As a federal regulatory panel mulls over whether to approve genetically modified salmon for human consumption, a new effort to require labeling for the engineered fish is afoot.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), chairwoman of the House committee that controls the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture budgets, introduced a bill Wednesday that would mandate labeling of genetically modified fish.
According to her office, DeLauro’s Consumers Right to Know Food Labeling Act would also require USDA to mandate that products of cloned animals be labeled, if intended for human consumption.
“A recent Food & Water Watch survey revealed that 78 percent of Americans do not want genetically-engineered salmon to be approved and made available in stores and restaurants,” said DeLauro in a statement. “It is obvious that the American public wants to be able to make informed decisions when purchasing their food and that they want to be able to differentiate cloned or genetically modified products from natural products.”
“Because the FDA is treating these genetically modified salmon not as a food issue but as an animal drug issue, current regulations would leave the consumers unable to discern between these new modified salmon and traditional salmon,” she added. “If FDA approves the genetically modified salmon the American public deserves to know the truth about their food, and this legislation will ensure that they are provided with this critical information.”
American milk quality may be improving, as U.S. dairies get ready to comply with tighter European standards for somatic cell counts (SCC).
Somatic cells are white blood cells and their number increase in response to pathogenic bacteria such as the mastitis-causing Staphylococcus aureus. A healthy cow will have about 50,000 Somatic cells per milliliter of milk, but the number can range from 5,000 to 200,000 in a normal, healthy cow.
For 17-years, dairy producers in the U.S. have lived with a limit of 750,000 Somatic cells per milliliter of milk, using a three-month geometric mean. Now to sell milk in the European Union, which for the past decade has imposed a 400,000 limit on its domestic producers, American dairies will have to comply with the EU.
About 10 percent of the EU market is supplied by American milk.
While the date for U.S. producers’ compliance with the EU standard has been a moving target, the new requirement is now set to take effect Dec. 1. The lower SCC standard will apply to all U.S. milk exports to the EU, from fluids to cheeses.
While exporting U.S. dairies will have to demonstrate they are meeting the EU standard, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also coming under political pressure to change the standard for milk sold for domestic markets as well.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, wants FDA to use its emergency rule-making power to set the U.S. standard at 400,000 SCC. She says the lower the white cell count, the higher the milk’s quality, taste, shelf life, and cheese yield.
American dairies that depend upon the EU market have been getting ready to meet the European standard. FDA has been working with the EU on the new implementation program that will be used once the new certification system is in place.
The 750,000/ml limit is a provision of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), which says the limit must be achieved for Class A farm bulk milk. Lower cell counts can fetch higher prices from milk buyers in the U.S.
Since the EU imposed its tougher standard, the U.S.-based National Conference of Interstate Milk Shippers (NCIMS) has resisted going along. NCIMS includes producers, scientists, regulators and processors in its membership.
Export to the EU market will have to maintain a three-month geometric mean of 400,000 SCC or below. Enforcement is expected to come at the co-op or dairy level, not farm-by-farm. If the EU standards are not met, export certificates will be denied.
POM Wonderful has upset another government agency by being way too enthusiastic about its products.
After 19 months of investigation, the Federal Trade Commission Monday charged POM Wonderful LLC in an administrative complain with making deceptive disease and treatment claims.
FTC’s action follows the warning letter sent to POM Wonderful by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last February. FDA said POM Wonderful pomegranate juice “is promoted for conditions that cause the product to be a drug” and it is making unproven “therapeutic claims.”
In the FTC action, the next step is a hearing before an administrative law judge set for May 24, 2011. POM Wonderful will have the opportunity to show why it should not be ordered to cease and desist from making claims FTC views as false.
Roll International Corp., POM Chairman Stewart Resnick, President and CEO Matthew Tupper, and Roll co-director Lynda Resnick were named with POM Wonderful as defendants.
The FTC complaint against POM is “completely unwarranted,” according to Rob Six, the company spokesman. He said the company stands behind a “vast body of scientific research” documenting the health benefits of pomegranates. He said the millions of dollars worth of research into pomegranates is unprecedented in the food and beverage industry.
