The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released an activities document outlining how the agency is working to enhance the safety of fresh produce imported into the United States. The Activities to Enhance the Safety of Imported Produce, announced September 27, builds on the FDA’s Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food, which began in February 2019. The 2019 import strategy outlined the agency’s comprehensive approach to ensuring the safety of food imported into the United States. The new activities document details how the strategy for safeguarding imported food applies specifically to produce. “The success of FDA’s imported food safety efforts relies in large part on the safety of produce since fresh fruit and vegetables represent a significant volume of imported food,” the agency said in the activities document. “About 15% of the U.S. food supply is imported, including nearly 55% of fresh fruit and 32% of fresh vegetables.”…
Tag Archives produce
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it has issued "the first consent decree of permanent injunction against a firm or grower for violating public safety standards under the Produce Safety Rule enacted under the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011." Fortune Food Product Inc. will be prohibited from "growing, harvesting, packing and holding sprouts and soy products at or from their facility, or any other facility, until certain requirements are met. The consent decree requires the defendants to, among other things, take corrective actions and notify the FDA before such operations may resume." “Manufacturing foods in violation of the Produce Safety Rule and Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations places consumers’ health at risk,” an agency official is quoted as saying in the September 15, 2020, press release. “This action demonstrates the agency's commitment to pursuing and taking swift action against those who repeatedly disregard these food…
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will accept comments on recommendations to update the List of Bioengineered Foods as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. Recommendations include the addition of sugarcane and an amendment to reflect that the only currently available trait for bioengineered summer squash is virus resistance. AMS also noted that it does not find cowpea or rice to qualify for addition to the list but is accepting comments on its assessment. Comments will be accepted until August 24, 2020.
A consumer has filed a putative class action alleging that Cento Fine Foods Inc. misleadingly markets its tomatoes as "Certified San Marzano" without having the proper certification. Sibrian v. Cento Fine Foods Inc., No. 19-0974 (E.D.N.Y., filed February 19, 2019). San Marzano tomatoes are grown vertically with supports in San Marzano sul Sarno in Italy, the complaint asserts. Cento's San Marzano cans feature a logo for an Italian agency that "does not 'certify' that the Products are compliant with the San Marzano guidelines, and it is actually an entity which may have performed the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] Organic certification," the complaint argues. Cento's website also identifies a company that "verifies that the Products conform to the San Marzano official criteria," but the plaintiff alleges that the company "is believed to be the company which supplies defendant with San Marzano seeds and possibly certifies whether the Products are organic, as…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released several reports and guidance documents on food-related issues, including draft guidance on reasonable serving sizes and a report on foodborne illnesses in restaurants. Food Labeling: Serving Sizes of Foods That Can Reasonably Be Consumed At One Eating Occasion, Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed, Serving Size-Related Issues, Dual-Column Labeling, and Miscellaneous Topics. This draft guidance details how food companies determine reasonable serving sizes for the nutritional panels on their products. Comments submitted before January 4, 2019, will be considered before FDA begins working on the final version of the guidance. Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels: Questions and Answers Related to the Compliance Date, Added Sugars, and Declaration of Quantitative Amounts of Vitamins and Minerals; Guidance for Industry. FDA has provided a series of questions and answers on quantifying added sugars, vitamins and minerals. Several questions focus specifically on calculating added sugars in fruit juices…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of two draft guidance documents involving standards for produce. One draft guidance "provides a broad range of recommendations on how to meet the requirements" for growing produce and "outlines how to determine whether produce or farms may be eligible for exemptions." The second guidance focuses on fresh-cut produce and methods for minimizing food-safety hazards. Comments on both guidance documents will be accepted until April 22, 2019.
