The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report recommending how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could improve the safety of school meals purchased through its commodities program. The report recommends that USDA instruct the commodity program to (i) “develop a systematic and transparent process to determine whether foods offered by the program require more-stringent specifications related to microbial contamination, including steps to: identify pathogens, strains of pathogens, or other foods that merit more stringent-specifications; document the scientific basis used to develop the specifications; and review the specifications on a periodic basis”; and (ii) “share information with school districts in a more explicit form regarding the foods covered by more-stringent purchasing specifications related to microbial contamination to enable districts to make more informed choices.”
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
A federal court has reportedly approved a $760 million government settlement with Native American farmers and ranchers who claimed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discriminated against them by denying them equal access to credit through the agency’s Farm Loan Program. Keepseagle v. Vilsack, No. 99-03119 (D.D.C., settlement approved April 28, 2011). A final dispute over attorney’s fees was resolve in class counsel’s favor; they will receive 8 percent of the settlement, or $60.8 million. The Department of Justice apparently urged the court to halve that amount. According to a news source, the settlement funds do not require legislative action to be awarded; farmers must file their claims by December 2011. President Barack Obama (D) said, “Today’s approval of the settlement will help strengthen our nation to nation relationship with Indian Country and reinforce the idea that all citizens have a right to be treated fairly by their government.” Under…
A proposed California bill (A.B. 669) that would have levied a state tax on sweetened beverages has reportedly died in a legislative committee. Sponsored by Assembly Member Bill Monning (D-Carmel), the proposed tax of 1 cent per fluid ounce on soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet teas, and other sugary beverages would have raised an estimated $1.7 billion for health-related programs for children. Monning has vowed to continue supporting the tax, asserting that “the long-term health of California’s children is at risk and we must work together to avoid a future influx of chronically ill adults into our already overstressed health care system.” See The (San Jose) Mercury News, April 26, 2011.
Chinese authorities have reportedly seized more than 25 tons of melamine-tainted milk powder from Chongqing-based Jixida Food Co. Ltd., detaining three suspects on allegations that the company planned to use the adulterated ingredient in its ice cream. Found in a warehouse, the contaminated stock evidently included some powder purchased approximately one year ago, although officials claimed that none had been used in ice cream production. According to media sources, investigators have traced the milk powder to a trading company in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and a dairy in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The arrests were apparently part of a 100-day food safety campaign organized by the Chongqing police. In 2008, China faced a widespread scandal involving melamine-tainted milk and infant formula that affected an estimated 300,000 people. See The Associated Press and Global Times, April 27, 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of updated safety standard guidelines for the seafood industry. The 476-page document “supports and complements FDA’s regulations for the safe and sanitary processing and importing of fish and fishery products using hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) methods” required of commercial seafood processors. The revised guidance provides current information on (i) “potential hazards associated with the known commercial species of vertebrate and invertebrate seafood,” (ii) “potential hazards associated with certain processing operations,” (iii) “HACCP strategies that may be used to control the potential hazards,” and (iv) “other information related to food safety.” See Federal Register, April 28, 2011.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its proposed voluntary principles for marketing food to children in an effort to encourage “stronger and more meaningful self-regulation by the food industry.” Designed by an FTC-led interagency working group with input from the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture, the guidelines seek “to improve the nutritional profiles of foods marketed directly to children ages 2-17 and to tap into the power of advertising and marketing to support healthful choices.” To this end, the preliminary standards would require that, by 2016, all products marketed to this age group (i) “make a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet” and (ii) “contain limited amounts of nutrients that have a negative impact on health or weight (saturated fats, trans fat, added sugars, and sodium).” To meet the first principle, marketed foods must feature “at least one of…
Maryland’s attorney general (AG), joined by the AGs of 17 states and the territory of Guam, have expressed to Pabst Brewing Co. concerns over the company’s “new flavored malt beverage, Blast by Colt 45,” characterizing it as a “flavored ‘binge in a can.’” In his April 21, 2011, letter, Attorney General Douglas Gansler alleges that selling a fruit-flavored beverage with an alcohol concentration of 12 percent in brightly colored 23.5 ounce cans, “poses a grave public safety threat and is irresponsible.” He contends that the target market includes underage consumers, “in violation of state law.” According to Ganlser, each can contains 4.7 servings of alcohol and, if consumed quickly as intended, an individual “will have engaged in binge drinking, putting himself or herself at risk of serious injury and other health and safety problems.” The AGs call on Pabst’s CEO to “take immediate steps to significantly reduce the number of servings…
Swedish government officials have reportedly asked food processors and packaging companies to submit alternatives to bisphenol A (BPA) in food and beverage can linings. The Swedish Chemicals Agency and the National Food Administration want the companies to submit plans by the end of 2011 and manufacturers to outline when BPA alternatives would be available to the food industry. See CN Brewing, April 20, 2011.
The European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) has reportedly amended draft legislation “to ensure that labels are legible, do not mislead, and provide the information that consumers need to make choices.” According to an April 19, 2011, press release, ENVI members have passed draft legislation “that aims to modernize, simplify and clarify” food labels by requiring them to include “mandatory nutritional information, inter alia on artificial trans fats and the country of provenance.” Under the new rules, meat products would also bear additional labeling to indicate “where the animal was born, reared and slaughtered,” whether the animal was “slaughtered without stunning (in accordance with certain religious traditions),” and whether a product is “formed meat” containing various meat parts. The rules would also forbid labels from misleading consumers about replaced ingredients and require foods containing aspartame to be labeled “Contains aspartame (a source of phenylalanine; might be unsuitable…
EPA has issued a final rule exempting milk, milk product containers and milk production equipment from Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. Effective June 17, 2011, the rule could potentially save the milk and dairy industries more than $140 million a year by eliminating “unnecessary burdens,” according to EPA. Implemented in the 1970s to protect U.S. inland waters and shorelines, SPCC regulations require facilities storing more than 1,320 gallons of oil to “create and implement plans to prepare, prevent and respond to oil spills.” The exemption does not apply to “fuel oil and other applicable oils stored on farms, farms that store the regulatory threshold of fuel oil and other applicable oils covered under the SPCC.” Because some facilities may still have oil storage subject to SPCC regulations, the rule also excludes milk storage capacity from a facility’s total oil storage capacity calculation and removes compliance date requirements…
