The U.K. Home Office has issued its response to a public consultation on its alcohol strategy, laying out a number of new measures but stopping short of instituting a scheme that would have priced alcoholic beverages per unit of alcohol. Under the new strategy, the government has vowed, among other things, to (i) take action “on irresponsible promotions in pubs and clubs,” (ii) facilitate “targeted action by pubs and clubs themselves to curb irresponsible drinking,” (iii) put an end to deep discounts on alcohol that made it possible for consumers to purchase beverages for less than the cost to retailers, and (iv) free “responsible business and community groups from unnecessary red tape, while maintaining the integrity of the licensing system.” At the same time, however, the Home Office ultimately declined to implement minimum unit pricing (MUP) because it found little evidence that the plan would “reduce problem drinking without penalizing…
Environment Canada has issued a notice directing manufacturers and importers to provide information about their use of phthalates in food and beverage contact materials, among other consumer products. According to the July 13, 2013, announcement in the Canada Gazette, the government has identified more than 30 phthalate substances for priority assessment under its Chemicals Management Plan. To this end, Environment Canada has asked industry for details about the manufacture, importation and use of these substances “for the purposes of assessing whether [they] are toxic or capable of becoming toxic, or for the purpose of assessing whether to control [them].” The notice applies to those stakeholders who (i) imported or manufactured more than 100 kilograms of any of the listed substances at a concentration equal to or above 0.001 percent by weight; (ii) used more than 1,000 kilograms of a substance at that concentration; or (iii) imported phthalate-containing products intended for…
Responding to a request from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced plans to complete a draft scientific opinion on acrylamide by mid-2014 using “hundreds of scientific studies” as well as new data from food business operators, consumer organizations and other stakeholders. According to a July 15, 2013, news release, EFSA’s Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) will use information and research solicited in April 2013 to assess “the toxicity of acrylamide for humans and update its estimate of consumer exposure through the diet.” After a public consultation, the CONTAM Panel aims to finalize its assessment during the first half of 2015. “In 2005, EFSA stated that acrylamide may be a human health concern and that efforts should be made to reduce exposure to this substance through the diet,” said the agency. “EFSA’s comprehensive assessment of this scientific issue will allow EU decision-makers to…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a request for comments, scientific data and information to use in risk assessment of human salmonellosis associated with the consumption of tree nuts, including almonds, cashews, pistachios, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and walnuts. The risk assessment seeks to quantify the public health risk associated with eating tree nuts potentially contaminated with Salmonella and evaluate the impact of interventions to prevent contamination with the bacterium or to reduce contamination levels. FDA said an assessment is necessary in light of “outbreaks of human salmonellosis linked to tree nuts during the past decade, by product recalls, and by Salmonella isolation from tree nuts during surveys.” Comments will be accepted until October 16, 2013. See Federal Register, July 18, 2013.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published new guidance on Salmonella-contaminated food for animals. Titled “Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 690.800 Salmonella in Food for Animals” (CPG), the guidance finalizes the draft CPG that was announced in August 2010 and includes the following changes: (i) the title has changed from “Salmonella in Animal Feed” to “Salmonella in Food for Animals” to clarify that it covers all animal food, including pet food and animal feed, and (ii) the term “direct human contact animal feed” has been replaced with the term “pet food” and includes treats and chews. FDA has also announced (i) the removal of 21 CFR 500.35 “Animal feeds contaminated with Salmonella microorganisms,” and (ii) the withdrawal of “Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 690.700 Salmonella Contamination of Dry Dog Food.” See Federal Register, July 16, 2013.
A recent opinion piece published in Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism has suggested that artificial sweetener consumption increases the risk of certain health outcomes, including “excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” Susan Swithers, “Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements,” Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, July 2013. Authored by Purdue University Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience Susan Swithers, the article hypothesizes that “consuming sweet-tasting but noncaloric or reduced-calorie food and beverages interferes with learned responses that normally contribute to glucose and energy homeostasis.” To this end, Swithers points to several prospective cohort and interventional studies linking artificially-sweetened beverages to “a variety of negative health outcomes,” as well as research examining physiological responses to high-intensity sweeteners, which are “largely inert with regard to effects on glucose homeostasis because they do not reliably elicit post-ingestive responses similar to caloric sugars.” Based on these findings, she argues…
A recent study examining the prevalence of methicillin and multidrug resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (MRSA and MDRSA) among farm workers has reported that livestock-associated strains of both bacteria were present only in individuals employed at “industrial livestock operations” (ILOs) and not those employed at “antibiotic-free livestock operations” (AFLOs). Jessica Rinsky, et al., “Livestock-Associated Methicillin and Multidrug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Is Present among Industrial, Not Antibiotic-Free Livestock Operation Workers in North Carolina,” PLoS One, July 2013. Researchers with the University of North Carolina, George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health reportedly examined nasal swab samples from 99 ILO and 105 AFLO workers, finding that of the 41 ILO and 42 AFLO workers carrying S. aureus bacteria, 7 percent of each group tested positive for MRSA. In addition, the study’s authors identified MDRSA in 37 percent of ILO S. aureus carriers and 19 percent of AFLO S. aureus carriers, noting…
Recapitulating the neuroendocrinologist Robert Lustig’s arguments for regulating sugar based on its alleged ubiquity, toxicity, addictiveness and “negative impact on society,” a recent article in The Atlantic considers whether the sweetener meets these four criteria for government intervention. According to staff writer Megan Garber, Lustig in a June 29, 2013, interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival pointed to research linking sugar to increased liver fat, insulin resistance and other ailments as evidence that regulation is overdue. But Garber notes that only “sugar’s utter ubiquity” is beyond argument, raising questions about what it would mean to regulate the substance “like alcohol.” “[I]f Lustig gets his way—if people do come to see sugar as substance that can be abused—public awareness might offer its own kind of regulation,” writes Garber. “Sugar, Lustig put it, is ‘great for your wallet, but crappy for your health.’ The companies that profit from its sales might not,…
The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) has announced that the Australian Advertising Standards Board (ASB) has upheld its complaints alleging that TV commercials for Kellogg Co.’s LCM® cereal bars violated the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative (RCMI). According to OPC, the two advertisements in question were directed primarily toward children but failed to promote “a healthy dietary choice consistent with established scientific or Australian government standards,” healthy dietary habits or physical activity. In upholding the two complaints, ASB disagreed with Kellogg’s claims that the commercials were not aired during programming “where the proportion of children under 12 years of age is below 25 percent,” ruling instead that LCM® products “do not meet the Kellogg Global Nutrient Criteria for a healthier dietary choice” and therefore are “not permitted to be advertised to children under 12.” The board also found that although the commercials did not violate any provisions of the Australian Association of…
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has published a paper criticizing the use of food and beverage advertising on websites directed at children. A.E. Ustjanauskas, et al., “Food and beverage advertising on children’s web sites,” Pediatric Obesity, July 2013. Using data provided by comScore, researchers evaluated a total of 3.4 billion food and beverage advertisements shown over a one-year period on 72 popular children’s sites, including Nick.com, NeoPets.com and CartoonNetwork.com. Of the 254 different food products advertised, cereals apparently accounted for 45 percent of ad impressions, followed by fast food restaurants (19 percent) and prepared foods and meals (8 percent). The study singled out companies committed to the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), reporting that signatories were responsible for 89 percent of all food and beverage advertisements on children’s sites. In particular, the authors claimed that CFBAI companies “placed 320 million impressions for brands not…
