In a controversial move that could have a ripple effect for food and beverage manufacturers nationwide, California Assembly’s Committee on Health approved AB 418 -- bringing the state one step closer to potentially banning brominated vegetable oil, potassium...
Popular fruit-on-the-bottom and cup-set yogurt styles can remain on the market in the US after FDA late last week amended the yogurt standard to eliminate a controversial titratable acidity requirement at the behest of the International Dairy Foods Association.
The FAO and WHO have debunked four key misconceptions and concerns surrounding cell-based meat, spanning tumour risk to a negative impact on the microbiome.
Citing numerous studies that suggest Red Dye No. 3 could be carcinogenic, The Center for Science in the Public Interest and a coalition of 23 other associations want FDA to remove the color from its list of approved additives in foods, dietary supplements...
Restructuring FDA to create a new human foods program that elevates the safety and oversight of the US food supply will not adequately address the concerns outlined in the Reagan-Udall’s audit of the agency without a significant boost in funding and dedicated...
Does the legislation have legs or is it just for optics? Stakeholders agree the bills are a step in a positive direction, but what impact they will have, if any, is yet to be seen.
President Biden’s FY 2024 budget request would increase funding for FDA and USDA and make investments in food safety and nutrition programs, but is far from a done deal given a divisive Congress.
Artificial sweeteners have gained in popularity as consumers seek out products without sugar, but a new study suggests a potential link between keto-friendly sweetener erythritol and an elevated risk of heart attack or stroke.
Even as FDA kicks off a search for a deputy commissioner for its proposed Human Foods Program who it says will have a “clear line of authority over” all human food safety and nutrition programs, industry stakeholders worry agency is choosing a “business...
Industry leaders and food safety stakeholders are calling out FDA for not going far enough in its plans to unify under a new Human Foods Program nearly all of its major food components that currently are scattered across multiple divisions.
FDA this morning unveiled a “transformative vision” for a unified Human Foods Program that will bring together under one empowered deputy commissioner nearly all of its major food components that currently are scattered across multiple divisions to better...
Calls for a single, clearly defined leader over FDA’s food program with direct lines of authority and adequate funding are intensifying from former and existing agency officials, including Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy Frank Yiannas who cited the...
FDA’s long-awaited guidance for limiting lead concentrations in packaged food for babies and toddlers published yesterday estimates a reduced exposure risk upwards of 27%, but according to some stakeholders this isn’t high enough.
Recognizing the cultural significance of seafood varies among different groups of Americans, FDA has asked an expert panel to consider health equity and environmental justice issues in their review of children’s exposure to toxins from seafood.
A study has claimed to show that modern ‘green’ products recycled from human excreta are excellent – and importantly, safe – fertilizers to use on food crops.
After a scathing review published earlier this month by the Reagan-Udall Foundation criticized FDA for its scattered and inefficient approach to food safety and applied nutrition, the agency says it is committed to “building a world-class human foods...
While the European Commission recently banned the use of titanium dioxide (TiO2) in foods in the EU, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has just warned consumers to avoid it, the FDA tells us it has reviewed the scientific opinion...
Industry leaders are lauding proposed changes to FDA’s food program outlined in a highly-anticipated external review by the Reagan-Udall Foundation published yesterday that includes calls for a “single clearly identified” leader with direct lines of authority...
While claims about Listeria and contaminants in a food production facility should be taken seriously, the allegations made in a Bloomberg article alleging “dirty conditions” at Beyond Meat’s production facility in Pennsylvania lack vital context, says...
UK research sheds fresh light on the presence of organophosphate esters (OPEs) in food products. “This should be a wake-up call to industrial users of OPEs,” the researchers say.
Facing sharp criticism in the media that FDA’s approach to food safety is “broken,” “Byzantine” and a “ridiculous joke,” the agency is undertaking a “top to bottom” review of the “structure, function, funding and leadership” of its food program, agency...
Frustrated with FDA’s “inefficient decision making,” reliance on “inexperienced and undertrained” inspectors and “split and siloed” approach to food safety and oversight, the Consumer Brands Association this morning reiterated its call for the agency...
The US Food and Drug Administration has finalized a guidance on issuing recalls that first issued in draft form in 2019. The document’s plain language should help ensure compliance, experts contacted by NutraIngredients-USA agree.
