The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dedicated its February 2012 issue of Vital Signs to reducing population salt intake, claiming that nine out of 10 Americans ages 2 years or older consume more sodium than recommended for a healthy diet. Noting that too much dietary sodium can result in high blood pressure leading to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, CDC reports that the average adult consumes approximately 3,300 milligrams daily, some 1,000 mg more than the recommended amount for adults. According to Vital Signs, approximately 65 percent of dietary sodium comes from processed foods bought in retail stores and approximately 25 percent from foods prepared in restaurants. More than 40 percent is reportedly linked to “breads and rolls, cold cuts and cured meats such as deli or packaged ham or turkey, pizza, fresh and processed poultry, soups, sandwiches such as cheeseburgers, cheese, pasta dishes…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued a proposed rule that would regulate the use of synthetic methionine in organic poultry production after a current interim final rule expires on October 1, 2012. According to a February 6, 2012, Federal Register notice, the rule would amend the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) to permit the following maximum levels of synthetic methionine per ton of feed: (i) two pounds for laying and broiler chickens; and (ii) three pounds for turkey and all other poultry. NOP has requested public comments on the proposed rule by April 6. The National List currently classifies methionine “as an essential amino acid because it cannot be biologically produced by poultry and is necessary to maintain viability.” The substance occurs naturally in feed sources that include blood meal, fish meal, crab meal, corn gluten meal, alfalfa meal, and sunflower…
Three consumer advocacy organizations have filed a petition with the Office of Food Additive Safety of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition requesting that ABT Technologies’ application to approve genetically engineered (GE) salmon be reviewed under the food additive provisions of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The company’s new animal drug application for the GE salmon is currently pending before the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. According to Food & Water Watch, Consumers Union and the Center for Food Safety, the company’s GE process “significantly alters the salmon’s composition . . . in a way that is reasonably expected to alter its nutritive value or concentration of constituents, and the new substance raises safety concerns. Under the Agency’s regulations and guidelines, such a substance must be treated as a food additive and the Agency must make a closer inquiry into the safety…
U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais (D-Tenn.) has introduced a bill (H.R. 3848) that would prohibit federal money from being used in any advertising campaign “against the use of a food or beverage that is lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” DesJarlais told a news source that the legislation, titled the “Protecting Foods and Beverages from Government Attack Act of 2012,” responds to New York City’s recent anti-obesity ad campaign featuring a poster of a diabetic man with an amputated leg with the tagline, “Cut Your Portions, Cut Your Risk.” DesJarlais claims the campaign encouraging subway riders to reduce their portions of food and sugary drinks was funded with federal stimulus money targeted for anti-obesity efforts. “Our top priority should be restarting the economy and creating jobs—not funding scare campaigns against perfectly safe and legal products,” he said in a press release. “At a time when our nation faces…
U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have proposed legislation (H.R. 3984) that would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish standards for arsenic and lead in fruit juices within two years. Titled the “Arsenic Prevention and Protection from Lead Exposure in Juice Act of 2012,” or the “APPLE Juice Act of 2012,” the proposal is designed to “protect children from harmful health effects of significant juice consumption,” the lawmakers said in a joint press release. Calling for lead and arsenic to be as strictly regulated in juice as they are in bottled water, the lawmakers said the bill came in response to a Consumer Reports investigation revealing “alarmingly high levels” of the toxins in apple and grape juice in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. “We must ensure that the juices our children drink are safe, particularly when 70 percent of the apple juice…
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) has proposed eliminating the state’s sales tax exemption on soft drinks and candy to combat obesity and control rising health care costs. Included in his fiscal year 2013 budget recommendation, Deval’s plan would reportedly raise $61.5 million targeted in large part to preserving public health programs and preventative care services. “In the past 10 years, the percentage of Massachusetts adults with diabetes has almost doubled, and obesity will soon pass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death,” according to a recent budget issue brief released by the governor. “Consumption of candy and soda is on the rise. Per capita candy consumption has increased steadily since the mid-1980s. Candy and soda add significant non-nutritional calories to the diets of Americans and are directly linked to obesity, especially among children.” See News Release of Governor Deval Patrick, January 25, 2012.
The European Commission recently released a new animal welfare strategy designed to close gaps in the current laws and remedy a lack of uniform enforcement. According to a January 20, 2012, press release, the strategy ultimately aims to (i) provide consumers with more information about “what animal-welfare claims made on product labels really mean,” (ii) ensure that existing rules “really do benefit animals,” and (iii) improve training for animal handlers. In addition, the Commission has pledged to address the transportation of animals to slaughter, as well as introduce a general animal welfare bill and bills pertaining specifically to pig welfare over the next four years. The announcement apparently followed a citizen petition covered in Issue 422 of this Update and initiated by World Horse Welfare (WHW), which called for an eight-hour limit on the transportation of livestock to slaughter. Nevertheless, the group has since criticized the new strategy’s failure to…
The European Parliament has reportedly vetoed a European Commission (EC) proposal that would have permitted reformulated food products to display “percent less” claims pertaining to their fat, salt and sugar contents. According to a February 2, 2012, press release, the rejected changes to Annex of EC Regulation 1924/2006 “would have allowed, for example, a ‘15% less sugar’ claim, which would be based on a previous formulation of the same product,” as well as a “No added salt/sodium” claim. The 393 members of Parliament (MEPs) who voted against the proposal apparently argued that products with such claims “could misleadingly appear healthier” than those with labels indicating a reduced level of sugar, salt or fat. Under current EU legislation, a reduced nutrient claim “may only be made where the reduction in content is at least 30% compared to a similar product, except . . . for sodium, or the equivalent value for salt,…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a report outlining eight proposals to make its “publicly available compliance and enforcement data more accessible and user-friendly.” Under the initiatives described in the report, FDA will explore different ways to (i) “improve data quality and facilitate more timely data disclosure”; (ii) expedite error reporting; (iii) “present its compliance and enforcement data graphically and better utilize mobile web applications”; (iv) “better integrate its compliance and enforcement data”; (v) improve the search capabilities of the inspections database; (vi) post additional data compilations or analysis; (vii) “better utilize social media”; and (viii) “provide appropriate context for the compliance and enforcement data that it discloses.” See Federal Register, February 1, 2012.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will share with other federal agencies confidential business information relating to genetically engineered (GE) plants submitted under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. EPA has entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to this effect with the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the notice, the MOU “will support and encourage cooperation and communication between USDA, FDA, and EPA in the regulatory oversight over genetically engineered plants and foods derived from such plants. Under the MOU, USDA’s Office of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/ Biotechnology Regulatory Services (APHIS/BRS) and EPA agree to share with each other information about genetically engineered plants and the foods derived from such plants, including non-public information exempt from public disclosure usually referred to as ‘confidential business…
