Domestic Standards
May 23, 2005
Government Proposes General Principles for Modernizing Food Standards
In a joint proposed rule issued on May 17, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) laid out a framework of "general principles" that would govern the creation, revision and elimination of federal Standards of Identity for food. This is a beginning step in the agencies' shared effort to modernize the food Standards of Identity, 40% of which cover dairy products. The announcement drew praise from IDFA, which had encouraged the initiative in its comments to FDA in August 2004 regarding the agency's annual priorities.
"This is a solid step in the right direction of putting a better process in place to update standards of identity as necessary," said Clay Hough, IDFA senior vice president and general counsel. "Outdated standards are holding back innovation in the U.S. dairy industry, and we welcome this proposal as an indication that this issue is a priority for FDA."
Dr. Robert Brackett, head of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, noted that "these proposed changes to the food standards process will optimize use of new food processing and packaging technologies in the development of food products geared to the needs of today's consumer."
FSIS is responsible for food Standards of Identity related to meat, poultry and processed egg products, while FDA regulates standards for all other foods, including dairy foods. The agencies stated in their press announcement that they have been receiving an increasing amount of petitions to modify the food standards, some of which are decades old. Among those petitions is the five-year-old petition from the National Cheese Institute to allow liquid filtered milk in standardized cheeses, as well as the International Ice Cream Association's 2003 petition to update the ice cream standards. In its most recent priority list, FDA said that rulemaking on these two issues was among its "A" priorities.
Specifically, the proposed rule outlines 15 general principles that would guide those looking to submit a petition to modernize a certain standard. IDFA is now reviewing the 85-page proposal and plans to submit comments by the August 19 deadline for public input. Members interested in helping shape IDFA's comments should contact Clay Hough at chough@idfa.org, (202) 220-3516.
To read the actual FDA/FSIS announcement and proposed rule, click here.
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