Food Safety

Following Senate agriculture committee approval of a bill creating a voluntary labeling standard for genetically engineered (GE) foods, four Senate Democrats filed legislation last week that would make labeling mandatory.

The Senate agriculture committee approved a measure Tuesday (March 1) that would create a national voluntary labeling standard for products that contain genetically engineered (GE) foods and preempt state laws requiring mandatory labeling -- legislation both parties say they are working to modify before the full chamber votes.

Robert Califf, following an 89-4 Senate vote Wednesday, becomes the new FDA commissioner at a time when the agency’s actions and policies are under intense scrutiny.

With a request of $5.1 billion for FDA, President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget proposal seeks a $358 billion funding bump for FDA with a focus on medical product safety, food safety, the vice president's cancer “moonshot” initiative and precision medicine.

The White House on Wednesday (Jan. 27) reasserted its support for FDA chief-nominee Robert Califf amid uncertainty over a Senate confirmation vote given that four senators -- three Democrats, including presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (VT), and one GOP member -- have now placed holds on the process.

A report commissioned by the British prime minister is pushing for global action to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture, including setting a global target to reduce antibiotic use in food production to an agreed-upon level, rapidly developing minimum standards to reduce antimicrobial manufacturing waste and improving surveillance to monitor use.

Weeks before lawmakers increased funding for government regulators’ activities to fight antibiotic resistance, a group of research and policy organizations, producers and purchasers urged congressional leadership for agriculture and FDA appropriations to include funding in the 2016 spending bill to improve monitoring of antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals, evaluate new antibiotics and streamline antibiotic development.

A provision of the House spending package released Wednesday (Dec. 16) bars FDA from implementing its controversial menu labeling rule until one year after the agency finalizes guidance, unless that guidance comes before the current implementation date.

The Senate health committee hopes to hold an executive session in early January to vote on Robert Califf's nomination to head FDA, a congressional aide tells Inside Health Policy. Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said in September that Califf has impressive credentials and the committee would move promptly to consider his nomination, but two senators recently said they would attempt to block the nomination over HHS policy issues.