The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance intended to help the food industry prepare submissions for obtaining exemptions from the labeling requirements for major food allergens. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) requires that food labels identify products containing major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans). Because an ingredient derived from a major food allergen may be modified to such an extent that it does not contain allergenic protein or does not cause an allergic response that poses a risk to human health, FALCPA apparently provides two processes through which manufacturers can obtain an exemption from this labeling requirement for a specific ingredient. An ingredient may be exempted through submission and approval of either (i) a petition containing scientific evidence which demonstrates that the ingredient “does not cause an allergic response that poses a…
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With an aim to “improve public awareness of product identities by providing truthful and accurate labeling of meat and poultry products,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has submitted its final rule for labeling products that contain an “added solution” to the federal Office of Management and Budget for review. Observing that “without adequate labeling information, consumers cannot distinguish between raw meat and poultry product[s] that contain added solutions and single-ingredient meat and poultry products,” FSIS proposes that all meat and poultry products, raw or partially cooked, that contain at least a 3 percent saline or other liquid solution or marinade, bear a label stating that the product has been “enhanced” with solution. The agency estimates a one-time total cost to modify all federally inspected meat labels of about $80 million. Issue 523
Dubbing powdered alcohol “the Kool-Aid of teen binge drinking,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to supersede the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) by banning a product known as Palcohol® before it reaches store shelves. Created by Lipsmark, LLC, Palcohol® first attracted media attention when TTB granted and then temporarily rescinded approval for its labels, citing a technical issue with the amount of powdered alcohol in each package. Additional details about Palcohol® appear in Issue 521 of this Update. Now Schumer has written a May 5, 2014, letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, asking the agency to work with TTB “to assess the potential public health concerns that arise by combining this product with food and beverages.” Pointing to a 1976 district court ruling and a memorandum of understanding that saddled both agencies with the responsibility to regulate alcohol,…
Researchers have apparently found levels of radiation “too small to be of realistic concern” from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown in albacore tuna caught off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Neville et al., “Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore,” Environmental Science & Technology, April 2014. The study examined 26 Pacific albacore caught between 2008 and 2012 to compare radiation levels before and after the power station’s destruction in 2011. The researchers reported that levels of specific radioactive isotopes tripled in some of the fish caught after the disaster, but the levels present were still too small to have any noticeable effect on humans. “A year of eating albacore with these cesium traces is about the same dose of radiation as you get from spending 23 seconds in a stuffy basement from radon gas, or sleeping next to your spouse for 40 nights from the natural potassium-40…
A recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has reportedly found that “[p]eople who increased the amount of coffee they drank each day by more than one cup over a four-year period had an 11% lower risk for type 2 diabetes than those who made no changes to their coffee consumption.” Shilpa Bhupathiraju et al., “Changes in coffee intake and subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes: three large cohorts of US men and women,” Diabetologia, April 2014. Researchers examined data from the Nurses’ Health Study from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which evaluated participants’ diets every four years from 1986 to 2006 with a questionnaire. Their analysis showed that subjects who increased their coffee intake—the median increase was about a cup and a half each day—during the four-year period between questionnaires had an 11 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next four-year period.…
Research presented at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting has apparently confirmed the importance of dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), concluding that lower intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) were predictive of cognitive decline. According to an April 27, 2014, press release, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University used food-frequency questionnaires to assess the consumption of omega-3 PUFAs among 895 study participants, who also completed cognitive testing over a two-year follow-up period. The results evidently showed that participants in the lowest four quintiles of EPA and DHA consumption showed more signs of cognitive decline than those in the highest quintile. “While more research is needed to determine whether intake of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and trout can help prevent against cognitive decline, our preliminary data support previous research showing that intake of these types of…
Researchers have reportedly found that nutrient levels in a pregnant woman’s diet before conception can permanently affect how the child’s genes function. Paula Dominguez-Salas et al., “Maternal nutrition at conception modulates DNA methylation of human metastable epialleles,” Nature Communications, April 2014. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) researchers selected 167 pregnant women from a group of 2,000 in the Gambia based on when their fetuses were conceived—some at the peak of rainy season, when the Gambian diet includes fewer calories but more nutrient-rich vegetables, and some at the peak of dry season, when the diet includes more calories but fewer vitamins. The study evidently found that the infants born from the rainy season conceptions had significantly higher rates of the chemical compounds that activate genes than the infants born from the dry season conceptions. These compounds—methyl groups—can determine whether a gene is activated or silenced in the child…
A recent study has reportedly identified an alternative hormonal receptor that mediates bisphenol A (BPA), raising questions about the purported link between BPA exposure, diabetes and obesity. Marie Tohmé, et al., “Estrogen-related receptor γ is an in vivo receptor of bisphenol A,” The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, April 2014. Researchers with the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon (ENS de Lyon) and Deakin University apparently used a zebrafish model to demonstrate that “the in vivo action of [BPA] was mediated by the orphan nuclear receptor, ERRy (estrogen-related receptor),” which previous studies have implicated in metabolism regulation, insulin secretion, newborn obesity, and inner ear development. “We found that the way the BPA binds to and activates ERRy is 1000 times better than with the estrogen receptor. This means that ERRy is 1000 times more potent; a tiny amount of BPA will result in a huge…
CNNMoney has published a May 1, 2014, article claiming that the Department of Labor (DOL) has difficulty cracking down on labor and wage violations in the fast food industry due to the franchise model. Based on data collected by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division that reportedly found individual Subway franchisees “in violation of pay and hour rules in more than 1,100 investigations spanning from 2000 to 2013,” the article claims that these cases amounted to “17,000 Fair Labor Standards Act violations and resulted in franchisees having to reimburse Subway workers more than $3.8 million over the years.” “Even though fast food locations may look the same and restaurants abide by similar branding and business guidelines, each franchise owner is treated essentially as a small business,” opines CNNMoney’s Annalyn Kurtz. “Meanwhile, the corporate parents can distance themselves from being found liable of labor violations.” In addition to DOL’s renewed focus on…
Researchers from Switzerland’s technology and natural sciences university, ETH Zurich, have reportedly developed a method of tagging olive oil that can determine the product’s origin and whether it has been adulterated. Consisting of tiny, magnetic DNA particles encapsulated in a silica casing that are mixed with the oil, a few grams of the material are enough to tag the entire olive oil production of Italy. According to the researchers, if counterfeiting is suspected, the particles added at the place of origin can be extracted from the oil and analyzed, revealing the original producer. “The method is equivalent to a label that cannot be removed,” said researcher Robert Grass. Lab experiments evidently revealed that the tags dispersed well in the oil, did not affect clarity or taste, remained stable when heated, and passed a two-year aging trial. Research also showed that the analysis and testing method “can be carried out today by…
