California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will conduct a pre-regulatory public workshop on Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) warnings on April 14, 2014, in Sacramento. The event will be webcast. OEHHA Chief Counsel Carol Monahan-Cummings will discuss potential regulatory action, including clarifying questions and responses, discussion of proposed changes and public questions and answers, as well as next steps. Additional information about the proposed Prop. 65 warning changes appears in Issue 517 of this Update. See OEHHA News Release, April 7, 2014. Issue 520
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California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has issued a notice of intent to list ethylene glycol (EG) as known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Used in the manufacture of polyethylene terephthalate resins (PET), which are used in bottling, the chemical has been reported for its potential human reproductive and developmental effects by the National Toxicology Program in a 2004 monograph that “identifies EG as causing developmental toxicity in laboratory animals, and satisfies the formal identification criteria in the Proposition 65 regulations,” according to OEHHA. Public comments “as to whether ethylene glycol meets the criteria set forth in the Proposition 65 regulations for authoritative bodies listings” are requested by May 12, 2014. Companies making and selling products containing chemicals listed under Proposition 65 are required to disclose exposures to California consumers or face fines…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has extended “the timeline to complete its full risk assessment of bisphenol A (BPA) to the end of 2014.” After receiving nearly 250 comments in response to the second part of its draft risk assessment, EFSA has emphasized the need for “a full understanding of these comments before finalizing its risk assessment of BPA.” Additional details about the draft risk assessment and an April 23, 2014, stakeholder meeting appear in Issues 511 and 515 of this Update. Issue 520
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance concerning the proper labeling of honey and honey products to ensure that such products “are not adulterated or misbranded.” In light of its earlier refusal to create a new standard of identity for honey, the agency developed the guidance to respond to labeling issues raised by a March 8, 2006, petition submitted by the American Beekeeping Federation and other honey-related associations. According to FDA, the draft guidance (i) “summarizes FDA’s legal authority over honey and honey products”; (ii) “provides a commonly used definition of honey”; (iii) “offers advice on labeling issues such as the floral source of honey, blends of honey and other sweeteners, and blends of honey and other ingredients, such as flavors”; and (iv) “describes some of the measures FDA takes to guard against honey adulterated with cane sugar, corn syrup, or residues of chloramphenicol or fluoroquinolones.”…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule adopting the interim final rule titled “Establishment, Maintenance, and Availability of Records: Amendment to Record Availability Requirements” for recordkeeping regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The amendments made under FSMA allow FDA access to records beyond those relating to specific suspect food articles if the agency believes that other food articles are likely to be affected in a similar manner. The amendments also permit FDA to access records relating to articles of food “for which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, the article of food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.” The expanded records-access authority is intended to improve FDA’s ability to respond to and contain safety problems with the food supply for humans and animals. FDA has also issued two guidance documents, “FDA…
U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas) has introduced legislation (H.R. 4432) that would prohibit states from implementing labeling laws for foods that contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Titled the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” the bill would (i) require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to mandate GM labeling only if those foods “are found to be unsafe or materially different from foods produced without biotech ingredients”; and (ii) establish a federal labeling standard for foods with GM ingredients, giving FDA sole authority to require labeling on such foods if they are ever deemed unsafe or materially different from foods produced without GM ingredients. According to news sources, Pompeo contends that state campaigns to label foods containing GM ingredients are intended to scare consumers, not inform them. GM crops have made “food safer and more abundant,” Pompeo said. “It has been an enormous boon to all of humanity.” GM…
Cornell University researchers have reportedly identified five new species of Listeria that they suggest could provide new insights leading to better methods of detecting soil bacteria in food. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the research was part of a larger study led by scientists at Colorado State University and Cornell to examine the distribution of foodborne pathogens, such as Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella, in agricultural and natural environments. Samples were taken from fields, soil, ponds, and streams in New York, Colorado and Florida. Noting that of the 10 previously known species of Listeria, only two are pathogenic to humans, the researchers claim that Listeria monocytogenes is the main cause of Listeriosis, reportedly the cause of hundreds of deaths and illnesses each year in the United States through infected deli meats, seafood and produce. According to lead study author Henk den Bakker, the study findings have implications for understanding the evolution of what makes…
A recent study has reportedly demonstrated “the protective effect of coffee on non-viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis mortality.” George Boon-Bee Goh, et al., “Coffee, alcohol and other beverages in relation to cirrhosis mortality: the Singapore Chinese Health study,” Hepatology, April 2014. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers examined diet, lifestyle and medical history data from 63,275 middle aged participants enrolled in The Singapore Chinese Health Study over a mean follow-up of 14.7 years. During that time, 114 participants died from cirrhosis related to viral hepatitis (33 percent), chronic alcohol consumption (12 percent) and hepatitis C (2 percent), as well as biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune cirrhosis, and cryptogenic or unspecified cirrhosis. In addition to finding that alcohol consumption was “a strong risk factor for cirrhosis mortality,” the study evidently showed an inverse dose dependent relationship between caffeine intake and non-viral cirrhosis mortality. The study’s authors have suggested that “the benefit of coffee on…
A recent study has purportedly claimed that “both low sodium intakes and high sodium intakes are associated with increased mortality,” raising questions about sodium consumption guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health authorities. Niels Graudal, et al., “Compared with Usual Sodium Intake, Low- and Excessive-Sodium Diets are Associated with Increased Mortality: A Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Hypertension, April 2014. After analyzing data from 23 cohort and two followup studies involving 274,683 individuals, Danish researchers reported that the risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease events “were decreased in usual sodium vs. low sodium intake… and increased in high-sodium vs. usual sodium intake,” a result “consistent with a U shaped association between sodium intake and health outcomes.” In particular, the main findings apparently showed that “2,645-4,945 mg of sodium per day, a range of intake within which the vast majority of Americans fall, actually results…
A recent New York Times article highlighting the apparent fragility of the lime harvest has blamed a recent shortage on “weather, disease and even Mexican criminals,” warning that increased wholesale prices have only compounded the problem. According to citrus researcher David Karp, a citrus greening disease known as huanglongbing (HLB) has already infiltrated groves in Mexico, which supplies 95 percent of the limes consumed in the United States. In addition to reducing the Key lime harvest by one-third in the past three years, the presence of HLB in Colima has stoked fears that the disease will spread to Persian limes located in Veracruz and other Mexican states. In addition, as industry leaders told Karp, the current shortfall has not only induced farmers to strip their trees early “to cash in on sky-high prices,” but attracted the attention of criminal cartels that have reportedly started “plundering fruit from groves and hijacking…
