Food Safety

House Republicans are planning to vote on a set of bills this week that would increase Congress' ability to roll back rules passed in the final 60 legislative days of President Barrack Obama's administration, and pledged to dedicate much of the next two months toward overturning administrative rules finalized by the Obama administration.

The Justice Department's recent $2.2 million settlement with dietary supplement retail giant GNC Holdings Inc. should send a “wake-up call” to the industry not to engage in illegal activity, DOJ told Inside Health Policy.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) put FDA on notice it has legal concerns with the agency's tentative decision to ban vinpocetine as a dietary ingredient.

A food safety advocate worries a new draft FDA guidance outlining how food suppliers should disclose when specific hazards have not been controlled in food may put public health at risk, as suppliers can make a general disclosure for microbial hazards rather than detailing a specific hazard.

FDA is gathering input on how to redefine "healthy" for food labeling claims in a move that could lead to a broader overhaul of food claim regulations. The agency is easing up on its enforcement as it gathers input on how to redefine "healthy" in response to a citizen petition from KIND requesting the claim be aligned with proposals from the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

FDA food inspections, user fees and regulations governing food production hygiene, packaging and temperatures are overkill and should be eliminated, according to a now-deleted fact sheet published by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign Thursday (Sept. 15).

FDA released a long-awaited final rule officially replacing the voluntary generally recognized as safe affirmation petition process with a voluntary GRAS notification procedure for substances used in food, drawing strong protests from food and consumer safety stakeholders who say FDA is handing off responsibility to regulate the food supply to industry and leaving one advocacy group to explore legal options.

President Obama signed the controversial GMO labeling bill into law on Friday (July 29), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already set up a working group to begin the rulemaking process, which it has two years to complete.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) said today he would reluctantly support the Senate bill to mandate labeling of genetically modified foods, and signaled the House would vote on the bill next week.