The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has proposed changes to its compositional standards of beer, ale, stout, porter and malt liquor "to allow for innovation within the beer category while still preserving product integrity and to better reflect the tastes and needs of consumers." The proposed amendments would update the definition of beer to allow the use of microorganisms beyond yeast in the fermentation starter culture and remove the requirement that the final product "possess the aroma, taste and character commonly attributed to beer." In addition, herbs and spices would be permitted for use in product formulation, and beer would be limited to no more than 4 percent by weight of residual sugars to distinguish beer from malt-based beverages. Comments on the proposed changes will be accepted until September 14, 2018.
Category Archives Issue 679
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will host a public meeting on cultured meat, poultry and seafood on July 12, 2018. In a press release, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb asserted that the agency governs "both substances used in the manufacture of these products of animal cell culture technology and the products themselves that will be used for food" and grouped cultured meats with other "rapidly evolving areas of technological innovation" such as genetically engineered foods and microbial, algal and fungal cells generated and used as direct food ingredients. "The FDA remains committed to using our expertise in relevant scientific areas to evaluate the safety of emerging food technologies, such as foods generated by animal cell culture technology," according to Gottlieb's statement. "But as we mentioned, in addition to leveraging the existing expertise of our staff, we’re also investing in making sure we are considering all the unique attributes and challenges…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that April 2018 proposed changes to the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) will be adopted. The amendments update several provisions, including "those concerning NPIP participation, voting requirements, testing procedures, and standards."
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