On June 5, 2019, the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA (APHIS) announced the availability of a proposed rule titled “Movement of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms.” The proposed rule was published on June 6, 2019. On June 7, the 449 pages long draft environmental …
On June 3, 2019, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announcedthat the National Organic Program (NOP) published a letter to certifiers titled, “Certification of Organic Crop Container Systems.” Over the last decade, there has been a disagreement within the organic industry about use of container systems in …
In recent years, food waste has received increasing attention. Based on studies, it appears that up to 40 percent of the food in the United States is never eaten. Waste occurs at every step in the food production and consumption chain. However, data suggest that …
On June 26, 2016, NuTek Food Science, LLC (NuTek) petitioned FDA to recognize “potassium salt” as an optional name for potassium chloride. Petitioner claimed (and presented evidence) that consumer acceptance of potassium chloride (as alternative to salt or sodium chloride) is hindered by consumers’ association …
In 2016, the Animal League Defense Fund (ALDF) sued Hormel Foods Corporation, alleging that the company’s use of the terms “natural” and “no preservatives added” in advertising for its Natural Choice products violated the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act. Plaintiff alleged that the these claims …
FDA’s nutrition labeling rules have defined most nutrients based on chemical structure. However, in light of evidence on allulose, FDA may need to reconsider that focus. Allulose is a monosaccharide, and the nutrition labeling regulation defines sugars as mono- and disaccharides. Thus, under the regulations, allulose …
On April 16, the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) of USDA announced the publication of a proposed rule amending the labeling regulations for net content statements on meat and poultry. FSIS proposes to remove the requirement for dual declaration of net weight and net …
As readers of this blog may recall, the issue of the regulation of meat and poultry derived from cell lines, identified by such terms as cultured meat, clean meat, and cell-based meat, became front cover news a little more than a year ago when the …
The question of whether hydroponic operations are eligible for organic certification in the United States has been debated since 1995. In most countries, such as Mexico and Canada, and regions, such as the EU, organic certification cannot be extended to crops not grown in soil. …
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. (“HP&M”) is pleased to present its annual report highlighting the leading cases and settlements from 2018 that affect the FDA- and DEA-regulated industries. Each page provides a concise summary of the relevant facts and key takeaways for our clients. We …
On December 20, 2018, the Agricultural Marketing Service announced the availability of its long-awaited final rule implementing the national mandatory bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard (NBFDS). The history of the law and rule was discussed in our post on the proposed rule. In the proposed rule, AMS …
As we previously reported, one of the main components of FDA’s 2016 final rule to update the Nutrition Facts is the mandatory requirement for a declaration and a daily value (DV) for “added sugar” for both sugars added to processed foods as well as foods “packaged as …
Once in a while a consumer class action catches our particular attention. Most recently, Kind LLC was sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York over its advertising, labels, and ingredient statements for its “Pressed by KIND” and “KIND Fruit …
Last week FDA published a final guidance and a draft guidance related to the nutrition labeling regulation amendments published in 2016. Final guidance The Guidance, titled “Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels: Questions and Answers Related to the Compliance Date, Added Sugars, and Declaration of Quantitative Amounts of …
As many of our readers know, slack fill litigation has increased within the food and beverage industry over the past several years. Approximately 300 slack fill cases were filed between 2016 and 2017, principally in California and New York. By definition, “slack fill” is the difference …
