New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill (A2990) that seeks to amend legislation requiring retail food establishments to provide calorie information for food and beverages. Proposed by Assemblywomen Nancy Pinken (D-Middlesex) and Linda Stender (D-Middlesex, Somerset and Union), the bill would require entertainment facilities to provide calorie information for food and beverage items offered for sale, subject to the same requirements that currently apply to chain restaurants. The bill defines “entertainment facility” as “any privately or publicly owned or operated facility that is used primarily for sports contests, entertainment, or both, such as a theater, stadium, museum, arena, automobile racetrack, or other place where performances, concerts, exhibits, games or contests are held.” Issue 519
Category Archives Issue 519
After review by member states and unanimous agreement by the Member State Committee, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published a group of evaluation decisions on 14 substances considered to pose potential risks, creating obligations for companies in the European Union to conduct tests and provide further data about their use. The decisions are the culmination of the European Parliament Council’s substance evaluation process under Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). In addition to bisphenol A, ECHA has made final decisions on the following substances: isoheptane; imidazole; a mixture of cistetrahydro-2-isobutyl- 4-methylpyran-4-ol; transtetrahydro-2-isobutyl-4-methylpyran-4-ol; oligomerisation and alkylation reaction products of 2 phenylpropene and phenol; N,N’-bis(1,4-dimethylpentyl)-p-phenylenediamine; carbon tetrachloride; 1,3-diphenylguanidine; hexyl salicylate; 2,2’-iminodiethanol; 2-ethylhexanoic acid; decahydronaphthalene; alkanes, C14-17, chloro (MCCP, Medium chained chlorinated paraffins); and 2-(4-tertbutylbenzyl) propionaldehyde. Issue 519
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will host a workshop on April 28, 2014, in Brussels, to discuss the agency’s work related to the re-evaluation of food additives, as required by Commission Regulation No. 257/2010 of the European Parliament and the Council on Food Additives. With an aim to “engage with interested business operators, scientific experts, the European Commission representatives, EFSA scientific staff and other interested parties,” the workshop will include sessions that address (i) “why, how and when scientific uses, use level data and other information should be made available to EFSA”; and (ii) “the extent to which the engagement of stakeholders during the re evaluation process would be of mutual benefit for EFSA and stakeholders themselves.” Participants may register until April 10, 2014. Issue 519
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a stop sale, use or removal order against New Jersey-based Pathway Investment Corp. concerning company food storage products containing nano silver. According to the agency, these products—Kinetic Go Green Premium food storage containers, Kinetic Smartwist Series containers, TRITAN food storage, and StackSmart Storage—are marketed “as containing nano silver, which the company claims helps reduce the growth of mold, fungus and bacteria.” As such the products contain pesticides and must be registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. These products were not registered and were not subjected to efficacy testing. EPA has also notified retailers that have sold the products on their websites to cease doing so. See EPA News Release, March 31, 2014. Issue 519
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance for the food industry titled “Guidance for Industry: Prior Notice of Imported Food Questions and Answers (Edition 3).” Intended to address questions received since publication of the second edition in May 2004, the guidance includes information related to the Food Safety Modernization Act, which requires prior notice indicating whether a food article has been refused entry by any country. FDA will accept comments at any time, but suggests submitting them by May 30, 2014, to ensure consideration before the agency begins work on the final version. See Federal Register, March 31, 2014. Issue 519
After reportedly receiving more than 2,000 comments criticizing its proposal to tighten regulations concerning the transaction of spent grain between brewers and farmers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has apparently decided to revise its original plan, stating that it will release an amended version of the proposal this summer. According to news sources, brewers, who for years have donated or sold their spent grain to farmers to use as animal feed, were outraged at the proposed regulation—part of FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act—claiming it would turn an ages-old practice into a heavy burden, requiring them to alter processes and testing requirements and add additional recordkeeping tasks. Brewers also note that under the currently proposed terms, they would either be required to dry and package spent grain before sending it off as animal feed or to discard it entirely, leaving it to sit in landfills. See VoiceofSanDiego. org, April 3, 2014;…
The International Chewing Gum Association (ICGA) recently submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the agency’s proposal to revoke the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status for partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). Noting that PHOs are used in some chewing gum products “as softeners or texturizers at levels typically in the range of 0.2 to 2 percent of the finished gum,” ICGA has criticized FDA’s tentative determination as “misguided and overly broad.” In particular, the association has argued that FDA’s blanket revocation violates “the legal and scientific elements of the GRAS standard, which require a safety assessment for intended use by experts in ingredient safety.” According to ICGA, the tentative determination not only represents “a significant departure” from past efforts to reduce trans fat consumption through labeling initiatives, but discards a previous determination that PHOs in amounts less than 0.5 grams per serving “are effectively not present”…
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