably injured absent a stay. The court recognized that the agency was unprepared to issue a final rule on the intentional adulteration of food by the November 2013 deadline, “But…
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