MAY 2004
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...INTOUCH... Volume 5/Number 5 - May 7, 2004
Monthly Updates on Government Action Affecting Food
Labels
Brought to you by: Food Consulting Company
Your source for food label help at
www.foodlabels.com
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Greetings! INTOUCH keeps you connected to Food
Consulting Company - your best source for food
labeling
help. Visit us online at
www.foodlabels.com
.
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CFSAN FY2004 Priorities for Food Labels are Defined
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The fiscal year 2004 program priorities for the Center
for
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) were
released
on April 29, 2004. The list clarifies how CFSAN
intends to
proceed with many previously and newly announced food
label issues, and with other issues under the agency's
jurisdiction.
As in past years, the priorities are identified as
"A-list" or
"B-list". CFSAN's goal is to complete at least 90
percent
of the A-list items by the end of the current fiscal
year,
September 30, 2004. Activities on the B-list will see
progress but many of the activities are multi-year
efforts
that might become A-list activities in subsequent
years.
Access the 2004 CFSAN Program Priorities document:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cfsan404.html
...INTOUCH... Comments:
Nearly all of the food labeling priorities in the
report have
been subjects of previous CFSAN action or of recom-
mendations made to CFSAN. See INTOUCH archive at
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm for
previous
reports on these food labeling activities.
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A-List to Fight Obesity / Improve Nutrition with Food
Labels
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During this fiscal year, to fight obesity and improve
nutrition
through food labels, CFSAN intends to:
-- Solicit comments on:
> how to give more prominence to calories on the
food label
> serving size declarations when package contents
can
reasonably be consumed at one eating occasion
> the need to update Reference Amounts Customarily
Consumed (RACC)
-- Conduct enforcement activities related to
inappropriate
labeling of conventional foods, including alerting
manu-
facturers about inaccurate serving sizes used for
Nutrition
Facts labels
-- Publish a proposed rule to regulate qualified
health
claims based on public comment and consumer
research
-- Review nutrient content/health claim notifications
and
petitions within the statutory timeframe
...INTOUCH... Comments:
Only final rules that are published before December
31,
2004, will impact food labels by the next uniform
compli-
ance date of January 1, 2006. INTOUCH will keep you
informed about updates on these A-list priorities.
See September 2003 INTOUCH report on qualified health
claims as a means to improve consumer health, and
April
2004 INTOUCH report on the Obesity Working Group
recommendations for food labels. Access the INTOUCH
archive at
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm
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Carb Claims Makes B-List - So Do Old and New Themes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The B-list carries the priority to "develop principles
for use of
the term 'net' in relation to the carbohydrate content
of foods."
Old themes on the B-list include developing a:
-- proposed rule for the labeling of the most common
allergens
-- final rule on sodium provisions for the nutrient
content claim
"healthy"
-- strategy to address claims and disclosure/footnote
state-
ments on trans fat
A new priority is CFSAN's intent to review the
Institute of
Medicine/National Academy of Sciences (IOM/NAS) report
to
update Daily Values on Nutrition Facts labels and
establish an
updated fortification policy.
...INTOUCH... Comments:
Carbohydrate claims are not otherwise specifically
mentioned
in the 2004 program priorities, however two A-list
priorities
cover carbohydrate claims: untruthful carbohydrate
claims on
nutrition labels of conventional foods will be subject
to enforce-
ment action, and carbohydrate claim petitions received
by
CFSAN will be reviewed within the statutory timeframe.
As INTOUCH reported in February 2004, Grocery
Manufacturers
of America have petitioned FDA to establish new
regulations
for carbohydrate-related nutrient content claims.
INTOUCH will
continue to report on the progress of this and other
petitions.
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FYI: Nutrition information at point-of-purchase in
restaurants
gets A-list priority for this fiscal year. CFSAN's
goal is to
develop options for providing voluntary, standardized
nutrition
information. This fiscal year, restaurants are to be
recruited
to participate in pilot programs to test options and
evaluate
program results.
© Food Consulting Company, 2004. |