Serving the Latest in Food Law and Policy
Yesterday, FSIS issued its long-awaited guidance on the labeling and packaging of “kit” products. Although FSIS has long informally applied its “kit policy,” this FSIS Compliance Guideline marks the first public guidance that FSIS has provided on the topic. The Compliance Guideline generally reflects the Agency’s informal policy without significant change.
Under its kit policy,…
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…
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report entitled, “Preliminary Incidence and Trends of Infections with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food – Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, 10 U.S. Sites, 2015-2018” (the Report). The Report summarizes data collected by the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), which tracks infections caused…
On April 17, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a proposed rule that would eliminate the requirement that certain packages of meat or poultry products display net weights using the so-called “dual declaration” format (e.g., requiring that some products declare weight in both pounds and ounces).…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a Draft Guideline detailing the Agency’s expectations of companies that identify foreign material in their meat and poultry products and more generally providing recommendations for how establishments should craft their complaint handling policies. FSIS states that it developed the document in response…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today a formal-agreement coordinating joint jurisdiction over the production of products derived from cell lines of livestock and poultry. This agreement marks the next significant step in establishing the regulatory framework for these products and…
As previously reported, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are operating under significantly reduced functions since funding for the agency lapsed on December 22, 2018. Recently, there have been a number of media reports with updated information from FDA Commissioner Gottlieb regarding…
On December 22, 2018, funding expired for certain agencies within the federal government, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). These agencies will be operating under significantly reduced functions until the shutdown ends, i.e., until Congress passes…
On Friday, November 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Perdue and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Gottlieb announced a joint regulatory framework to oversee cell cultured products. Under the proposed framework, FDA plans to oversee cell collection, cell banks, cell growth, and cell differentiation. USDA will oversee cell harvest, production,…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently released a guidance document to help companies determine whether their operations are exempt from the inspection requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). This guidance marks FSIS’s first significant attempt to articulate policy addressing the applicability of its retailer and restaurant…