FDA is tightening food safety requirements and recommendations for CEA (controlled environment agriculture) firms after an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimirium was traced back to packaged salads produced to one indoor farming facility last summer, calling...
Frustrated that salmonella infections have held stubbornly steady at more than 1 million cases annually for the past two decades, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is rethinking how and where it tests for contamination, potentially expanding its...
An FDA survey investigating the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – a class of human-made chemicals – in nationally distributed processed foods found that of the 167 food samples tested, three had detectable levels of the chemicals....
The FDA is looking at how shifting shopping habits during the pandemic, including the rapid adoption of e-commerce to buy groceries and prepared food, may have “reinforced and accelerated” the need for new measures to ensure products are safe through...
Food safety is a business-critical issue. People worry about food safety and security as much as global warming, pollution and poverty, research from confectionery giant Mars reveals. FoodNavigator hears from Dr Guangtao Zhang, director of the Mars Global...
Frontline food industry workers will be among the first to be vaccinated after health care workers and those in long-term care facilities, according to federal guidance approved by the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization...
Despite grocery retailer revenues rising amid increased consumer demand during the pandemic, higher costs associated with COVID-19 are squeezing already tight margins in a trend that FMI: The Food Industry Association warns likely will get worse before...
Decrying the US food system as “fundamentally broken and worsening the challenge of justice in our country,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is on an mission to block and dismantle corporate consolidation in agriculture, which he argues places profits over...
The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday launched a website portal it calls a ‘blueprint’ for the full implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The document lays out a plan for actions over the next decade.
As news continues to break about more workers at grocery stores and meat and poultry packing plants contracting coronavirus, consumer concern about employee health and their access to food and beverage during the pandemic is on the rise again after a...
While COVID-19 has upended the status quo for the entire food industry from growers and distributors, to retailers and consumers, it has also exposed the lack of resiliency within the food supply chain to handle something as disruptive as a global pandemic,...
Hormel Foods-owned Rochelle Foods is reopening its 400,000-square-foot plant in Illinois – which produces microwaveable and precooked bacon for foodservice and retail, deli hams, and Hormel Compleats microwaveable meals – after two weeks of temporary...
Grocery shoppers’ concern about the health of other customers and store employees has eclipsed fears of running out of food as the death toll from the novel coronavirus continues to climb and high-demand items are restocked more quickly, according to...
To better reflect the rapidly evolving grocery retail landscape – and the increasingly complex and interconnected supply chain – FMI is adopting a more inclusive position and rebranding with the new tagline ‘The Food Industry Association.’
By the end of 2019, 98% of food and beverage products will have adopted a standardized version of date labeling – ‘Best If Used By' – with complete adoption anticipated by January 2020, predict the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and the...
FDA’s new Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Norman Sharpless, promised last week that he will pick up where outgoing Commissioner Scott Gottlieb left off in strengthening nutrition policy and regulation to improve the public’s health and implementing...
A heightened awareness around food safety paired with consumer confusion around deciphering food date labels may be a major source of food waste at the consumer level, a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) suggests....
Beginning this spring, the FDA will begin routine inspections of large domestic and international farms (excluding sprouts operations) as part of the Produce Safety Rule established under FSMA to better address food borne illnesses linked to fresh produce....
Hundreds of furloughed FDA employees are returning to work without pay this week “to re-initiate high risk surveillance inspections across our food and medical product programs,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced in a tweet Jan. 15.
Meat bodies in the United States have welcomed a proposed new pork processing rule by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of a move to modernise inspections in swine slaughterhouses.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been called on to halt all Brazilian fresh meat and Chinese poultry imports that are not verified to be as safe as US produced food.
With NAFTA renegotiation talks ongoing it is a critical time for a conversation on protecting and improving the supply chain, according to two think tanks.
Innovation in the baby food aisle has come in waves. First came jars, then shelf stable pouches, and most recently a new generation of HPP (high pressure processed) refrigerated brands carving out a premium niche in the category. But could freeze-drying...
FDA is extending a helping hand to companies struggling to meet new food safety measures outlined in the Food Safety Modernization Act, for which the deadline is quickly approaching, by offering a free software application to help them identify and address...
Small size food manufacturers have only five weeks left before the deadline hits to develop food safety plans under the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Preventive Controls for Human Food – and for those that haven’t yet started, or think they can’t afford...
