The Washington Department of Ecology has implemented the second part of a statewide measure “banning the sale of certain products containing BPA,” which now includes sports bottles with capacity up to 64 ounces. As of July 1, 2012, sport bottles containing bisphenol A (BPA) can no longer “be made, sold or distributed” in the state in accordance with a 2010 law passed by the state legislature. The first phase of the law, which took effect July 1, 2011, already prohibits “bottles, cups or other containers intended for children under age 3 that contain BPA,” although “cans designed to hold or pack food will still be allowed to contain BPA.” “A number of national and international scientific organizations have expressed concerns that BPA can interfere with the body’s hormonal system,” said the department in a July 11, 2012, press release. “Recent studies suggest some children may be exposed to enough BPA…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
At the European Commission’s request, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a scientific statement on the safety of food products derived from animal clones. In its June 2012 statement, EFSA reaffirms its earlier statements and opinions, noting that no new information has changed its conclusion that meat and milk from healthy cattle and pig clones and their offspring are no different “compared with those from healthy conventionally bred animals.” EFSA also finds no evidence that cloning farmed animals poses any particular threats to genetic diversity or biodiversity. Still, the scientific statement underlines that animal health and welfare “were compromised in a proportion of clones, mainly observed as increased mortality within the postnatal and juvenile period of calve and piglet clones, as well as in a proportion of the surrogate dams that were affected by abnormal pregnancies.” See EFSA News Release, July 5, 2012.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a July 6, 2012, notice announcing its decision to restructure its National Residue Program to permit more extensive compound testing of meat, poultry and egg products. According to FSIS, the revamped program aims to reduce the number of samples analyzed while allowing the agency to assess more compounds per sample using improved multi-residue methods. In particular, these methods will enable FSIS to screen for pesticides and environmental contaminants as well as legal and illegal veterinary drugs such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and growth promoters. “Under the new system, one sample may be tested for as many as 55 pesticide chemicals, 9 kinds of antibiotics, various metals, and eventually more than 50 other chemicals,” explained the agency in a July 2 press release, which noted that the previous program required FSIS to collect one sample per animal and…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will take part in a collaborative effort to create a public database that will contain 100,000 foodborne pathogen genomes to help facilitate the identification of those responsible for outbreaks involving bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli. Called “The 100K Genome Project,” the undertaking will apparently be a five-year genetic sequencing program openly accessible to researchers and others helping to develop tests that would identify the type of bacteria present in a sample within days or hours. According to one project participant, “Each year in the United States there are more than 48 million cases of foodborne illness. A problem of this magnitude demands an equally large countermeasure.” See FDA News Release, July 12, 2012.
U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) has released the responses to a February 16, 2012, letter sent to 60 food producers and retailers “asking them to disclose their policies on antibiotic use in meat and poultry production.” After analyzing the results, Slaughter has purportedly revealed that “while a small number of industry leaders provide antibiotic-free meat and poultry products, an overwhelming majority of food production companies routinely feed low-doses of antibiotics to healthy food-animals.” In particular, Slaughter has used these findings to bolster support for the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), “which would end the routine use of antibiotics on healthy animals” and “preserve the effectiveness of medically important antibiotics.” To this end, she has also highlighted a recent Consumers Union report, “Meat On Drugs,” as evidence that consumers would purchase antibiotic-free products in supermarkets. “Through my survey, the food industry has provided us valuable information, and with…
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) alleging that they have failed, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, to produce documents pertaining to risk assessments for antibiotics used in livestock production. NRDC v. FDA, No. 12-4757 (S.D.N.Y., filed June 18, 2012). Seeking a declaration that the defendants violated FOIA and an order that they disclose “all responsive, non-exempt records to plaintiff within fifteen days,” NRDC refers to industry guidance that FDA issued in 2003 on “assessing the safety of antimicrobial new animal drugs with regard to the microbiological effects on bacteria of human health concern” and actions the defendants have taken since then relying on the guidance. After FDA acknowledged in a December 2011 Federal Register notice that it had begun “to look at the safety of some .…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is seeking public comments on its proposal to establish a Proposition 65 maximum allowable dose level for sulfur dioxide of 220 micrograms per day. Comments should be submitted by August 20, 2012. Requests for a public hearing must be made no later than August 6. Sulfur dioxide preserves the color and flavor of dried, light-colored fruits, such as golden raisins and dried apricots, peaches, apples, pineapple, papaya, and mango, and acts as an antimicrobial agent. According to OEHHA’s draft interpretive guideline, a warning for exposure to sulfur dioxide from consumption of dried fruit is not required under Proposition 65 because reasonably anticipated rates of exposure “will be below the proposed Maximum Allowable Dose Level.” Sulfur dioxide was added to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity in July 2011; the particular type of toxicity found was…
After two years of deliberation, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has reportedly agreed to issue draft regulations that would require energy drink manufacturers to rebrand their products as “caffeinated beverages.” Based on the findings of an expert panel convened to study caffeine and energy drink consumption in India, the draft regulations would apparently set an upper caffeine limit of 320 milligrams per liter or 320 parts per million (ppm) in caffeinated beverages, as well as prohibit any nutritive claims and the use of the word “energy” as a descriptor. FSSAI has also proposed that all energy drinks bear safety labels warning that such products (i) are “not recommended for children, pregnant or lactating women, persons sensitive to caffeine and sportspersons,” (ii) should not be consumed in excess of two cans per day, and (iii) contain a “high caffeine content.” “We had been considering the standards for…
The European Commission has apparently sent “a reasoned opinion” to 10 member states “that have failed to correctly implement Directive 1994/74EC which introduces a ban on the use of un-enriched cages for laying hens,” according to a June 21, 2012, EU press release. The Commission has given Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal two months to ensure compliance with the directive before referral to the EU Court of Justice. These countries apparently still permit the use of “un-enriched cages” for laying hens “despite the ban which came into force in January 2012 for which they have had 12 years to prepare.” Under the directive, “all laying hens must be kept in ‘enriched cages’ with extra space to nest, scratch and roost,” or in systems with at least 750 square centimeters of cage area as well as “a nest-box, litter, perches and claw-shortening devices, allowing…
The Council of the European Union has issued a “One Health” perspective document recognizing that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) “is accelerated by excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents” and asking member states to “develop and implement national strategies or action plans for countering AMR.” According to the perspective document, which underlined the need for “an active holistic approach” to combating AMR, “some practices in human and in animal healthcare including the possible incentives deriving from the prescription and subsequent sale of antimicrobial agents may lead to inappropriate use and overuse of antimicrobial agents.” In particular, the Council has advocated restrictions on both the human and veterinary use of critically important microbials (CIAs) and newly developed microbials “with the aim in the future to reserve CIAs as much as possible for human use.” To this end, the Council has requested that member states curb the prophylactic use of all antimicrobials while…
