DECEMBER 2002
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...INTOUCH... Volume 3/Number 12 - December 6, 2002
Monthly Updates on Government Action Affecting Food
Labels
Brought to you by: The Food Consulting Company
Your source for food label help at www.foodlabels.com
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Seasons Greetings! Call on us to help with end-of-year
food
labeling needs. Visit our website, http://www.foodlabels.com,
for speedy online ordering.
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FDA Regulations for Trans Fat on Nutrition Labels
Coming
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Per the November 15, 2002, Federal Register, FDA
intends to
publish a Final Rule in early 2003 requiring mandatory
declaration
of trans fat content within the Nutrition Facts panel
under the
declaration for saturated fat. FDA is proposing to
require an
asterisk or other symbol in the percent of Daily Value
(%DV)
column for trans fat when it is listed, that is tied
to a similar symbol
at the bottom of the Nutrition Facts box and that is
followed by the
statement "Intake of trans fat should be as low as
possible." FDA
is accepting comments on this statement until December
16, 2002.
Read Federal Register notice:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr02n15b.html
Author's Note:
Based on current information, it appears that all
Nutrition Facts labels will need to be updated by
early 2004; this
gives the food industry 12 months to comply with the
Final Rule
for trans fat labeling requirements.
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Oregon Said NO to "Genetically Engineered" on Food
Labels
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In the November 5, 2002, general election, Oregonians
voted
against a ballot initiative that required foods
containing genetically
engineered material to be labeled as such. The
requirement would
have applied to all foods sold in Oregon (including
stores and
restaurants) as well as foods distributed from the
state.
Author's Note: For background information on this
issue, see
August 2002 and November 2002 INTOUCH at
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm
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FSIS Announces Voluntary Allergen Guidelines for Food
Labels
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On November 20, 2002, the Food Safety and Inspection
Service
(FSIS) of USDA issued guidance on voluntary allergen
labeling
statements for meat, poultry, and processed egg
products. The
document states, "the use of factual statements about
a product's
manufacturing environment, e.g., 'produced in a plant
that uses
peanuts', and the use of may contain statements, e.g.,
'may contain
peanuts' may only be used in cases where
establishments show
that adequate SSOPs (sanitation standard operating
procedures)
cannot effectively eliminate the cross contact issue."
Read guidelines:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/larc/Allergens.htm
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FYI: The FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition (CFSAN)
has issued an end-of-the-year "Report Card" on the
fiscal year 2002
program priority accomplishments for its foods
program. Per the
report, 95% of "A" list goals (112 out of 118
activities) were completed.
The Food Consulting Company had previously identified
the Program
Priorities (March 2002 INTOUCH) and progress
(September 2002
INTOUCH) that are of greatest concern to The Food
Consulting
Company clients. See report card:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cfsann02.html
© Food Consulting Company, 2002. |