Food Safety

House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee chair Robert Aderholt (R-AL) called FDA's request for a 13 percent increase in funding over fiscal 2018 levels “the largest and boldest funding request in recent memory and maybe ever” and signaled it might have to be cut back, but Democrats argued the budget lacks enough funding for food safety and opioids.

FDA announced Tuesday (April 3) that it will for the first time invoke its mandatory recall authority under the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), in this instance to order a recall of Triangle Pharmanaturals’ kratom products, which the agency alleges are potentially contaminated with salmonella.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb pledged Monday (March 5) that the agency will follow new recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how to improve food safety, and says the agency will release by quarter four of fiscal 2018 a draft implementation plan for the agency’s Food and Veterinary Medicine (FVM) program 10-year plan.

If prior efforts are any indication, the latest federal government bid to eliminate overlapping food safety roles played by FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is likely to fail, a former USDA food safety chief told Inside Health Policy.

FDA released a number of guidances Thursday (March 1) providing manufacturers with advice on how to comply with new nutrition labeling requirements related to dietary fiber, added sugar and serving size. Agency Commissioner Scott Gottlieb also announced a new consumer education campaign on nutrition.

Despite FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s frequent quips that FDA’s standards of identity for food are the types of regulations FDA can scrap pursuant to President Donald Trump’s deregulatory executive orders, one food lobby is using FDA’s docket on expendable regulations to argue FDA should expand, rather than scrap, certain standards of identity.

Advocates for robust funding of FDA were pleased the president's fiscal 2019 budget released Monday (Feb. 12) calls for a 13 percent increase over fiscal 2018 continuing resolution levels.

FDA and the Department of Agriculture finalized an agreement Tuesday (Jan. 30) to formally cooperate on produce safety, biotechnology regulation and oversight of food facilities where they share jurisdiction.

Multiple House Energy & Commerce members invited FDA to ask for more authority to oversee food safety threats after they raised concerns about the HHS Office of Inspector General's findings that the agency continues to fall short in that area, but FDA made it clear that it is not seeking lawmakers' help.