The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final rule that amends National Organic Program (NOP) regulations to establish “a pasture practice standard for ruminant animals.” Seeking “to satisfy consumer expectations that ruminant livestock animals graze on pastures during the grazing season,” the final rule requires producers to (i) “provide year-round access for all animals to the outdoors”; (ii) “recognize pasture as a crop”; (iii) “establish a functioning management plan for pasture”; (iv) “incorporate the pasture management plan into their organic system plan (OSP)”; (v) “provide ruminants with pasture throughout the grazing season for their geographical location”; and (vi) “ensure ruminants derive not less than an average of 30 percent of their dry matter intake (DMI) requirement from pasture grazed over the course of the grazing season.” This rule takes effect June 17, 2010, for operations seeking organic certification by this date. Operations already certified as of…
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it sent letters to 11 unnamed companies in late January 2010, warning that their promotions and product packaging for omega-3 fatty acid supplements may violate the law “by making baseless claims about how the supplements benefit children’s brain and vision function and development.” FTC apparently gave the companies until February 8 to respond and explain what they have done or will do to ensure they are complying with the law, that is, that their health-related claims “are substantiated.” FTC provides as an example of substantiation “well-conducted, clinical cause-and-effect studies demonstrating that the use of the combination of Omega-3 fatty acids provided in Product X, in the same dosage as provided by one serving of the product, improves or promotes brain function, cognitive function, attention span, intelligence, memory, learning ability, and visual acuity in normal children ages 2 years and older.” The agency…
This article discusses the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) renewed interest in revising its approach to food serving sizes as front-of-package labeling gains traction in the marketplace. According to Times writer William Neuman, “The push to re-evaluate serving size comes as the F.D.A. is considering ways to better convey nutrition facts to hurried consumers, in particular by posting key information on the front of packages. Officials say such labeling will be voluntary, but the agency must set rules to prevent companies from highlighting the good things about their products, like a lack of trans fats, while ignoring the bad, like a surfeit of unhealthy saturated fats.” Created in the 1990s to help shoppers “compare the nutritional values of different products,” serving sizes are based on eating habit surveys taken during the 1970s and 1980s. Neuman claims, however, that while many people “might eat two or three times” the serving size…
According to a news source, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors, who test the meat and trimmings used in ground beef, deal with about 60 positive E. coli tests annually by taking steps to ensure that the tested meat does not reach consumers, but they apparently fail to conduct a full inspection to try to pinpoint the source of contamination or locate additional meat that may be contaminated. Food safety and consumer advocates, such as Food & Water Watch, have reportedly called on the USDA to adopt a policy change that would require deeper investigations when positive results turn up in routine investigations. They contend that this could indicate a breakdown in the food safety system and consumers are at risk because other tainted meat could remain in the food chain. A spokesperson for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was quoted as saying, “The risk profile of these…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced its intention to abandon the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and develop a “new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability,” citing public feedback and input from states, tribal nations, industry groups, and small and organic farmers. Created in 2004, NAIS aimed to register all domestic livestock in a national database to facilitate the response of state and federal officials during a disease outbreak. The system apparently drew criticism from many quarters that objected to both the cost and intrusiveness of the measure, which some felt would eventually become mandatory. Unveiled at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Mid-Year Meeting, the new initiative outlines “the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability in the United States.” According to USDA, this framework will (i) “Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce”; (ii) “Be administered by the States and…
The Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Advertising Division (NAD), which serves as the investigative arm of the advertising industry’s voluntary self-regulation program, has recommended that Heartland Sweeteners cease making some claims about its Ideal® sweetener product. The recommendation apparently followed a complaint by Merisant Co., a Heartland competitor, that Ideal® is not “natural” or “more than 99 percent natural” as the company claims because the majority of its sweetness comes from the artificial sweetener sucralose. While Heartland agreed that its sweetener contains sucralose, the company contends that the natural sweetener Xylitol is the product’s main ingredient. According to NAD, Ideal® as a whole may be “more than 99% natural,” but “the context in which it is presented may still cause it to convey a message that is false or misleading to consumers.” NAD found that the product’s sweetness is “not due primarily to Xylitol, but, rather, the synthetic sucralose it…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration have announced a February 8, 2010, public meeting to discuss draft U.S. positions for the 42nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) slated for March 15-19, 2010, in Beijing, China. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the meeting will include discussions concerning (i) “endorsement and/or revision of maximum levels for food additives and processing aids in [C]odex standards”; (ii) “draft and proposed draft food additive provisions of the General Standards for Food Additives (GSFA)”; (iii) “proposals for changes or additions to the International Numbering System (INS) for food additives”; (iv) “identification of problems and recommendations related to the inconsistent presentation of food additives provisions in Codex commodity standards; and (v) “the Codex standard for food grade salt.” See Federal Register, January 28, 2010.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board has announced a February 22, 2010, public meeting to discuss “an interim report from its subcommittee reviewing research at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.” The advisory board is also slated to discuss “plans to establish another subcommittee to review research programs at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research” and “updates on science programs at the Office of Regulatory Affairs and the National Center for Toxicological Research.” FDA plans to make background material available no later than two business days before the meeting. See Federal Register, January 27, 2010.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued a recommendation statement advising clinicians to screen children ages 6 and older for obesity and to refer them for intensive counseling and behavior treatment if warranted. USPSTF bases its guidance “on a systematic review of the evidence of the benefits and harms and an assessment of the net benefit of the service.” In an update to its 2005 guidelines for screening children and adolescents, USPSTF reportedly claims that treating obese kids can help them lose weight only if rigorous diet, activity and behavior counseling are involved. According to its latest study, the expert panel found “adequate evidence that multicomponent, moderate- to high-intensity behavioral interventions” for obese children can “effectively yield short-term (up to 12 months) improvements in weight status.” As USPSTF Chair Ned Calonge told a news source, the group realizes that most pediatricians are not equipped to offer the necessary treatment…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services have published a notice announcing the fifth meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Scheduled for February 9, 2010, the meeting will be conducted as an online webinar and is expected to consist of discussions about (i) nutrient adequacy, (ii) energy balance and weight management, (iii) carbohydrates and protein, (iv) sodium, potassium and water, (v) fatty acids and cholesterol, (vi) ethanol, and (vii) food safety. Written comments may be submitted and must be received no later than February 3 for the committee’s consideration before the meeting. Comments may also be submitted at any time “throughout the Committee deliberation process.” To participate in the online program, pre-registration is required. Webinar capacity is limited, and a waiting list will be maintained if necessary. See Federal Register, January 22, 2010.