For its part, the FTC says the claims POM makes that its juice and extracts improve heart, prostate, and even erectile function are “unsubstantiated claims.”
“Any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
”When a company touts scientific research in its advertising, the research must squarely support the claims made. Contrary to POM Wonderful advertising, the available scientific information does not prove that POM Juice or POMx effectively treats or prevents these illnesses.”
Only because POM Wonderful was in a billing dispute with one of its outside law firms did it become known that the company was the target of the FTC investigation that apparently dates back to at least February 2009.
POM briefly persuaded a federal judge to bar the National Law Journal from publishing the fact that it was the target of the FTC investigation, but backed off when other national media got involved in potential appeal of the “prior restraint” ruling.
For its part, FDA has yet to release any response from POM to the warning letter it sent the company in February 2010.
One thing that is certain—there is no shortage of pomegranate fans. Count “Consumer Reports” magazine among them. In its “What Works and What Doesn’t Work” section, it recently reported: “… Evidence suggests that ounce for ounce; pomegranate juice contains more antioxidants than blueberries, cranberry juice, green tea and red wine. And pomegranate juice may also help reduce blood pressure, slow the progression of atherosclerosis. Works!
But testimony of general goodness is one thing, and specific health claims are something else entirely, at least according to the FTC.
POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice is widely available at grocery stores nationwide, and a 16 oz. bottle retails for approximately $3.99. POMx pills and liquid extract are sold via direct mail, with a one-month supply costing approximately $30.
A Michigan organic soy flour maker that appeared to be caught up in the national recall of hydrolyzed vegetable protein from a North Las Vegas food processing plant earlier this year instead had problems of its own.
A June 24 warning letter to Thumb Oilseed Producers’ Cooperative from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says Salmonella senftenberg was found inside the soy grit and soy flour manufacturing facility located in Ubly, MI.
FDA says S. senftenberg is “a poisonous or deleterious substance.”
As it turns out, Thumb Oilseed was nearing the end of its own FDA inspection Feb. 25 when it recalled soybean grits and flour for possible Salmonella contamination.
A week later, on March 4, federal food safety officials announced the recall of an eventual 177 raw and ready-to-eat products containing HVP from Basic Food Flavors in Nevada. Granola bars made with Thumb Oilseed soy grits and flour appeared to be included in the HVP recall.
Salmonella Tennessee, however, was found inside Basic Food Flavors and the recently released warning letter discloses that Thumb Oilseed’s problem is with Salmonella senftenberg.
FDA said it inspected the Michigan flour maker from Jan. 28 through Feb. 23, taking environmental samples from various locations inside the facility and from finished products.
Tests were positive for Salmonella from 43 areas inside the plant, and all were for S. senftenberg. ”The discovery of an indistinguishable S. senftenberg serotype pattern from multiple locations within your manufacturing facility indicates Salmonella may have become established in a niche environment in your facility,” the FDA letter said.
FDA said positive results with the same PFGE pattern were found in finished organic soy flour and on non-food contact surfaces like the processing room floor and on a forklift wheel.
Thumb Oilseed should provide its decontamination plan, ongoing environmental monitoring plan, and revised sanitation standard operating procedures to FDA, the letter said.
“Appropriate control of Salmonella in a good processing environment requires expert knowledge of the unique characteristics of the organism,” FDA wrote. ”It is essential to identify the areas of the food processing plant where this organism is able to grow and survive (niche areas) and to take such corrective actions as necessary to eradicate the organism by rendering these areas unable to support the grow and survival of the organism.”
FDA asked the Michigan company to respond within 15 business days.
| Event | CLASS CLOSED - ServSafe Alcohol™ Responsible Alcohol Training Class |
| When |
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
1:00pm
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Click on class for more information & register
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All Ages
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| Where |
Birmingham - HRBAudit Training Center (map)
YourOffice USA Building
4000 Eagle Point Corporate Drive Birmingham, AL 35242
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