Category: Issue 743
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USDA, HHS Release 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released the first print of the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will be used to guide dietary recommendations. Changes include a reduced recommendation for the percentage of added sugars in an adult’s diet and…
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FDA to Resume Domestic Inspections
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will resume domestic inspections of regulated facilities during the week of July 20, 2020, after pausing in March due to COVID-19. “To arm our investigators with the most reliable and accurate information, the FDA has developed a rating system to assist us in determining…
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FDA Announces New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a blueprint of plans to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act and a hub for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. The blueprint focuses on four elements: (i) tech-enabled traceability; (ii) smarter tools and approaches for prevention and outbreak response; (iii) new business models and…
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USDA Responds to Petition on COVID-19 in Meat and Poultry Plants
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a response to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s petition urging the agency to require meat and poultry processing plants to publish information about COVID-19 testing and infection rates at their facilities and to include on their product labels the statement “Warning: Workers in U.S. meat and…
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Californians Can Buy Out-of-State Foie Gras, Court Rules
A California court has reportedly ruled that Californians can buy foie gras from out-of-state sellers and have it delivered within the state to avoid the state’s ban on sales or gifts of foie gras. The ruling applies only to individual purchasers, as restaurants and retailers are still prohibited from selling foie gras, according to the Associated…
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Second Circuit Rejects Barilla Class Certification
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has sided with an objector to a class settlement in a lawsuit alleging that Barilla USA pasta boxes contained too much slack fill. Berni v. Barilla S.p.A., No. 19-1921 (2nd Cir., entered July 8, 2020). The lawsuit asserts that Barilla reduced the amount of pasta in…
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FDA Enters New Phase of FSVP Enforcement
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has entered a new phase of enforcement for the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) regulation, the legally required due diligence program to review and approve foreign suppliers of imported food. In May 2020, FDA placed two companies on Import Alert 99-41, which is essentially an import ban where…