The Food and Drug Administration announced last week it will begin seeking input to repeal, replace or modify its existing regulations as directed by President Donald Trump’s executive order enacted in February. The order, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” provides a framework to help agencies identify regulations that should be changed or could be eliminated in advance of issuing any new regulations.

FDA’s request pertains specifically to products that fall under the scope of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), which includes food safety regulations, standards and labeling for all dairy products.

The agency wants to know if CFSAN’s regulations are outdated, unnecessary, irrelevant or duplicative; have been superseded by other regulations; or need modification. 

IDFA considers several FDA regulations unnecessary or unnecessarily burdensome to dairy companies and previously shared these comments with the agency, the White House and the Commerce Department:

• IDFA said FDA’s voluntary sodium reduction targets for cheese are unrealistic,  unnecessary and may even be unsafe in some instances because salt plays an essential role in the ripening, quality and safety of natural and processed cheeses.
• IDFA called for harmonized compliance dates for updates to the Nutrition Facts panel and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s bioengineered foods disclosure standard, saying this action would reduce consumer confusion and avoid costly and duplicative labeling by companies.
• IDFA said FDA should modernize several standards of identity for dairy products to allow for more innovative products to meet consumer requests, especially the long pending update for yogurt standards.
• IDFA asked for FDA to complete guidance for industry on several regulations stemming from the Food Safety Modernization Act.

IDFA will be working with the regulatory committees of the Milk Industry Foundation, International Ice Cream Association and National Cheese Institute to solicit additional ideas for regulatory reform that will be submitted in written comments to FDA. Members can contact Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs, at cfrye@idfa.org with questions or suggestions.

Comments are due to FDA by Dec. 7, 2017, so IDFA is requesting feedback no later than Nov. 1. 

View “Review of Existing Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Regulatory and Information Collection Requirement” in the Federal Register.