By Riëtte van Laack – In an effort to stop the implementation of the National Organic Program’s (NOP’s) interpretation of the sunset review process, a coalition of organic “stakeholders” have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. The lawsuit alleges that the …
By Jay W. Cormier – It has been quite some time since the September 2010 Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (“VMAC”) meeting that discussed FDA’s review of AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage Salmon application. Earlier this month, Food and Water Watch – a long-time and very vocal opponent to the …
By Riëtte van Laack – On April 9, 2015, FDA published a proposal to amend the regulations regarding registration of food facilities. The proposal addresses a multitude of issues: codification of certain self-implementing provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act 0f 2011 (FSMA), amendment of the …
By Ricardo Carvajal & Diane B. McColl – FDA announced a “strategy to establish ingredient definitions and standards for animal food,” pursuant to a statutory directive in the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA). As indicated in one of our prior postings, this …
By Riëtte van Laack & Ricardo Carvajal - The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit targeting certain allegedly false and misleading nutrient and health-related claims for Benecol, a vegetable oil-based spread. As noted in our prior posting on this case, the district …
By Ricardo Carvajal - That’s the question raised by a recently issued Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that takes FDA to task not just for lagging behind the foreign inspection targets established by FSMA, but also for not conducting “an analysis to determine whether the number of …
By Ricardo Carvajal – The question (in the title of this post) occurred to us in preparing for FDLI Food Week 2015, taking place as this is written. When FDA issued its Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality in 2011, the agency set forth this ambitious objective: …
By Ricardo Carvajal – Given the effort that FDA has put into FSMA implementation thus far, it comes as no surprise that the agency’s budget for 2016 places a heavy emphasis on the resources that the agency believes are needed to finish the job. The focus on FSMA …
By Riëtte van Laack – As we previously reported, the Farm Bill of 2014 tasked the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) with the preparation of a report regarding the need for a federal standard of identity for honey. Without much fanfare, AMS recently published its report to …
By Ricardo Carvajal – A California federal district court granted summary judgment in favor of the government in a lawsuit brought by animal rights organizations that focused on treatment of egg-laying hens. Plaintiffs initially filed petitions with several federal agencies asking them to issue regulations that …
By Ricardo Carvajal – In an opinion piece recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a trio of Colorado physicians examine the implications of legalization of marijuana in their home state. The authors summarize “expected” effects, including increased use of health care services in …
By Ricardo Carvajal - The Weston A. Price Foundation sued FDA to compel a response to the Foundation’s 2008 citizen petition (Docket No. FDA-2008-P-0452) asking FDA to revoke its regulation authorizing heart health claims for soy protein, which the Foundation claims is “not soy in its natural form.” …
By Ricardo Carvajal – In tandem with its menu labeling final rule (see our prior posting here), FDA published a final rule that sets out requirements for calorie declaration for foods sold from certain vending machines. In certain respects, the final rule is broader in scope …
By Riëtte van Laack – The Affordable Care Act requires calorie and other nutrition information on menu and menu boards for consumers in chain restaurants and other “similar retail establishments” that sell restaurant-type food. In 2011, FDA issued a proposed rule (see our previous post here). …
By Ricardo Carvajal - The D.C. District Court granted FDA’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging unreasonable delay in the agency’s response to a citizen petition asking for the inclusion of FDA/EPA’s seafood consumption advisory in seafood labeling and at point-of-sale. Although the petition was …
