DECEMBER
2004
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...INTOUCH... Volume 5/Number 12 -
December 3,
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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Holiday Greetings! As we prepare to say goodbye to
2004,
we want to remind you that in just 13 months, by
January 1,
2006, all U.S. food labels must contain trans fat and
allergen
declarations. If your labels are not yet
2006-compliant, visit us
at
www.foodlabels.com or call
us at 800-793-2844 (outside
USA 858-793-4658). We'll make it easy for you to
update.
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Help With Allergen Testing for Food Labels
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In response to client interest, Food Consulting
Company
now offers chemical testing of product samples to
confirm
the presence or absence of any of the eight major food
allergens: wheat, soy, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree
nuts, fish,
shellfish. Information for this service is available
on the
Services and Place Orders pages at
www.foodlabels.com.
...INTOUCH... Comments:
Clients now have the option of having Food Consulting
Company perform chemical testing for unintentional
allergens, or acquiring this information from
ingredient
suppliers or another source. Either way, Food
Consulting
Company's "Ingredient/Allergen Statement" service
includes compliance with the Food Allergen and Con-
sumer Protection Act of 2004.
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Olive Oil Qualified Health Claim for Food Labels
Approved
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On November 1, 2004, FDA
announced approval for a
Qualified Health Claim (QHC) for monounsaturated fat
from
olive oil and a reduced risk of coronary heart
disease. This
approval is in response to petitions submitted to FDA
on
behalf of the North American Olive Oil Association,
and is
granted based on FDA's systematic evaluation of the
avail-
able scientific data as outlined in FDA's "Interim
Procedures
for Qualified Health Claims in the Labeling of
Conventional
Human Food and Human Dietary Supplements."
See news release for approved QHC wording:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01129.html
For background on FDA Interim
Procedures,
see September 2003 INTOUCH:
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm
...INTOUCH... Comments:
This QHC is the third claim FDA has allowed for
conventional
food since the process for establishing QHCs took
effect on
September 1, 2003. The other QHCs relate to omega-3
fatty
acids and coronary heart disease, and nuts and
coronary
heart disease.
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FDA Again Seeks Comments on Nutrition Labels Claims
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In response to requests for additional time to submit
comments
to FDA, the agency has reopened the comment period for
the
proposed rule entitled "Food Labeling: Nutrient
Content Claims,
General Principles; Health Claims, General
Requirements and
Other Specific Requirements for Individual Health
Claims." The
proposed rule would amend regulations to provide
greater flexi-
bility in the use of claims.
Read FDA announcement:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/04-25529.htm
For background on proposed rule,
see September 2004 INTOUCH:
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm
...INTOUCH... Comments:
FDA first proposed the rule in 1995. The comment
period has
been opened, reopened, and extended several times,
most
recently in May 2004. The proposed rule addresses
issues
that were brought to FDA's attention in 2003 by the
FDA task
force for the agency's "Consumer Health Information
for Better
Nutrition" initiative; the task force recommended that
FDA seek
public comment on several "claims" topics.
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FYI: A major news wire has
reported that acting FDA acting
Commissioner Lester Crawford told the FDA Science
Board
on November 5, 2004, that FDA will release a proposal
in
December 2004 that would require food labels to report
the
percentage of daily recommended calories the product
contains; the purpose is to "shock you and tell you
(that) you
have consumed 50% of your daily calories." According
to
the CFSAN press office, Dr. Crawford was not speaking
from prepared notes and so his remarks are not posted
on
the FDA website.
© Food Consulting Company, 2004. |