The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will require reporting of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) and Swine Delta Coronavirus infections to curb the spread of the diseases. In addition, USDA will track “movements of pigs, vehicles, and other equipment leaving affected premises.” Hog farms in 29 states have already reported incidents of PEDv, which has killed more than six million piglets since it was first identified last spring. The virus poses no food safety concerns because it only affects pigs, but it has contributed to higher domestic pork prices. No PEDv vaccine is approved for use in the United States, but earlier this month, six senators from pork-producing states pressed Senate subcommittee leaders to provide funding to develop a vaccine for PEDv and Swine Delta Coronavirus. See Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Announcement, April 18, 2014. Issue 521
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released its Food Code Reference System (FCRS), a searchable database that provides information for industry about FDA’s positions and responses to questions related to the FDA Food Code. With an aim “to promote nationwide consistency and increase transparency about the Food Code,” FCRS contains entries that clarify issues such as (i) storing foods that require temperature control for safety; (ii) food establishment design and food equipment cleaning; (iii) bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods; and (iv) preventing food contamination. FDA plans to add entries that are “important to the uniform application of the Food Code and that may have implications across all jurisdictions that regulate food establishments.” These entries will reflect questions previously answered by FDA as well as responses to future inquires that FDA receives. The Retail Food Protection Team in FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) will…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule, effective April 14, 2014, amending its food additive regulations to allow the use of ionizing radiation on crustaceans (e.g., crab, shrimp, lobster, crayfish, and prawns) to control foodborne pathogens and extend shelf life. In response to a petition first filed in 2001, FDA concluded that use of irradiation to treat chilled or frozen raw, cooked or partially cooked crustaceans, or dried crustaceans, with or without spices, minerals, inorganic salts, citrates, citric acid and/or calcium disodium EDTA used in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, is safe, provided that the absorbed dose does not exceed 6.0 kGy. At this dose, FDA notes, ionizing radiation will reduce but not entirely eliminate, the number of illness-causing microorganisms in or on crustaceans. The agency also observes that irradiation is not a substitute for proper food-handling practices and that crustaceans treated with ionizing…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance concerning the proper labeling of honey and honey products to ensure that such products “are not adulterated or misbranded.” In light of its earlier refusal to create a new standard of identity for honey, the agency developed the guidance to respond to labeling issues raised by a March 8, 2006, petition submitted by the American Beekeeping Federation and other honey-related associations. According to FDA, the draft guidance (i) “summarizes FDA’s legal authority over honey and honey products”; (ii) “provides a commonly used definition of honey”; (iii) “offers advice on labeling issues such as the floral source of honey, blends of honey and other sweeteners, and blends of honey and other ingredients, such as flavors”; and (iv) “describes some of the measures FDA takes to guard against honey adulterated with cane sugar, corn syrup, or residues of chloramphenicol or fluoroquinolones.”…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance for the food industry titled “Guidance for Industry: Prior Notice of Imported Food Questions and Answers (Edition 3).” Intended to address questions received since publication of the second edition in May 2004, the guidance includes information related to the Food Safety Modernization Act, which requires prior notice indicating whether a food article has been refused entry by any country. FDA will accept comments at any time, but suggests submitting them by May 30, 2014, to ensure consideration before the agency begins work on the final version. See Federal Register, March 31, 2014. Issue 519
After reportedly receiving more than 2,000 comments criticizing its proposal to tighten regulations concerning the transaction of spent grain between brewers and farmers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has apparently decided to revise its original plan, stating that it will release an amended version of the proposal this summer. According to news sources, brewers, who for years have donated or sold their spent grain to farmers to use as animal feed, were outraged at the proposed regulation—part of FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act—claiming it would turn an ages-old practice into a heavy burden, requiring them to alter processes and testing requirements and add additional recordkeeping tasks. Brewers also note that under the currently proposed terms, they would either be required to dry and package spent grain before sending it off as animal feed or to discard it entirely, leaving it to sit in landfills. See VoiceofSanDiego. org, April 3, 2014;…
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling denying the motion for preliminary injunction filed by meat producer interests in litigation challenging U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations requiring retailers of “muscle cuts” of meat to list the countries of origin and production (country-of-origin labeling or COOL) as to each step of production—born, raised or slaughtered. Am. Meat Inst. v. USDA, No. 13-5281 (D.C. Cir., decided March 28, 2014). The regulations at issue were adopted in 2013 in response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling finding their predecessor to violate the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. They “increased the required level of precision” to address each production step and also “eliminated the special allowance for commingled meat.” The plaintiffs argued that the amended rules ban commingling and thus alter “production practices over which the COOL statute gives the Secretary no authority,” and that the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency have announced an April 10, 2014, public meeting in Arlington, Virginia, to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions for discussion during the 46th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Hong Kong, China, on May 5-17, 2014. Agenda items include (i) revision to the Codex classification of food and feed for step 6-selected vegetable commodity groups (roots and tubers); (ii) draft discussion paper on guidance for setting maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides for minor uses and specialty crops; (iii) revision of the committee’s risk analysis principles on pesticide residues; (iv) priority list for establishing MRLs for pesticides; and (v) guidance for assessing pesticide residue analysis methods. See Federal Register, March 26, 2014. Issue 518
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has secured the participation of all but one animal drug company in the agency’s plan to phase out the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals for food production purposes, such as artificial weight gain. Each company has “committed in writing to seek withdrawal of approvals for any production uses of affected drug applications and change the remaining therapeutic uses of their products from over-the-counter (OTC) to use by Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) or prescription.” See FDA News Release, March 26, 2014.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that seeks information to help the agency “implement and enforce” amendments to the reportable food registry (RFR) provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Among other things, the new provisions permit FDA to (i) require that parties submit to FDA “consumer-oriented” information regarding certain reportable foods—defined as foods for “which there is a reasonable probability that use of, or exposure to, such food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals”; (ii) use such information to create consumer notification summaries for the agency’s Website; and (iii) obligate certain grocery stores that sell reportable food to display the notification summaries. FDA has requested input from the food industry, consumer organizations and other parties on certain topics, including (i) “what information should be required in…
