On Friday, September 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) published a request for comment on the use of dairy-terms in the labeling of plant-based food products. Interested stakeholders can submit comments to the...more
Enforcement of the federal menu labeling regulations begins May 7, 2018. Restaurants and other similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain of 20 or more locations nationwide doing business under the same name...more
On Friday, September 29, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) proposed to give food manufacturers an additional year and a half to comply with the revised Nutrition Facts regulations that were published in May 2016....more
With the recent announcement that Amazon is buying Whole Foods, issues of channel disruption — that is, the ways consumers purchase food — have been on the forefront of people’s minds. On June 1, at DWT’s annual food and...more
A tweet last week from Project Nosh set my food-labeling-lawyer-head buzzing: “Consumers are looking for snacks that aren’t just empty calories. Brands are providing everything from protein to anti-nausea properties.” An...more
Now that the FDA has (yet again) decided to delay enforcement of its menu labeling regulations for another year (and possibly to change the regulations entirely), one question seems to be on everyone’s minds: will we need to...more
It appears the FDA is again pushing back the compliance date for its menu labeling regulations, which had been set for May 5, 2017. Although the agency has not yet made an announcement of the 11th-hour delay, on Thursday it...more
Everybody wants “clean” labels. But, what does that mean? With no legal definition, “clean” labeling encompasses a wide-range of claims, such as natural, healthy, -free, simple, small-batch, no preservatives, no artificial...more
Quick Bite:
The FDA is seeking comment until July 17, 2017, on draft guidance about recommended practices to control Listeria monocytogenes in food facilities.
The Details:
The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)...more
Chase Purdy at Quartz recently published an article with the following headline: “To lure people put off by the freakiness of lab-made meat, this is what the industry wants to call it.” It got me thinking about the importance...more
Remember last month when we said to DOCUMENT EVERYTHING under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)? Well, here’s some more context for that recommendation.
For one, FSMA adds a substantial amount of documentation and...more
The term “healthy” as commonly used is quite subjective—meaning different things to different types of consumers. Culturally, there are sometimes fast-changing trends about what is healthy—foods rejected by consumers a few...more
We wrote earlier this week about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and what it means, from a 30,000 foot perspective, for food companies. Today we are going to dig in a little deeper to one issue that we’ve seen...more
Today, Sept. 19, 2016, is a big day for the food industry. It is the first compliance deadline for regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – the law we’ve been talking about since 2011, the law touted as...more
While you were (hopefully) lounging at the beach or hiking mountains, the FDA was hard at work in Washington D.C. churning out final rules and guidance documents that impact food companies in various, and sometimes...more
Transparency is a hot topic in the food world these days. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently finalized an update to the nutrition facts panel for packaged foods. The U.S. Senate last week advanced a bill...more
Add this to FDA’s growing list of things to do: improve the food recall initiation process.
According to a memorandum published on June 8, 2016, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human...more
If you are one of those consumers that studies food labels (I’m right there with you) or, more importantly, a packaged food supplier, be prepared: your food labels will be getting a makeover.
On May 20, the FDA released...more
Some folks are feeling a little salty about last week’s turn of events in the New York City sodium labeling ordinance saga.
On May 26, 2016, a New York state appellate court lifted a temporary stay on New York City’s...more
Restaurants and other retail food establishments covered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) menu labeling regulations now have more time to comply with the regulations, according to a statement issued March 9,...more
A day before new sodium labeling regulations were set to take effect in New York City, a New York state appeals court granted a temporary stay, pausing the implementation and enforcement of the new requirements. Under the...more
On February 22, a packed room of food technologists and cereal chemists in Minneapolis heard from a panel of speakers about the hot debate surrounding GMO-labeling, an issue that is unlikely to be resolved any time soon....more
In a hearing this morning in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, committee members voted 14-6, including all Republican members and three Democrats (Klobuchar (MN), Heitkamp (ND), and Donnelly (IN)), to...more
In late December we reported on a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (“Center”) that alleges the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (“BOR”) is violating the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) through its operation and...more
Crises averted in international trade usually make good economics, but unsatisfying politics. They’re a half-loaf of success in which positioning, inertia and self-interest usually win. So it is with the recent repeal of meat...more