The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a new “consumer-friendly” web portal detailing the latest recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts for food and other products regulated by FDA. According to an April 4, 2011, press release, the new searchable database organizes all recall information since 2009 “by date, product brand name, product description, reason for the recall, and the recalling firm.” It also provides a link to news releases about each recall, as well as a photograph of the products in question. Designed with input from stakeholder groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, and Pew Health Group, the web portal answers to Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements that FDA implement “a consumer-friendly recall search engine within 90 days after the law went into effect.” Under FSMA, the agency must also indicate whether it offered the opportunity…
Category Archives Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its proposed menu-labeling rule for chain restaurants and calorie-labeling rule for food in vending machines. According to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “These proposals will ensure that consumers have more information when they make their own food choices. Giving consumers clear nutritional information makes it easier for them to choose healthier options that can help fight obesity and make us all healthier.” Comments on the proposals, which were mandated under the Affordable Care Act, must be submitted by June 6, 2011, for the menu-labeling rule and by July 5 for the vending machine rule. Excluded from the menu-labeling rule are “[m]ovie theaters, airplanes, bowling alleys, and other establishments whose primary purpose is not to sell food,” and FDA is requesting comments “on whether additional types of food establishments should or should not be covered by the new rule.”…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a joint March 30, 2011, statement confirming traces of radiation in domestic cow’s milk, which the agencies have been monitoring since an earthquake and tsunami in Japan compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant. A screening sample taken near Spokane, Washington, apparently contained 0.8 pCi/L of iodine-131, an amount “more than 5,000 times lower than the Derived Intervention Level set by FDA.” Based “on very conservative assumptions,” this level defines the threshold at which “protective measures would be recommended to ensure that no one receives a significant dose.” “Iodine-131 has a short half-life of approximately eight days,” said the agencies. “These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children.” See FDA’s Radiation Safety: New and Updated Information, March 29,…
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Advisory Committee has reportedly rejected a proposal to require warning labels for artificial food dyes, thereby confirming its earlier position that “a causal relationship between exposure to color additives and hyperactivity in children in the general population has not been established.” The committee addressed the issue at a March 30-31, 2011, meeting, where it heard testimony from experts, consumers and advocacy groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which has long urged FDA to follow Europe’s example in encouraging companies to switch to non-synthetic alternatives. “It is to the great shame of many U.S.-based food companies that they are marketing safer, naturally colored products in Europe but not the United States,” opined CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson in a March 30, 2011, statement. See The New York Times, March 29, 2011; NPR, March 30, 2011. In particular, the advisory…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied requests to delay a final rule amending food additive regulations “to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for the control of Vibrio species and other foodborne pathogens in fresh or frozen molluscan shellfish.” According to FDA, it has reviewed opposition to the final rule and requests for a hearing, but concluded that objections filed by groups such as Public Citizen and the Center for Food Safety did not “justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the regulation.” In particular, the agency’s latest decision dismisses allegations that (i) FDA failed to consider evidence indicating “harmful effects from consumption of irradiated molluscan shellfish”; (ii) the final rule does not ensure a product “that is microbiologically safe”; (iii) there is no reasonable certainty of no harm; (iv) FDA failed to consider “several factors that could make irradiated molluscan shellfish unsafe”;…
The World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have continued to address public concerns about food produced in Japan, where a recent earthquake and tsunami compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. According to WHO, which has published a list of frequently asked questions about the disaster, “[f]ood safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency,” with some products likely to be deemed unsafe for human consumption. In areas where contamination has occurred, the organization has specifically urged citizens to avoid consuming milk or vegetables, slaughtering animals, hunting, harvesting aquatic animals and plants, or collecting other wild foods such as mushrooms. It has also asked producers to take numerous precautions to protect vegetables, livestock and rice harvests from fallout. “The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its first public meeting to discuss implementation of import safety provisions recently enacted by the Food Safety Modernization Act. Titled “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: Title III—A New Paradigm for Importers,” the March 29, 2011, meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, seeks stakeholder input to develop regulations and guidance “on importer verification, the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, import certifications for food, and third-party accreditation.” FDA requests comments by April 29, 2011. See Federal Register, March 14, 2011. In a related matter, FDA has also announced a public hearing on the agency’s new initiatives for ensuring the safety of imported foods and animal feed to reduce food borne illness. The March 30-31 hearing in College Park, Maryland, will “provide stakeholders the opportunity to discuss FDA’s use of international comparability assessments as a mechanism to enhance the safety of imported foods and animal feed and lessons…
According to a news source, the Customs and Border Patrol will begin scanning shipping containers arriving in the United States from Japan for radiation, following the earthquake and tsunami that caused explosions at the country’s nuclear plants, releasing high levels of radiation into the atmosphere. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly indicated that it is “closely monitoring the situation in Japan and is working with the Japanese government and other U.S. agencies to continue to ensure that imported food remains safe.” The agency “will be examining both food products labeled as having originated in Japan or having passed through Japan in transit.” Affected shipments are not expected until the week of March 21, 2011, so FDA is reportedly not concerned about imports already in U.S. ports. It is also believed that the earthquake and tsunami shut down fishing, harvesting and food processing operations in the region. According to an…
The National Consumers League (NCL) recently filed formal comments with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), opposing a petition to register “corn sugar” as an alternative name for high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Claiming that the change “would be inconsistent with longstanding FDA common or usual name regulations,” NCL argues that “permitting HFCS to be called ‘corn sugar’ would allow manufacturers to conceal this ingredient from consumers.” “HFCS has been the name of the ingredient since FDA’s original GRAS affirmation regulation in 1983,” writes NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg in a letter warning that the science is still evolving. “If it should turn out that HFCS does contribute to higher caloric intake, and therefore obesity, or other adverse health outcomes, a regulatory decision that would allow manufacturers to hide this ingredient from consumers could come back to haunt FDA.” See FoodNavigator-USA.com, March 8, 2011; NCL Press Release, February 10, 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule that amends its food additive regulations to allow hydrogen peroxide to be used as an “antimicrobial agent in the manufacture of modified whey by ultrafiltration methods.” Effective March 2, 2011, the rule responds to a petition filed by Fonterra (USA) Inc. requesting the change as an alternative to “electrodialysis methods” used in whey processing. Hydrogen peroxide has been affirmed as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption when electrodialysis methods are used for whey processing under certain conditions. After reviewing data on ultrafiltration methods, FDA has determined that hydrogen peroxide “will achieve its intended technical effect as an antimicrobial agent under the proposed conditions of use.” FDA requests objections to the rule or requests for a hearing by April 1. See Federal Register, March 2, 2011.
