Public health advocates from around the country have sent a letter to President Barack Obama (D) urging his administration to finalize the April 2011 proposed voluntary standards for food marketing to children. The guidelines would set limits on the amount of unhealthy fats, added sugars and sodium in foods advertised to children ages 2-17. Additional information on the proposed guidelines, which were designed by a Federal Trade Commission-led working group, can be found in Issue 392 of this Update. The September 27 letter was signed by 75 individuals claiming expertise in nutrition, marketing, medicine, and public health, including Kelly Brownell, Director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity; anti-tobacco attorney Richard Daynard, Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute; Frank Hu, Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health; Marion Nestle, New York University Professor of Nutrition and Food Studies; and Juliet Schor,…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
A new Environmental Health Perspectives paper discusses a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee’s recent conclusion that the evidence is too inconclusive to associate children’s consumption of artificial colors in food with hyperactivity or to recommend warning labels. Titled “Synthetic Food Colors and Neurobehavioral Hazards: The View from Environmental Health Research,” the paper suggests that if FDA had approached the issue from an environmental health perspective and broadened its inquiry to consider a range of adverse effects, current research findings could have supported a different outcome. The author notes that the review confined itself “to the clinical diagnosis of hyperactivity . . . rather than asking the broader environmental question of behavioral effects in the general population; it failed to recognize the significance of vulnerable subpopulations; it misinterpreted the meaning of effect size as a criterion of risk.” The article concludes that scientific risk reviews with “too narrow a…
WSJ Reporter Ashby Jones provides an overview of the recent spate of lawsuits challenging food makers’ claims that their products are “All Natural” or “100% Natural.” Without an official Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition of the term, determining whether such product claims constitute fraud can be difficult, according to lawyers such as Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Stephen Gardner, who was quoted as saying, “We badly want them to provide some clarity on the issue, but they’ve repeatedly failed to do anything.” The article notes how FDA muddied the waters for products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) by announcing in 2008 that it is not “natural” and then later pronouncing that it actually depends on how synthetic ingredients are used to make the HFCS. Details about the FDA’s HFCS actions appear in Issues 255 and 266 of this Update. An FDA spokesperson acknowledged that the agency has…
Asserting that its technical animal drug-regulation amendment is not subject to congressional review, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule that increases the allowable residues of progesterone in edible tissues of cattle and sheep to reflect revised daily consumption values in a 1994 guidance document. According to the Federal Register notice, “Progesterone is approved for use in subcutaneous implants used for increased rate of weight gain in suckling beef calves and steers and in vaginal inserts used for management of the estrous cycle in female cattle and ewes.” The rule took effect on September 19, 2011, when it was published.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a consumer update reassuring the public about the safety of apple juice after a TV talk show claimed that certain brands contain high levels of arsenic. Mehmet Oz, who hosts “The Dr. Oz Show,” apparently sent 50 apple juices samples to EMSL Analytical, Inc., which measured total arsenic levels as high as 36 parts per billion (ppb) in one sample. After learning of the results, FDA sent two letters to the show’s producers asking them not to air the segment, not only because the results seemed “erroneously high” but also because the laboratory only considered the total amount of arsenic. “As we have previously advised you, the results from total arsenic tests CANNOT be used to determine whether a food is unsafe because of its arsenic content,” stated FDA in its September 9, 2011, letter. “We have explained to you that arsenic occurs…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed amendments to rules issued under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires the owners and operators of websites intended for children younger than age 13 to obtain “verifiable consent from parents before collecting, using, or disclosing such information from children.” The amendments apparently seek to address recent changes in how children access the internet as well as innovations in social media and other online services. According to a September 15, 2011, FTC press release, the proposal would modify the COPPA rule in five areas: (i) “definitions, including the definitions of ‘personal information’ and ‘collection’”; (ii) “parental notice”; (iii) “parental consent mechanisms”; (iv) “confidentiality and security of children’s personal information”; and (v) “the role of self-regulatory ‘safe harbor’ programs.” Notably, the amendments would expand the definition of “personal information” to include “geolocation information and certain types of persistent identifiers used for functions other…
A coalition of meat, poultry and egg industry interests recently submitted a letter to the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the “Super Committee,” urging it to reject a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fiscal year 2012 budget that would impose “user fees” on industry for government-mandated food safety inspection programs. Claiming that the inspection programs have been funded by taxpayers for more than a century, the trade associations contend that “user fees” would affect the price of meat, effectively imposing a regressive tax on low- and middle-income families who “spend a higher portion of their income on food than do wealthier Americans.” The letter does not indicate how government food safety inspections can be maintained if the Super Committee, tasked with making significant reductions in the U.S. deficit, slashes USDA’s budget. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) reportedly called for…
According to documents obtained by Associated Press reporter Thomas Watkins, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is currently considering a Corn Refiners Association petition to allow high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to be called “corn sugar,” has written to the association indicating concern with the trade group using the terms interchangeably. In the July 12, 2011, letter, an FDA director reportedly stated, “We request that you re-examine your websites and modify statements that use the term ‘corn sugar’ as a synonym for (high fructose corn syrup).” On behalf of the association, Audrae Erickson reportedly stated, “We do not believe that anyone could be confused or believe that the statements regarding ‘corn sugar’ on the websites refer to anything other than high fructose corn syrup.” Watkins notes that FDA has no regulatory authority over the association’s advertising because it promotes an industry and not a product. The FDA letter apparently indicated…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have established new dockets “to obtain comments, data and evidence relevant to the dietary intake of sodium as well as current and emerging approaches designed to promote sodium reduction.” FDA and FSIS have warned that current sodium consumption “is substantially higher than what has been recommended by scientific and public health agencies and organizations,” including the Institute of Medicine and the USDA in its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. According to the September 15, 2011, Federal Register notice, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2010 that over 80 percent of adults (>=20 years) recommended to consume less than 2,300 mg/d [milligrams per diem] of sodium in fact consumed more than 2,300 mg/d.” The new dockets invite stakeholders and other interested persons to provide information about (i) “current and…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently announced its intention to prohibit six serogroups of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in addition to E. coli O157:H7. According to FSIS, the agency plans to begin testing for the additional STEC on March 5, 2012, at which time those six strains will be deemed adulterants and barred from commerce under the Federal Meat Inspection Act if detected in raw ground beef, its components or tenderized steak. “As a result of today’s action, if the E. coli serogroups O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 and O145 are found in raw ground beef or its precursors, those products will be prohibited from entering commerce,” stated a September 13, 2011, USDA press release, which also solicits comments on the policy change for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
