Chicago officials have voted to repeal a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax approved in November 2016 by the Cook County Board of Commissioners but delayed by a lawsuit arguing that the tax was unconstitutional. The tax took effect in August 2017 after a court dismissed the Illinois Retail Merchants Association's lawsuit. Retailers reportedly saw SSB sales decline 25 to 50 percent, while retailers with locations in surrounding counties not subject to the tax saw sales increase. In addition, the Chicago Tribune reported, "Internal polling for one Cook County commissioner showed more than 90 percent of constituents opposed the soda tax.” The repeal will take effect December 1, 2017. Other jurisdictions continue to experiment with SSB taxes. In April 2018, Ireland will begin taxing non-alcoholic, water- and juice-based drinks with an added sugar content of 5 grams or more per 100 milliliters. Pure fruit juices and dairy products will be exempt from the…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The National Advertising Division (NAD) has recommended that French’s Food Company pull Facebook and print advertising claiming that its ketchup and mustard products are “better” than their competitors, preferred by children and free from high-fructose corn syrup. NAD found that French’s was unable to substantiate several claims—“Tastier Meals,” “Greatest Tasting Ketchup” and “America’s #1 mustard has the greatest tasting ketchup"—and could not support the contention that the absence of GMO ingredients or high-fructose corn syrup made the products “better” than those of competitors. NAD also noted that the Facebook ad did not refer to any improvements or changes in French’s products that would make them “better” than previous versions. French’s has agreed to discontinue the ads.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed an additional extension for compliance with the menu labeling rules required by the Affordable Care Act. Under the proposed rule, the current compliance deadline of July 26, 2018, would be extended to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales; for manufacturers with less than that amount, the date would be extended to January 1, 2021.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned Nashoba Brook Bakery that it has misbranded its granola by listing “Love” as one of its ingredients. The warning letter informed the company that “'love' is not a common or usual name of an ingredient, and is considered to be intervening material because it is not part of the common or usual name of the ingredient.” “Intervening material” refers to information that is not required in FDA labeling and can distract from required content. The letter also cited the bakery for health and sanitary violations as well as misbranding violations for whole-wheat products that contain corn meal.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study has criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) for their failure to ensure that imported seafood does not contain unsafe levels of antibiotic or other drug residues. According to the GAO, about 90 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, and about half of imported seafood is raised on fish farms where producers treat fish to prevent infections and foodborne illnesses. GAO makes five main recommendations: (i) FDA should pursue agreements with exporting countries to test for “drugs of concern” and residue levels; (ii) FSIS should conduct onsite audits of fish farms instead of limiting visits to government offices, commercial food processing facilities and food testing labs; (iii) FSIS should require exporting countries to include residue-monitoring plans in equivalence determinations; (iv) FDA and FSIS should collaborate to develop…
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved an ordinance that will require certain grocery stores to report the use of antibiotics in raw meat and poultry. Scheduled to take effect in April 2018, the ordinance requires grocers that own or operate 25 or more stores to submit annual reports that include the purposes for which the antibiotics were used, the number of animals raised, the total volume of antibiotics administered and whether the use was “medically important.” Grocers who violate the ordinance may be subject to fines or imprisonment.
A report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fails to adequately conduct or follow up on food-safety inspections required by the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). OIG reportedly found that while FDA is “on track” to meet inspection timeframes for the initial mandate, future inspection timeframes are two years shorter and FDA may not be able to meet them. The report also stated that FDA did not always take action when it found significant safety violations and that the agency “commonly relied on facilities to voluntarily correct the violations” instead of taking advantage of FSMA administrative tools. FDA “consistently failed to conduct timely followup inspections” to ensure facilities made the necessary corrections, the report noted. In addition, “inaccuracies” in domestic facility data caused FDA to attempt inspections at the…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the National Consumers League have filed a joint motion to stay a lawsuit intended to compel the agency to implement the delayed menu labeling rule required by the Affordable Care Act. Ctr. for Sci. in the Pub. Interest v. Price, No. 17-1085 (D.D.C., filed September 15, 2017). FDA has agreed to: (i) confirm in the Federal Register on or before December 31, 2017, that the compliance date of the rule is May 7, 2018; (ii) publish draft or final guidance by December 31, 2017; and (iii) announce by “rule, guidance, public statement, publically-available document, or otherwise,” if the compliance date could or will be extended past May 2018. If FDA fails to meet those terms, the advocacy groups may move for, and FDA will not oppose, expedited hearing of the lawsuit. Additional details appear…
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has determined that member states cannot invoke the “precautionary principle” to restrict the cultivation and sale of crops developed from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if the European Commission has not determined that the crops “are likely to constitute a serious risk to human health, animal health or the environment.” Case C-111/16, Italy v. Fidenato (E.C.J., entered September 13, 2017). The ruling responded to a request from an Italian court overseeing the prosecution of three farmers accused of growing GMO maize in violation of Italian law. The district court judge stayed the criminal proceedings to ask the ECJ whether Italy had the authority to ban the crop despite EC approval of its cultivation and sale. In 2013, Italy asked the European Commission to adopt emergency measures allowing member states to apply a “precautionary principle” and implement risk-management measures where “the possibility of harmful effects on…
The Organic Trade Association has filed a lawsuit to compel the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement the Organic Livestock Rule, which was scheduled to take effect on March 18, 2017. Organic Trade Ass’n v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., No. 17-1875 (D.D.C., filed September 13, 2017). After 10 years of public process and hearing, USDA published the final rule in January 2017 along with formal recommendations from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) resulting from consultations required by the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA). On January 20, 2017, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus issued a memorandum to federal agencies directing them to temporarily postpone effective dates for regulations that had been published but had not yet taken effect. The complaint alleges that public comment should have been permitted on whether the Priebus memo applied to the Organic Livestock Rule because its standards affect only those who…
