The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed rule establishing science-based standards for the growing, harvesting, packing and holding of produce for human consumption. The draft EIS reportedly identifies the following rule provisions as potentially significant to the human environment and offers alternatives for consideration: (i) standards directed to agricultural water, (ii) standards directed to biological soil amendments (BSA) of animal origin, (iii) standards directed to domesticated and wild animals, and (iv) general provisions. The agency has also announced a February 10, 2015, public meeting in College Park, Maryland, to discuss the draft EIS. See Federal Register, January 14, 2015. Issue 551
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
A bipartisan group of U.S. representatives has proposed legislation that would reduce excise taxes levied on the first two million barrels of beer sold annually by small brewers. Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) were joined by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), and Patrick Meehan (R-Penn.) in proposing the “Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act” (Small BREW Act) to impose an excise tax rate of $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels and $16 per barrel on the next 1,940,000 barrels. If passed, the law would apply only to brewers that produce six million barrels or fewer each year. “Small brewers—long an important part of American culture and history—have enjoyed a tremendous growth in popularity in recent years,” Meehan said in a January 8, 2015, press release. “But while our brewing industry has evolved, our tax code hasn’t evolved with it.…
According to a January 1, 2015, New York Times article by Andrew Pollack, the advent of new technologies has created a loophole in federal regulations for companies looking to market genetically-engineered (GE) crops. Noting that new techniques do not involve the transfer of genetic material from other species, use bacterium to insert foreign materials or rely on viruses to manipulate plant DNA, Pollack writes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lacks the authority to regulate these GE crops under its current mandate to protect against plant pests, including insects or pathogens. Although consumer watchdogs have warned that all GE crops could have unforeseen ecological consequences, proponents have argued that easing regulatory burdens will lower barriers to market entry and allow smaller companies to participate in product development. “Regulators around the world are now grappling with whether these techniques are even considered genetic engineering and how, if at all, they…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has published draft guidance clarifying the agency’s interpretation of regulations that require organic operations to “maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation, including soil and water quality.” Intended for accredited certifying agents and certified operations, the guidance provides examples of production practices that support the principles of natural resource and biodiversity conservation. It also describes (i) “the certified organic operator’s responsibility to select, carry out, and record production practices that ‘maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation’”; (ii) “the accredited certifying agent’s responsibility to verify operator compliance with this requirement”; and (ii) “how domestic organic operations that participate in a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) program and the NOP can reduce their paperwork burdens.” The agency will accept comments on the draft guidance until February 27, 2015. See Federal Register, December 29, 2014. Issue 550
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will host a January 13-14, 2015, public meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) at the Patriot Plaza III building in Washington, D.C. Topics of discussion at the meeting will include (i) FSIS’s identification and management of chemical hazards within the National Residue Program (i.e., contaminants in meat, poultry and egg products); and (ii) the Economic Research Service’s Cost Calculation Model, which provides federal agencies with peer-reviewed estimates of the costs of foodborne illness that can be used to evaluate the effects of federal regulation and inform policy considerations. See Federal Register, December 24, 2014. Issue 550
Responding to objections submitted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed its decision to allow the use of advantame as a non-nutritive sweetener and flavor enhancer in foods intended for human consumption. FDA apparently received 12 responses to its May 21, 2014, final rule on advantame, but only NRDC’s submission met the requirements for agency consideration. In particular, NRDC cited five animal studies allegedly showing that aspartame affects the hypothalamus, arguing that aspartame and advantame are “structurally related.” But FDA disagreed with this reasoning, noting that although advantame is structurally related to aspartame, the two substances are “chemically different and metabolized differently in the human body.” As a result, the agency did not consider the health effects of aspartame when reviewing the toxicological data for advantame. As the agency concluded, “NRDC’s objection to the advantame final rule does not provide any…
The French Directorate-General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) has released a guidance document detailing the implementation of new rules that ban the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in all food contact materials in their finished state as of January 1, 2015. The second part of a law that first prohibited BPA in products intended for children younger than age 3, the new rules apparently bar the use of BPA in (i) packaging and articles intended to come into contact with food, and (ii) containers and utensils, including kitchen utensils, tableware and dishes. These rules do not apply to industrial materials and equipment used in the production, processing, storage, or transportation of foodstuffs. See DGCCRF Guidance, December 8, 2014. In a related development, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced that it has finalized a scientific opinion on BPA. Slated for release in January 2015, the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule that would allow anyone producing, handling, marketing, or importing certified organic products to be exempt from paying the assessments associated with commodity promotion activities like advertising. The exemption would cover all “organic” and “100 percent organic” products certified under the National Organic Program. The current rule allows the exemption to apply only to those who exclusively produce and market products certified as 100 percent organic, but the proposed rule would broaden application to include all organic products regardless of whether the person or company imports or handles nonorganic products as well. Comments on the proposed rule must be received by January 15, 2015. See Federal Register, December 16, 2014. Issue 549
A “hand-shake” agreement between the European Union’s Parliament and Council will reportedly end an ongoing dispute over member state control of internal food markets in relation to genetically modified organism (GMO) cultivation. European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Adriukaitis reportedly said, “The agreement, if confirmed, would meet member states’ consistent calls since 2009, to have a final say on whether or not GMOs can be cultivated on their territory, in order to better take into account their national context and, above all, the views of their citizens.” Under the proposal, each EU country would have the authority to prohibit or restrict GMO cultivation for reasons other than food safety, including those involving socioeconomic effects, environmental concerns and agricultural policy goals. Current law allows member states to petition the European Food Safety Authority to limit such cultivation, but they must present scientific evidence showing the product is not safe to…
According to a news source, the organizations that supported an Oregon ballot initiative that would have required foods made with genetically engineered (GE) ingredients to be labeled as such have ended efforts to challenge a vote that narrowly defeated the measure. The groups apparently lost an emergency lawsuit seeking to include the ballots of some 4,600 voters who were rejected because the signatures on the vote-by-mail return envelopes did not match those on file. A court determined that the state’s rules on matching signatures were neither unreasonable nor illegal. An automatic recount had been triggered because the ballot proposal was defeated by slightly more than 800 votes out of 1.5 million cast. Of the initial 13,000 ballots with signature problems, 8,600 responded and matched their signatures. The remaining 4,600 were rejected. See Associated Press, December 11, 2014. Issue 548
