Perspectives on Food & Agriculture

Earlier this week the Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s highest court, issued a decision clarifying whether the EU would regulate products of innovative breeding techniques, like gene editing, under the EU’s Directive 2001/18, the principal EU law governing the regulation of GMOs.

On July 24, 2018, the House of Representatives approved 283-132 a bill (H.R. 184, the Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2017) to repeal the excise tax on the sale of a medical device by the manufacturer, producer, or importer.

The United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have recently initiated processes to evaluate and propose revisions to their approaches to the regulation of products of agricultural biotechnology.

Late last week, the Food and Drug Administration declared its jurisdiction over animal cell culture technology through a public meeting announcement and a statement by Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

The National Confectioners Association (NCA) have invited Arent Fox Partner Karen Carr to present a webinar on the bioengineered food disclosure rule proposed by the US Department of Agriculture on May 4, 2018.

Arent Fox Intellectual Property Partner Alex Spiegler and FDA Associate Emily Leongini will present at the International Bar Association (IBA) 6th Annual World Life Sciences Conference.

Arent Fox Associate Emily Leongini will speak at the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) Annual Conference hosted May 3-4, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Karen Carr and Emily Leongini to Present at Q1’s Annual Food Labeling Conference. Arent Fox partner Karen Carr and associate Emily Leongini are scheduled to speak at the Q1 Productions’ 5th Annual Food Labeling Conference.

Arent Fox will host the reception for the New York State Bar Association’s (NYSBA’s) Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law Section Annual Meeting on January 25th, 2018 in its New York office.

Recently, the FDA announced that it does not intend to enforce certain provisions in four of the rules that implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. 

The US Department of Agriculture needs to strengthen its controls over the approval and oversight of agreements for the import of organic products into the US, according to a recent audit report issued by the Office of the Inspector General at USDA.

The food industry potentially faces a new challenge on disclosure at the local level with the recent passage of a San Francisco ordinance addressing antibiotic use.

While acknowledging some notable challenges, a recent USDA study concluded that most consumers seeking information on their food purchases would be able to access this information, given the proper education and tools to do so.

One of the primary reasons the United States lacks a national animal identification system is the fervent perception among farmers and ranchers that such a system would result in government control over their livestock and an invasion of privacy.

Continuing a trend that is certain to keep growing, three consumer groups recently filed a lawsuit against Sanderson Farms alleging false advertising for their poultry products labeled “100 percent natural.”

In a widely anticipated move, the FDA announced this week that it will extend the July 2018 compliance date for the revision to the Nutrition Facts panel. The revised panel will display calories more prominently on the label, as well as list added sugars.

With organic foods now accounting for over $40 billion in total US food sales, and the accompanying larger scale of organic operations, increased scrutiny of the integrity of the National Organic Program represents a natural progression in the evolution of the program’s history.

This week, Sonny Perdue became the penultimate nominee for President Trump’s cabinet to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Food and Drug Administration has just announced that it will hold a Public Meeting on March 9, 2017 to discuss use of the term “healthy” in the labeling of human food products.

On December 9, 2016, the Senate Agriculture Committee filed report language for the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law, the legislation signed into law by President Obama in July to amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946.

On December 7, 2016, FDA published a Notice in the Federal Register announcing that its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition will begin publishing data extracted from adverse event reports the Agency has received for conventional foods, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.

USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) recently announced that meat and poultry products may use the Nutrition Facts label recently finalized by FDA earlier this year.

A review of FSIS recall data from the past five years indicates that recalls of meat and poultry products due to the presence of foreign matter contamination have grown in number, particularly over the past year.

Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued revised food safety standards known as the “Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards” (MFRPS).

The Beer Institute (BI) announced last week that is was implementing a “Brewer’s Voluntary Disclosure Initiative” intended to encourage its membership to begin disclosing nutritional information about its products on product labeling, packaging and on product websites.