The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the intention to establish a 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and has solicited nominations for membership. The committee will consist of 13 to 20 members and will begin meeting in late 2018 or early 2019. The U.S. Codex Office will hold a public meeting on September 26, 2018, to receive public comments on U.S. positions for the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems.
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) have introduced legislation that would providing funding for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct environmental sampling for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which can be used in food packaging. According to the senators' press release, "There are more than 3,000 chemicals containing PFAS but less than 30 of these substances can be detected using current technology. The data collected by the USGS could be used to better assess the likely health and environmental impacts of exposure to PFAS chemicals and determine how to address contamination moving forward."
Leaf Brands, which manufactures and sells Hydrox cookies, has reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging anti-competitive practices by Mondelez, which produces Oreos. In a social media post, Leaf Brands alleges that Mondelez has been "undertaking a national program to damage our brand and stop us from competing," including "trying to make it hard to find our cookies in stores nationally, in hopes of lowering sales volume and having us discontinued." Leaf Brands alleges that when Mondelez employees stock grocery stores shelves, they move Hydrox cookies to less noticeable areas on the shelf. "We hope the Federal Trade Commission will start the investigation very soon," the post states. "We understand there is already case law on this issue and we hope to utilize it in our case against Mondelez."
The U.S. Department of the Interior has reportedly withdrawn a 2014 memorandum prohibiting the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in National Wildlife Refuge areas. "There may be situations [] where use of GMO crop seeds is essential to best fulfill the purposes of the refuge and the needs of birds and other wildlife as described above. A blanket denial of GMOs does not provide on-the-ground latitude for refuge managers to work adaptively and make field level decisions about the best manner to fulfill the purposes of the refuge," a memorandum from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Greg Sheehan states. "Therefore, by this memorandum, I am withdrawing the July 17, 2014 memorandum in full, thereby reversing the decision to universally ban the use of genetically modified crops on refuges."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has lowered the age requirement for poultry carcasses to be classified as "roaster chickens." The previous standard required chickens to be eight weeks old and weight 5.5 pounds; according to a petition from the National Chicken Council, this standard prevented companies from labeling and marketing chickens as "roasters" even if they "met all the physical attributes apart from the minimum age requirement." Because of "continuous improvements in breeding and poultry management techniques," producers are able "to raise chickens with the characteristics of roasters in under 8 weeks," AMS has determined. The change took effect on August 6, 2018, the notice's publication date.
Following his related statements at a conference, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has announced that the agency will review the standardized identities of dairy products and products marketed as their substitutes, including beverages made from almonds, rice or soy. The announcement suggests that allowing the plant-based substitutes to be labeled as “milk” has caused confusion among consumers and led to detrimental effects on children. “We’re going to have an active public process for reviewing our standard and how consumers understand the use of terms like milk on both animal-derived and plant-based products," Gottlieb said in the announcement. "We want to see if the nutritional characteristics and other differences between these products are well-understood by consumers when making dietary choices for themselves and their families. We must better understand if consumers are being misled as a result of the way the term milk is being applied and…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a report on foodborne illnesses in the United States from 2009 to 2015. The agency’s Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System received reports of 5,760 outbreaks, resulting in 100,939 ilnesses, 5,699 hospitalizations and 145 deaths. The data reportedly revealed that norovirus was the most common outbreak cause, while Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli caused 82 percent of hospitalizations and deaths.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has proposed an amendment to a rule requiring that livestock carcasses be “marked with the official inspection legend at the time of inspection in a slaughter establishment” if the carcasses will be processed further at the same location. According to FSIS, the rule was established when slaughterhouses would ship carcasses to different locations for further processing; under “contemporary practices,” “a slaughter establishment typically moves [a carcass], under control, to another department in the same establishment for further processing.” As a result, “marking the carcass on the slaughter floor is often unnecessary,” FSIS asserts. Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted until October 1, 2018.
At a speaking engagement, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb reportedly expressed that the agency’s standards of identity for milk have not been enforced. According to the standard of identity, milk is “the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows,” a definition that does not include non-dairy beverages produced from almonds, soy, rice or coconuts that are labeled as milk. Admitting that “an almond doesn’t lactate,” Gottlieb reportedly indicated that FDA will begin collecting public comments before determining its approach to the issue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a warning letter to Roorda Dairy advising that an investigation of its premises revealed cattle sold for food that tested positive for unapproved antibiotics. The agency purportedly tested muscle tissue and found antibiotics used contrary to the approved label use and found no evidence of veterinary supervision. FDA’s approach to antibiotics in cattle use has been criticized, including a March 2018 New York Times report on the agency’s distinction between antibiotics for growth, which is not allowed, and antibiotics for disease prevention, which is acceptable under FDA standards. In 2017, the World Health Organization recommended ending the routine use of antibiotics in healthy animals.
