California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that the state will provide workers in the food sector—including farmworkers and employees at grocery stores and fast food restaurants—with two weeks of paid sick leave. The order aims to “fill[] a gap left by federal relief that had provided similar paid leave benefits for employers with fewer than 500 workers,” according to the announcement. The Executive Order also “provides health and safety standards to increase worker and customer protection by permitting workers at food facilities to wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as needed, to increase proper sanitation measures.”
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released its plan to combat outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) carried by leafy greens. "Due to the reoccurring nature of outbreaks associated with leafy greens, FDA has developed this commodity-specific action plan," the announcement states. "Expediting the improved safety of leafy greens will require collaboration between FDA and stakeholders in the public and private sectors, including industry and our regulatory partners. This plan is designed to help foster a more urgent, collaborative, and action-oriented approach." The plan details actions on prevention, response and addressing knowledge gaps.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released the third and final installment of its draft guidance on intentional adulteration of food under the Food Safety Modernization Act. The guidance focuses on food defense corrective actions, food defense verification, reanalysis and recordkeeping. The rule applies to domestic and foreign companies required to register with FDA as food facilities.
France's agriculture minister has reportedly announced that the country will prohibit the mass culling of male chicks shortly after they hatch and ban the castration of piglets without anesthesia in an effort to support animal welfare. The minister indicated his intention to have the regulations take effect by the end of 2021. Germany previously banned the practice, but a court invalidated the law until a method for determining the sex of an embryo in the egg can be developed.
The Portman Group, the U.K. alcohol industry's self-regulatory authority, has upheld a complaint against Trinchero Family Estates for its Ménage à Trois Midnight wine. Zenith Global brought a complaint arguing that the wine's name and marketing copy may breach the code by creating links between the product and sexual activity or sexual success. The panel agreed, finding that the text on the label—including "savour the pleasures of the dark"—did not dispel the sexual connotations of the Ménage à Trois name, which purportedly refers to the wine's blend of three varietals. “In this case, the Panel urged the producer to avoid linking the sexual meaning of the name to the product and remove the text description on the bottle which did this," the panel's chair commented in a press release. "The Panel’s decision is a reminder to all producers that care must be taken when marketing a product to ensure that…
Following a vote in the Virginia House Agriculture Subcommittee, the state's House of Delegates will reportedly consider a bill that would limit the use of "milk" to describe the "lacteal secretion" from specific animals, including cows, sheep, goats, yaks, reindeer, water buffalo, horses and donkeys. During the subcommittee discussion, one delegate reportedly suggested adding "dairy" instead of removing "milk" because the term and associated words are used regularly for products that are not milk substitutes, such as "milk of magnesia" or "body butter." If enacted, the bill would not take effect until 11 states have passed similar legislation.
A Missouri state senator has introduced a bill that would deem product containers not misleading for including some slack fill if they meet one of fifteen criteria. The criteria that would allow a container to be "filled to less than its capacity" include (i) for protection of the contents; (ii) compliance with reasonable industry standards; (iii) settling of the contents during handling; (iv) a specific function of a package, such as where the packaging plays a role in the preparation or consumption of the product; (v) inability to increase the level of fill or reduce the size of the package; or (vi) the provision of significant value independent of the packaging's function of holding the product, such as gift packaging or a container provided for reuse.
A U.S. federal court entered a consent decree of permanent injunction prohibiting Home Style Foods, Inc., and its owner and quality manager from selling food products until the company complies with federal regulations. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections reportedly found Listeria monocytogenes in the company's food preparation area and documented violations of seafood safety regulations. “After repeated food safety violations, the FDA worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain this injunction in order to prevent potentially contaminated food from reaching consumers. The company failed to take the appropriate corrective actions resulting in this action,” an FDA official said in a press release. “When a company fails to follow the law, the government will take action to protect the food supply."
The U.S. Codex Office has announced public meetings that will be held on February 21 and February 27, 2020, to discuss and receive comments on U.S. positions for upcoming Codex Alimentarius meetings. The February 21 meeting will focus on general principles, while the February 27 meeting will include discussions on pesticide residues.
Following the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the cultivation of hemp, cannabidiol (CBD) became the star ingredient of 2019, featured on its own as an oil or in food and beverages. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) struggled to keep up with the hype; while CBD stayed in legal limbo, U.S. lawmakers and other public officials urged the agency to take action and create a legal framework for a burgeoning industry capitalizing on the popularity of CBD and its purported calming and healing effects. Several companies went too far in their marketing, however, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's and Federal Trade Commission's warning letters focused on the claimed benefits of the product. The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued its interim final rule on hemp production in October, but the announcement drew hundreds of comments urging the agency to make pragmatic adjustments. Sens. Ron…
