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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking comments on recommendations to update the List of Bioengineered Foods (List) under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). AMS seeks comment on four issues: (1) whether it should add insect-resistant sugarcane to the List; (2) whether it should add the modifier “virus-resistant”…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released the Spring 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory actions, which outlines the rulemaking actions currently under development in each federal agency. This memorandum summarizes the major actions that may be of particular interest to the food industry that are being planned by the U.S. Food and Drug…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued two final guidance documents providing industry stakeholders with instructions on how to implement certain requirements of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). The agency’s Guidance to Ensure Acceptable Validation of a Refining Process outlines steps for validating that a refining process makes modified…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced it will temporarily exercise enforcement discretion for country of origin labeling (COOL) or method of production requirements to facilitate the redistribution of food products intended for foodservice to be sold in retail establishments. The temporary policy will take effect April 20, 2020 and will…

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,” or the CARES Act.  This is the third phase of federal legislation in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The estimated $2 trillion package cuts across nearly every segment of the economy, widely affecting companies and consumers alike, and…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has released Draft Instructions on Testing Methods (Draft Instructions) for use in compliance with the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). The document provides guidance on the selection of a test method that may be used to ascertain that a highly refined food or ingredient…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking public comment on draft instructions to validate a refining process under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). Validated refining processes can be used to demonstrate a food does not contain detectable modified genetic material and therefore does not require a disclosure under…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released the Fall 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions, which outlines the rulemaking actions currently under development in each federal agency. This memorandum summarizes the major actions that may be of particular interest to the food industry that are being planned by the U.S. Food and Drug…

On October 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published an interim final rule (IFR) on domestic hemp production. This rule establishes a regulatory framework for USDA oversight of domestic hemp production in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill.  While many questions remain about how the federal government, including the U.S. Food and…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released the Spring 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions, which outlines the rulemaking actions currently under development in each federal agency. This memorandum summarizes the major actions that may be of particular interest to the food industry that are being planned by the U.S. Food and Drug…