What Does The FDA Have Planned In The Coming Months?
By Sam Lewis
Menu labeling, nutrition facts updates, and new sodium guidelines are suspected to be on the FDA’s agenda
The FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition set some lofty goals for 2013 and 2014. Some of the agency’s top priorities included creating a definition of what gluten-free means, issuing guidelines for acrylamide, and publishing the most important of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules.
However, with barely a month remaining in 2013, many of the FDA’s plans have yet to be fulfilled. Still in the pipeline for the FDA are: the development of policies for energy drinks, releasing a final guidance for food makers wanting to voluntarily label products that have been genetically modified, and updating advice on the consumption of fish. Most importantly, the FDA has been ordered by a federal judge to finalize the last two big rules of the FSMA within the next two months. The first rule deals with unintentional adulteration of food and is due Dec 20. The other addresses transporting food in a sanitary manner and is due Jan 31.
Assuming the FDA is able to meet the deadlines of these policies, three additional items will be added to the FDA’s priority list in the coming months. Labeling menus at food service establishments with caloric information was proposed more than 18 months ago. Needless to say, this proposal caused an uproar between the grocery and restaurant industry and it has been difficult to implement a rule. Commissioner of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, publicly stated last month that a final menu labeling rule would be implemented soon. Yes, soon is a relative term, but Scott DeFife, EVP of policy and government affairs at the National Restaurant Association believes the rule will be finalized by early 2014. “There’s a lot of chatter about the regulations being done and ready to move,” says DeFife. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they released them within the next 45 to 90 days.”
Updating the nutrition facts window on food products is another endeavor the FDA might undertake soon. Food products’ nutrition facts have remained fundamentally the same since their inception in 1993 and it has been rumored they are close to being revised as early as January. Changes proposed by the FDA to nutrition labels will force food manufacturers to abide by new labels, but as of now, there is plenty of speculation as to what the new labels will entail, including the agency’s objective. Will the new labels provide shoppers with simple, clear cut information? Or will the new labels be an effort by the FDA to help influence shoppers into making healthy food choices? The possibility of nutrition fact amendments is an issue the food industry is keeping a careful eye upon.
The FDA’s priorities for 2013 include releasing “advance plan for promoting broad, gradual reduction of added sodium in the food supply” but the approach for regulation sodium has not been established. The desire to regulate sodium intake stems from Americans consuming excessive amounts of salt. The average American adult takes in more than double the recommended daily allowance of salt, 1,500 milligrams, each day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that if the average American’s sodium intake were to drop 1,200 milligrams each day, the country would save $20 billion in healthcare costs annually. Makers of processed foods will feel the implications of this reduction in sodium as 65 percent of salt intake comes from processed foods. The FDA could address salt in the revamping of nutrition facts, but a separate policy is likely the path the agency will take to reduce sodium intake.
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