JANUARY 2003
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...INTOUCH... Volume 4/Number 1 January
3, 2003
Monthly Updates on Government Action Affecting Food
Labels
Brought to you by: The Food Consulting Company
Your source for food label help at
www.foodlabels.com
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Happy New Year! The Food Consulting Company delivers
accurate food label components fast! For easy
confidential
service, visit our website -
http://www.foodlabels.com - choose
SERVICES for description, ORDERS to request help.
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Food Labeling is part of Regulatory Plan / Unified
Agenda
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The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory
and Deregulatory Actions is published in the December
9, 2002,
Federal Register. The agendas describe regulatory
actions federal
agencies are developing or have recently completed.
Food label
regulations are among these. To locate and read food
labeling
issues see "Table of Contents"
(http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/unifiedagenda_1202.html)
and go to the Subject Index or the Department of
interest.
Author's Note: The Food Consulting Company has been
following
regulatory action on several items reported in the
Plan/Agenda
including: trans fatty acid labeling, nutrient content
claims, and
labeling for single-ingredient items. We will report
on these and
other food label regulatory actions as information is
available.
If you need immediate answers on regulatory issues,
you can
submit a REGULATORY QUESTION at
http://www.foodlabels.com/forms/contact.htm.
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AHA Says Omega-3 Fatty Acids Reduce Heart Disease
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According to a scientific statement released by the
American
Heart Association (AHA) on November 19, 2002, omega-3
fatty
acids, from natural food sources and from dietary
supplements,
reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and
are beneficial
for persons with and without documented CHD.
Read AHA statement:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/106/21/2747
Read recommendation for omega-3 intake amounts:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/106/21/2747/TBL5
Author's Note: Companies wishing to label foods with
health
claims about the relationship between a food substance
and a
disease or health-related condition must petition
FDA. The
petition must provide scientific evidence that meets
FDA's
"significant scientific agreement" standard. The AHA
scientific
statement might partly satisfy this requirement in
petitions for
claims related to omega-3 fatty acids. Read FDA
Guidance
on Significant Scientific Agreement:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ssaguide.html
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Canada Solicits Comments on Nutrition Label Compliance
Test
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently
pub-
lished a Consultation Document that solicits comments
on a
proposed revision to the CFIA compliance test standard
for
assessing accuracy of nutrient values for food labels
and
advertising. The document states, "Industry is
responsible
for ensuring the accuracy of label values and may
choose the
risk management strategy best suited to the food(s) to
be
labelled." Following the comment period, Health
Canada and
the CFIA will prepare a guidance document to assist
industry in
developing their strategy to generate reliable and
compliant
nutrition information. Read Consultation Document:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/bureau/labeti/nutricon/nutricone.shtml
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FYI: The International Food Information Council (IFIC)
has published an
excellent summary of calorie-free, very low calorie,
and reduced calorie
sweeteners approved for use in the United States in
the September/
October 2002 issue of FOOD INSIGHT. The five
calorie-free or very low
calorie sweeteners allowed in foods in the US food
supply are
acesulfame potassium, aspartame, neotame, saccharin
and sucralose;
the reduced calorie sweeteners are polyols (a group of
compounds also
known as sugar alcohols) and tagatose. Read IFIC
summary at:
http://ific.org/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=20962
© Food Consulting Company, 2003. |