The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has announced that more than 30 public and private hospitals have joined its voluntary Healthy Hospital Food Initiative, a new program seeking to make healthier food choices available in health care settings. Billed as part of the department’s ongoing effort to curb obesity, the new initiative requires participating hospitals to implement the NYC Food Standards established in 2008 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in four areas: “cafeterias, beverage vending machines, food vending machines and patient meals.” According to DOHMH, these standards are based on U.S. Department of Agriculture and Institute of Medicine nutritional guidelines and “use progressive strategies to make healthy foods easily available.” Under the new initiative, hospital cafeterias must use a variety of techniques “to make the healthy choice the easy choice” by increasing the availability of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains; limiting the promotion of high calorie…
New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) has introduced a bill (S7849-2011) that would require fast-food restaurants offering incentive items, such as toys, with children’s meals to meet certain nutritional guidelines. The standards, designed to limit the amount of fat, sugar, calories, and sodium per meal, would be established by the state health commissioner. “Incentive items” under the proposal, which has been committed to the Committee on Rules, would also include games, trading cards, admission tickets, “or other consumer product, whether physical or digital, with particular appeal to children.” Such items would also include “any coupon, voucher, ticket, token, code or password which is provided directly by the restaurant and is redeemable for or grants digital or other access to any toy, game, trading card, admission ticket, or other consumer product” appealing to children. The measure defines restaurant to include coffee shops, cafeterias, luncheonettes, sandwich stands, diners, short-order cafes, fast-food…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that print and Web advertisements for Alpro (UK) Ltd.’s almond milk are not misleading. ASA received two complaints alleging that the advertisements misled consumers because the product contains only 2 percent almonds and because the ads featured images implying that almonds could be “milked.” Alpro countered, however, that “almond milk” is “commonly used as a descriptor for this type of product,” with “the two leading international branded varieties both [having] an almond content of 2%.” “They explained the product was made by processing roasted almonds into a creamy paste, which was then blended with spring water and other ingredients and nutrients, but that no additional flavorings were added to the product,” according to ASA. “They said the number of almonds used defined the texture and taste intensity of the product and that consumers liked the product with 2% roasted almonds, which equated…
Health Canada has released an updated assessment of bisphenol A (BPA), concluding that dietary exposure through food sources “is not expected to pose a health risk.” The September 2012 assessment takes into account surveys performed after the agency issued its first conclusions in 2008, when it found “Probable Daily Intakes (PDI) for BPA of 0.18 µg/kg bw/day for the general population and 1.35 µg/kg bw/day for infants.” These surveys sought to measure concentrations of BPA in canned drink products, bottled water products, canned food products, and soft drink and beer products, as well as in total diet samples. Based on Health Canada’s probabilistic exposure assessment, the new survey results have revised the 2008 PDIs downward for both the general populations and infants. In particular, the agency reported a mean exposure to BPA of 0.055 µg/kg bw/day for the general population, “which is approximately 3 times lower than the intake calculated using…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued an interim rule extending the use of nutrient vitamins and minerals in organic handling while the agency considers a proposal to renew their exemption (use) on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) for another five years. According to a September 27, 2012, Federal Register notice, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) previously published a proposed rule during its 2012 sunset review that recommended continuing the use of nutrient vitamins and minerals “as ingredients in or on processed products labeled as ‘organic’ or ‘made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s))’” after their National List exemption expired on October 21, 2012. The proposed rule also sought to correct “an inaccurate cross-reference to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations in the listing for vitamins and minerals on the National List.” The interim rule will allow handlers and…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the comment period for an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) that announced potential changes to regulations governing new antimicrobial animal drug reporting. The ANPR proposed altering these regulations to incorporate the requirements of section 105 of the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of 2008 (ADUFA 105). FDA has requested public comments “on how best to compile and present the summary information as directed by ADUFA 105, and on alternative methods available to the Agency for obtaining additional data and information about the extent of antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals.” FDA has extended the comment period at the request of responders until November 26, 2012. See Federal Register, September 26, 2012.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a November 7-8, 2012, public workshop at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater “to provide information about food defense as it relates to food facilities such as farms, manufacturers, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants.” Intended to help businesses better comply with the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2002, the workshop will cover the following topics: (i) “Food defense awareness and definitions”; (ii) “FDA food defense tools such as ALERT and Employees FIRST”; (iii) “Regulations mandated by the Bioterrorism Act”; (iv) “Food Defense Guidance from the Food Safety and Inspection Service”; (v) “Investigating food-related incidents effectively”; (vi) “Physical plant security”; and (vii) “Crisis management.” FDA has asked interested parties to register by October 31, 2012. See Federal Register, September 27, 2012.
A recent study has purportedly identified an association between urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentration and obesity in children and adolescents. Leonardo Trasande, et al., “Association Between Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration and Obesity Prevalence in Children and Adolescents,” Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2012. Relying on data from 2,838 participants ages 6-19 years who were enrolled in the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, researchers evidently found that urinary BPA concentration “was significantly associated with obesity.” In particular, the study reported that urinary BPA values in the second, third and fourth quartiles showed “a substantial elevation in the odds of obesity” when compared with first-quartile values, with “an adjusted prevalence of obesity of 22.3%... among children in the highest quartile, compared with a 10.3% prevalence…among those in the lowest quartile.” “To our knowledge, this is the first report of an association of an environmental chemical exposure with childhood obesity in…
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers recently published a study finding that sodium intake among U.S. children and adolescents “is positively associated” with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and risk for pre-high blood pressure and high blood pressure (pre-HBP/HBP). Quanhe Yang, et al., “Sodium Intake and Blood Pressure Among US Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics, October 2012. According to the study, which used 24-hour dietary recalls to estimate the sodium intake of 6,235 children ages 8-18 years, the subjects consumed an average of 3,387 milligrams of sodium daily. The results also apparently indicated that the associations between sodium intake and increased SBP and risk for pre-HBP/HBP “may be stronger” among the 37 percent of participants who were overweight or obese than among those who were not. While in normal-weight children every 1,000 mg extra of sodium evidently corresponded with a one-point rise in SBP, in obese or overweight children…
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has devoted its latest issue to articles focusing on obesity. Among them is a commentary authored by Thomas Farley, who is affiliated with New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which recently adopted a prohibition on sugar-sweetened beverages larger than 16 ounces. Titled “The Role of Government in Preventing Excess Calorie Consumption,” the opinion piece calls for “governments to regulate food products that harm the most people, simultaneously encourage food companies to voluntarily produce and market healthful products, and then provide information to consumers in ways that facilitate their choosing healthful products.” He argues that New York City has taken this approach and compares it to the city’s action on smoking, which has purportedly led to a 35 percent decline in smoking since 2002. Farley claims that industry opposes New York City’s portion rule by portraying it as a “limit…
