FEBRUARY 2002
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...INTOUCH...
Monthly Updates on Government Action Affecting Food Labels
February 1, 2002
Brought to you by The Food Consulting Company
Your source for food label help
http://www.foodlabels.com
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Greetings to our clients and guest subscribers!
We work to get your products properly labeled and
positioned
in the best light within the law so that your efforts
can be focused
on maximizing product sales.
We can help you today! Karen
NOW THE NEWS!
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HHS Pressures FDA to Finalize Trans Fat and Supplement
Rules
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Health and Human Services (HHS) announced in its
semiannual
regulatory agenda (SRA) that a final FDA rule for
trans fat label-
ing is a priority for the current fiscal year, ending
October 1. The
document also states a priority to establish a final
rule for good
manufacturing practices for dietary supplements and
dietary
ingredients. FDA's own cost benefit analyses have
shown
benefits exceed costs for both rules and yet FDA has
failed to
finalize these rules. Read SRA:
http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/ua/October2001/regplan/
Choose
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES from
list.
Author's Note: The rule to disclose trans fatty acid
content on
food labels was proposed by FDA in November 1999. HHS
is
the second government entity to apply pressure to FDA
for
finalizing the rule; the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB)
requested that FDA act on the trans fat labeling issue
in
September 2001. For background on rule, see INTOUCH
archive,
http://www.foodlabels.com/newsletter.htm for
January
2001, August 2001, and October 2001.
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New FDA Guide for Dietary Supplement Label
Claims
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FDA has prepared a Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG)
that restates the legal requirements concerning
labeling claims
for dietary supplements. The guidance discusses the
require-
ments that apply for determining whether a claim is a
structure/
function claim (allowed on dietary supplements) or a
disease
claim (allowed only on approved drugs and never on
dietary
supplements). Read SECG:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/sclmguid.html
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Compliance Date for Organic Rule is
Approaching
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Beginning October 21, 2002, all agricultural products
that are
sold, labeled, or represented as organic must be in
compliance
with the National Organic Program (NOP) standards.
The
standards include labeling requirements.
Read a fact sheet on organic product labeling:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/facts/labeling.htm;
visit NOP web site:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/
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FYI TIP: If your food product is a source of trans
fat, plan now
for reprinting of label inventories. FDA will likely
act to finalize
the trans fat rule before October 1, this year.
Compliance to
a new rule is usually required within 12 months of the
final rule
date.
© Food Consulting Company, 2002. |