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News in brief

USDA finalizes five-year food choice study

16-Oct-2009 - A five-year study on food choices and expenditures by US households will be conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced.

FDA and USDA should cooperate for import safety: Report

15-Oct-2009 - The federal government needs to take action to close gaps in the US food safety network, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Lawsuits against Cheerios cholesterol claims combined

13-Oct-2009 - A federal court panel has ruled that five pending lawsuits against General Mills for claims about the purported cholesterol-lowering benefits of Cheerios will be consolidated into one multi-district case.

FDA launches a $17.5m boost to food and feed safety

13-Oct-2009 - The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a $17.5m investment in food and feed safety standards encompassing federal, state, and local partners.

Comment

Soda tax: A lot of froth over freedom

12-Oct-2009 - Is taxing soda really an evil plan to curb your individual freedom? Conspiracy theories aside, perhaps it’s simply a sensible scheme to tackle obesity when personal choice has failed.

Canada asks WTO to settle US food origin labeling dispute

08-Oct-2009 - Canada has asked for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to settle its ongoing dispute with the US over country of origin labeling (COOL) rules.

Healthy foods top CSPI’s risk list

07-Oct-2009 - The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released a list of the ten riskiest FDA-regulated foods, claiming that it should serve as a further call to overhaul the US food safety system.

Canada must amend its natural product regulations

07-Oct-2009 - Canada’s controversial Natural Health Products (NHP) Directorate must be amended if the Canadian functional foods market is not to face severe long-term regulatory restriction, according to a leading trade group there.

USDA unites with FDA on new food safety rules

07-Oct-2009 - The US Department of Agriculture’s fresh produce chief has joined the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop new food safety rules, the departments announced in a statement on Monday.

Comment

Bad day at the EU health claims office

05-Oct-2009 - October 1 was not a good day for many in the functional foods and food supplements business in the European Union as the meaning of life under a highly restrictive health claims regime came more into focus.

President Obama endorses US soda tax plan

01-Oct-2009 - President Barack Obama has lent his support for a soda tax which could benefit children’s health and the nation’s wealth, according to a new report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Quotas ignore industry's sugar price plea

29-Sep-2009 - The USDA has set sugar import quotas at the minimum level required under World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, despite pleas from industry to increase quotas in an effort to pull down prices.

Comment

The benefits of a probiotic witch hunt

28-Sep-2009 - Get your pitchforks ready! There are evil-doers out there! We’ve been conned: Probiotics don’t work. Dannon’s settling out of court, EFSA’s rejecting health claims, and the media is starting a witch hunt.

CSPI calls industry kids marketing rules a "sham"

24-Sep-2009 - A US health group has branded a voluntary industry initiative to tackle junk food marketing in schools a “sham”.

Health Canada proposes allergen labeling for mustard

23-Sep-2009 - Health Canada has said it is developing new allergen labeling regulations, adding mustard as a priority allergen under proposals released by the agency on Monday.

Judge rules against Monsanto’s GM sugar beets

23-Sep-2009 - A federal judge ruled on Monday that the USDA failed to adequately assess the environmental impact of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) sugar beets before introducing them into the food supply.

CAPI calls for food industry involvement in public health policy

22-Sep-2009 - A new report from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) has proposed an integrated system for food, health and agricultural policy, to tackle health problems from a food and nutrition perspective.

News in brief

Food processors benefit from new Canadian tariff law

22-Sep-2009 - Canadian food processors and manufacturers could benefit from government plans to remove all remaining tariffs on imports of machinery and equipment.

Comment

Are health claims curbing freedom of speech?

21-Sep-2009 - The US FDA is being sued over its health claims regime – actions that are unlikely to succeed according to most pundits – but they raise serious questions about healthy food messaging and free speech that are being felt globally.

Communities offered $650m to cut junk food, promote health

21-Sep-2009 - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that reducing poor food choices and improving nutrition is a top priority for a $650m locally led initiative to improve health in US communities.

New report makes the case for nationwide soda tax

21-Sep-2009 - The idea of taxing sugary beverages to reduce obesity and bring public health benefits has been raised again in a new report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chicken processors caught in cross-fire of US-China trade row

16-Sep-2009 - The US chicken processing industry has been caught in the fallout of a high-level trade dispute between Washington and Beijing that could damage its exports to China, a major industry body has said.

Comment

Bisphenol A: Hearts versus minds

14-Sep-2009 - Forget GMO and nanotechnology - the biggest food safety issue of our times is bisphenol A (BPA).

USDA seeks to define ‘natural’

14-Sep-2009 - The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said it is seeking comments over the use of the claim ‘natural’ for meat and poultry products, in a move that could determine whether it should define the claim at all.