Category: Issue 282
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China Arrests Feed Producer Implicated in Melamine Contamination
The Chinese government has reportedly arrested the owner of a poultry feed operation implicated in a nationwide scandal involving melamine-tainted animal products. The manufacturer apparently confessed to using the industrial chemical in 212 tons of chicken feed sold to Dalian Hanovo Enterprise Group, which then distributed adulterated eggs to Chinese consumers. The government also destroyed an…
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EU Relaxes Restrictions on Produce Marketing Standards
The European Commission this week abolished more than 100 pages of rules and regulations governing the size, shape and color of various vegetables and fruits sold in member countries. The rules reportedly included prescriptions dictating that green asparagus must be green for 80 percent of its length and a cauliflower head must exceed 11 centimeters…
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Food & Water Watch Calls for Comments on Codex Listeria Rule
The consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch is calling on supporters to submit comments to the Codex Alimentarius Commission before its November 15, 2008, deadline on a proposal to allow an “acceptable” level of Listeria monocytogenes in food. According to the organization’s senior food organizer, “Those who are advocating this change argue that some Listeria…
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Nutrition Roundtable Discussion with Stakeholders Scheduled
FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) will conduct a roundtable discussion with stakeholders on December 12, 2008, and is tentatively scheduled to “communicate FDA’s nutrition activities” and provide status updates on functional foods, health claims, evidence-based review guides, Critical Path Project on Biomarkers for Use in Health Claims, front-of-pack labeling, and sodium…
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Proposed GE Rule Corrected to Expressly Preempt State Laws and Regulations
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a correction to a proposed rule regarding the “importation, interstate movement and release into the environment of certain genetically engineered [GE] organisms.” Where the October 9, 2008, notice indicated that the rule would preempt “no State or local laws or regulations,” the correction substitutes “All…