Italy has reportedly proposed new legislation that would require food manufacturers to include country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on all pre-packaged food labels or face fines of up to €18,000. Under the proposal, food-product labels must list an Italian address for the food’s production facility or indicate that the food is made outside of the country. Italy’s COOL initiative for dairy products takes effect April 18, 2017, and a similar initiative for pasta products is pending. See Food Navigator, April 10, 2017. Issue 631
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
Canada has announced a proposal to ban the use of partially hydrogenated oils (PHO) in food by adding them to the agency’s “List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Food” by summer 2018. That deadline would bring Canada in line with the United States, where food manufacturers have until June 2018 to remove PHO from their products. The agency’s goal is to reduce trans fats for most Canadians to less than one percent of their total energy intake, which is expected to lead to a reduced risk of heart disease. Health Canada proposes defining PHO in their food and drug regulations as fats and oils that (i) “have been hydrogenated, but not to complete or near complete saturation” and (ii) “have an iodine value (IV) greater than 4.” The proposal would identify PHO as a food adulterant if present at any level. The agency will continue to consider additional…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced an extension to its comment periods for information on the use of genome editing techniques in animals and in plant varieties used for human or animal food. Comments on FDA's draft guidance, "Regulation of Intentionally Altered Genomic DNA in Animals," and on the use of genome editing techniques to produce new plant varieties will be accepted until June 19, 2017. Issue 631
Several members of Congress, led by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (RFla.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DFla.), have urged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin to review the Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC's) "unprecedented decision to grant a license to allow Cubaexport, an entity whollyowned by the Cuban government, to renew an expired trademark registration for Havana Club rum in the United States." The lawmakers express concern about the implications for American intellectual property rights holders because "Cubaexport claims rights to the Havana Club registration through its confiscation, without compensation, of the Jose Arechabala Company" in 1960. "By allowing the Cuban regime to register the Havana Club trademark, OFAC is out of step with longstanding United States policy, and has set a terrible precedent for American intellectual property rights holders," Wasserman Schultz said in a March 29, 2017, press release. "I urge OFAC to reverse…
The California legislature is considering a bill to make the state the first in the nation to ban perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) from restaurant food wrappers and containers. The bill proposes that food providers “shall not serve, sell, offer for sale, or offer for promotional purposes prepared food or fast food in, on, or with take-out foodservice ware or packaging that contains a fluorinated chemical.” The bill has been referred to the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and set for hearing on April 25, 2017. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scientists do not have enough information to evaluate the health effects of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—a group of materials to which PFCs belong—although some studies have allegedly shown that PFAS may affect the growth of fetuses, decrease fertility and interfere with normal hormonal function, among other possible effects. Exposure to PFAS…
A majority of EU countries reportedly voted against allowing the cultivation of two genetically modified (GM) types of maize as well as the extension of approved cultivation areas for another GM maize already grown in Spain. Neither vote was decisive under EU rules, which require 65 percent of countries’ votes to decide, so the determination will go to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. See Reuters, March 27, 2017. In an April 4, 2017, press release, members of European Parliament urged the European Commission to halt plans to allow the import of GM maize, highlighting "the lack of data on the many subcombinations of the variety—all of which would also be authorised" and arguing for reform of the GM authorization procedure. Issue 630
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced that glyphosate will be listed under the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Prop. 65). In September 2015, OEHHA announced its findings on the carcinogenicity of glyphosate, a chemical used in pesticides that has been targeted in several putative class actions challenging whether a product can be "natural" if its ingredients retain some glyphosate residue from the growing process. The effective date of listing and the proposed safe harbor level will be determined after a California appeals court rules on a stay. Issue 630
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have reportedly ended their investigations into Hampton Creek's alleged sales-inflation buyback operation, in which employees purchased jars of the company's Just Mayo product then sold the jars back to the company. Bloomberg initially reported that the company had expensed $1.4 million for "Inventory Consumed for Samples and Internal Testing” while reporting $1.9 million in sales during the same period, but a forensic consulting team with an accounting firm commissioned by Hampton Creek apparently found that the company spent less than half of one percent of sales on the buyback program. Additional information on the Bloomberg report appears in Issue 613 of this Update. See Fortune, March 24, 2017. Issue 629
The Senate Agriculture Committee has approved Sonny Perdue's nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with Perdue receiving support from all members of the committee except Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with an abstention from Sonny Perdue's cousin, David Perdue (R-Ga.). The full Senate vote has not yet been scheduled. See Politico, March 30, 2017. After criticism over potential conflicts of interest, nominee for commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Scott Gottlieb has promised to recuse himself for one year from agency decisions involving more than a dozen companies. Gottlieb faces a Senate confirmation hearing on April 5, 2017. See The New York Times, March 29, 2017. Issue 629
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has obtained a consent decree against Valley Milk Products LLC prohibiting the sale of more than four million pounds of milk powder products and preventing the company from manufacturing the products in the future. U.S. v. All 50 pound high heat nonfat dry milk powder (Grade A), No. 16-0076, (W.D. Va., order entered March 17, 2017). DOJ seized dry milk and dry buttermilk products at the company’s Strasburg, Virginia, facility in November 2016 after FDA inspections found unsanitary conditions and confirmed samples of Salmonella and Listeria. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Salmonella strains were “nearly identical” to strains found at Strasburg in 2010, 2011 and 2013, indicating “the existence of persistent/resident strain and harborage” of the bacteria at the facility. DOJ also alleged the products were “contaminated with filth” after inspectors found dark brown droplets forming on metal surfaces of…
