Food & Drug Law Prof Blog

FDA Seeking Comments on Calorie and Nutrition Labeling

From the FDA CFSAN website:

April 29, 2010

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a request, in the Federal Register, for data and other information the agency can use as it considers ways to make nutrition information more useful to consumers; for example, on "front-of-pack" labeling (the main display panel on products) and shelf tags in retail stores. The deadline for submitting comments is July 28, 2010.

FDA is particularly interested in receiving data and information on:

• • the extent to which consumers notice, use, and understand nutrition symbols on front-of-pack labeling or shelf tags;
  • results of research that assessed and compared the effectiveness of potential approaches to front-of-pack labeling;
  • graphic design, marketing, and advertising that can contribute to development of nutrition information that is more useful to consumers;
  • the extent to which nutrition labeling affects food manufacturers’ decisions about the contents of their products.

The goal of this request is to make calorie and nutrition information available to consumers in ways that will help them choose foods for more healthful diets – an effort that has taken on special importance, given the prevalence of obesity and diet-related diseases in the U.S. and of increasingly busy lifestyles that demand quick, nutritious food.

Post by Donna M. Byrne, Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law

FDA: Industry Guidance on Egg Safety

From the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN):

On April 13, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidance for small egg producers to help them comply with a new federal egg safety regulation. The guidance, entitled “Guidance for Industry: Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Transportation, and Storage: Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG),” can be accessed at Guidance for Industry: Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Transportation, and Storage; Small Entity Compliance Guide¹ and is intended to set forth in plain language the requirements of the new egg safety rule to help small businesses comply with the regulation.

The FDA published the egg safety regulation in July 2009. The new law requires egg producers to have preventive measures in place during the production of shell eggs in poultry houses and requires subsequent refrigeration during storage and transportation. . . .

more

Post by Donna M. Byrne, Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law

Supreme Court to hear arguments in GE Crop case Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms Tomorrow

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms tomorrow. This is the Roundup Ready Alfalfa case, in which plaintiffs challenged USDA's (APHIS's) deregulation of genetically engineered alfalfa under the NEPA.

The issues on which cert was granted don't have much to do with genetically engineered crops, per se, but the this is all exciting anyway. 

All of the briefs are available on the SCOTUS Wiki website, which presents the issues as follows:

Issues: (1) Whether plaintiffs under the National Environmental Policy Act are specially exempt from the requirement of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm to obtain an injunction; (2) whether a district court may enter an injunction sought to remedy a NEPA violation without conducting an evidentiary hearing sought by a party to resolve genuinely disputed facts directly relevant to the appropriate scope of the requested injunction; and (3) whether the Ninth Circuit erred when it affirmed a nationwide injunction that sought to remedy a NEPA violation based on only a remote possibility of reparable harm.

Post by Donna M. Byrne, Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law