The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced the availability of a guideline “for conducting microbial risk assessment (MRA).” Intended for government risk assessors and other public stakeholders, the guidance seeks to promote transparency and consistency between the two agencies as they conduct risks assessments of food- and water-borne disease. According to a July 31, 2012, EPA press release, the MRA guideline for the first time “lays out an overarching approach to conducting meaningful assessments of the risks to Americans posed by pathogens in food and water.” The agency has also touted the measure as a way to improve the quality of data “collected by public health scientists charged with protecting Americans from pathogen-related risks in food and water.” “This guidance contributes significantly to improving the quality and consistency of microbial risk assessments, and provides greater transparency to stakeholders…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued a final rule revising the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances with regard to the use of tetracycline, formic acid and attapulgite during the production and processing of organic crops and food ingredients. According to NOP, the most recent iteration of the National List permitted the use of tetracycline “for fire blight control only” in apple, pear and other organic fruit crops until October 21, 2012. The final rule has amended the National List to specify that the substance can be used to control fire blight in apple and pear crops only and to extend the expiration date until October 12, 2014. In addition, NOP has added formic acid to the National List “solely for use as a pesticide within honeybee colonies” to suppress infestations of Varroa mites and approved attapulgite, a substance generally regarded as safe by the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has determined that genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets are “no longer considered a regulated article under our regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms.” According to the agency, the crop, which is engineered to tolerate the herbicide glyphosate and is known as “Roundup Ready®, is “unlikely to pose a plant pest risk and, in fact, is not a plant pest.” Thus, the crop is no longer subject to federal GE regulation. The determination ends a lengthy dispute that began when organic farmers claimed that APHIS failed, when deregulating the crop in 2005, to properly consider the crop’s propensity to cross-pollinate nearby fields of conventional sugar beets and the likelihood that herbicide resistant weeds would also result from planting the GE crop. A federal court agreed and ordered the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS).…
FDA has issued a request for comments on a proposed information collection that will add the manufacturers of certain beers as respondents to its labeling regulations and seeks Office of Management and Budget approval of allergen labeling for these beers. The agency explains that after the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau determined that certain beers, which are made from substitutes for malted barley, such as sorghum, rice or wheat, do not meet the definition of “malt beverage” and are thus not subject to its regulations, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prepared draft guidance to assist these manufacturers in complying with its labeling regulations. On the basis of the labeling regulations discussed in the guidance, the agency provides estimates of the average burden per disclosure for each regulation— that is, “12 respondents will each label 2 products annually, for a total of 24 labels” and “the manufacturers will…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a July 26, 2012, report criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) efforts to implement a comprehensive food advisory and recall process. As directed by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, GAO reportedly assessed the agency’s ability to order recalls and effectively inform consumers and retailers about food safety issues, concluding that although FDA has established internal procedures “describing the steps it will take to order a food recall ... these procedures are not yet public and the agency has not issued regulations or industry guidance to clarify its ordered food recall process.” In particular, the report faults FDA for failing to fashion “a comprehensive food recall communication policy and related implementation plans.” Noting that recent foodborne illness outbreaks have drawn national attention to food supply safety issues, GAO argues that FDA has not yet drafted measures to better manage its communication challenges or…
Representative John Carter (R-Texas) has introduced a bill (H.R. 6174) that would change the nutrition disclosure requirements for chain restaurants and other food outlets enacted in the Affordable Care Act that was recently upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the proposal, (i) delivery and take-out restaurants would be able to post calorie information on their websites; (ii) pizza shops would be allowed to provide calorie-per-slice labeling rather than whole-pizza totals and could publish average totals instead of calorie data for every possible combination of ingredients; (iii) stores would be protected from lawsuits where the nutrient disclosures are “within acceptable allowances” including “allowances for variation in serving size, inadvertent human error in formulation of menu items, and variations in ingredients”; and (iv) the term “restaurant” would be redefined to mean “a retail food establishment that derives more than 50 percent of its total revenue from the sale of…
A Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity study has compared the U.S. food industry’s “Facts Up Front” labeling scheme to the “Multiple Traffic Light” system used in the United Kingdom, concluding that consumers found both front-of-package systems easier to use than no labels at all, while an enhanced Traffic Light system yielded “the best overall performance.” Christina Roberto, et al., “Facts Up Front Versus Traffic Light Food Labels,” American Journal of Preventative Medicine, July 2012. Researchers asked 708 adults in an Internet-based survey to compare the nutrient levels of foods as well as estimate saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fiber and protein contents using one of five systems: (i) no label; (ii) Traffic Light; (iii) Traffic Light “plus information about protein and fiber (Traffic Light+)”; (iv) Facts up Front; or (v) Facts Up Front “plus information about ‘nutrient to encourage’ (Facts Up Front+).” The results evidently indicated that respondents…
Researchers with Portland State University and Washington State University, Vancouver, have reportedly detected caffeine in waters off the coast of Oregon, raising questions about the presence of other potential contaminants in the vicinity. Zoe Rodriguez del Rey, et al., “Occurrence and concentration of caffeine in Oregon coastal waters,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, July 2012. The study apparently analyzed caffeine levels at 14 coastal locations “stratified between populated areas with sources of caffeine pollution and sparsely populated areas with no major caffeine pollution sources.” Although levels ranged from below the reporting limit of 8.5 nanograms per liter (ng/L) to 44.7 ng/L, the marine ecologists noted that “caffeine concentration did not correspond with human population density and pollution source.” “Our hypothesis from these results is that the bigger source of contamination here is probably on-site waste disposal,” said one of the study’s authors. “Wastewater treatment plants, for the most part, have to do with regular…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that a New York City regulation restricting the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil by all food service establishments “was associated with a substantial and statistically significant decrease in the trans fat content of purchases at fast-food chains, without a commensurate increase in saturated fat.” Sonia Angell, et al., “Change in Trans Fatty Acid Content of Fast-Food Purchases Associated with New York City’s Restaurant Regulation,” Annals of Internal Medicine, July 2012. Funded by New York City and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Eating Research Program, researchers between 2007 and 2009 conducted a cross-sectional study matching purchase receipts with available nutrition information and consumer surveys at 168 randomly selected locations of 11 fast-food chains. Compared with data gathered before the trans fat restrictions took effect, the information collected after the regulation’s implementation allegedly demonstrated “an associated large and probably clinically meaningful reduction in the…
A nutritionist who published a study about the health effects of omega-3 fatty acids in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has objected to Dean Foods Co.’s decision to cite her work in marketing the health benefits of its Horizon organic milk fortified with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Penn State University Professor Penny Kris-Etherton apparently took issue with Horizon milk labels that used her paper to support a claim that “many Americans don’t get the recommended DHA from their everyday diet.” According to Kris-Etherton, however, her research did not establish an optimum level of DHA consumption for the average consumer. “It’s not right—it’s inaccurate,” she was quoted as saying. “It’s a marketing strategy to sell more of their milk.” Kris-Etherton’s concerns have evidently led Whole Foods Market Inc. to review its policy on DHA health claims and Dean Foods to consider voluntarily withdrawing the citation. “It’s appropriate to use published scientific studies…
