The new 118th Congress officially convened on January 3. The last order of business for the former Congress was to push through a fiscal 2023 spending bill with a $1.7 trillion price tag. Also included in the legislation was expanded liability protection for donated food that provides additional protection for farmers, processors, supermarkets and other businesses. So, if you had any reservations about donating safe, but unsalable food to individuals or non-profit organizations, additional liability protection is now on the books.
Major Changes Coming To Food & Drug Administration
Early in the spring of 2022, I commented on the anguish expressed by many members of Congress regarding an apparent “imbalance” of priorities within Food & Drug Administration (FDA). At issue was FDA’s perceived focus more on the drug side of their agency than the food side. The turmoil reached a head after months and months of fallout over the baby formula shortage and Congress demanded to know what was going on. Then, to address a myriad of concerns, this past summer the FDA appointed the Reagan-Udall Foundation to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the agency. The independent foundation was created by Congress to supplement FDA and the two entities have worked closely together in the past. Politico News commented that their own investigation, prior to the appointment of the Reagan-Udall review, saying it “revealed that the FDA’s food division had serious, often paralyzing structural problems, which led to repeated failures in identifying and stopping food safety issues.”
The Reagan-Udall report was made public last month. Bottom line, it reported that FDA needed more operational funding from Congress and a better organization chart with a straightforward chain of command to help eliminate so much bureaucracy within the agency. The 48-page report was well received within FDA and Congress and left little doubt that a new organization chart should be created in 2023. In addition, the need for more agency funding and how the funds could be used to improve FDA were highlighted in the report. Food Safety News chimed in succinctly to paraphrase the funding issue as “one of the key budgetary problems cited – in addition to money for qualified personnel to fill open positions.” Food Safety News also noted another critical need to update information technology in the various sub-agencies of the FDA.
Some other critical problems to be addressed by the FDA and included in the formal Reagan-Udall report, included:
- A need for stronger relationships with state and local entities
- Funding to send key staff to continuing education events
- An ability to pursue user fees to bolster FDA’s budget
- More aggressive use of FDA’s mandatory recall authority
- Multiple-year funding to ensure programs continue
Congress responded in the omnibus funding bill that was enacted in the final moments of the 117th Congress in order to remedy many of the FDA needs as pointed out in the Reagan-Udall report. They voted to earmark more money for food safety and more overall funding for the agency. FDA is to get an additional $226 million in budget authority funding, which is more than a 6.5 percent increase. Funding will be earmarked in part for medical product safety, for food safety activities and for improved infrastructure investments. Also, in 2023, we at Policy Solutions expect a new FDA hierarchy chain of command to be created including an opportunity for the FDA commissioner to install a single deputy in charge of food.
As a sidebar note, just one day prior to the adjournment of the 117th Congress, the Senate approved the nomination of Jose Emilio Esteban to serve as undersecretary of agriculture for food safety and Doug McKalip to be chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the U.S. trade representative. Both individuals are well-respected within the non-government food sector and received strong endorsements from non-government trade associations.
New Guidelines for Third-Party Food Delivery Services
FDA, in coordination, with the Department of Agriculture, has collaborated with the Conference of Food Protection to release food safety best practices for third-party delivery services, according to Food Safety News. The recommendations focus on key parameters companies should consider when delivering food to consumers.
The guidance document provides food safety best practices that include preventive controls, mechanisms to assess risk, recommendations for proper packaging, temperature control, physical and chemical contamination control, and allergen control. Additional information may be obtained from FDA at www.fda.gov.
Food Allergen Labeling Requirements
The FDA has just issued two guidance documents about food allergen labeling requirements to help the food industry meet the requirements to list any major food allergens on the labels of FDA-regulated foods. Food labels are a powerful tool to help protect consumers with food allergies, says FDA, and consumers can avoid ingredients they may be allergic or sensitive to in food by looking for specific allergen labelling and reading the ingredient list.
The draft guidance includes new questions and answers about food allergen labeling requirements and images that show examples of labeling requirements. Comments about the draft guidance should be submitted before the March 1 to www.regulations.gov. All comments should be identified with Docket ID FDA-2022-D-0099.
Attend Agri-Pulse Ag Food Safety Summit
As Congress convenes this month, we expect to see heightened activity and debate over the new farm bill, especially among the new Republican leadership in the House. You can expect a lot of chatter over what types of federal farm programs are important and how funding should be distributed to support farmers, ranchers and the consumers who rely on them. For food industry public affairs representatives who are hands-on involved on Capitol Hill in federal issues and policies, the upcoming 2023 Agri-Pulse Ag Food Policy Summit is an important meeting to attend.
Agri-Pulse Communications Inc. will present on March 20, 2023, a comprehensive overview of some of the forward-looking ideas under development that will drive policy discussions for not only the new year, but for decades to come. Their summit is titled “Next Gen Farm and Food Policy” and will be a one-day event held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. For more information, go to www.agri.pulse.com.
Amazing New Technology
As my readers know, I often like to end my commentary with some news on the lighter side. Well, Italian researchers have designed a food-grade device from edible materials that indicates whether a frozen product has been thawed and refrozen. The device can detect defrosting events by coupling a temperature-activated galvanic cell with an ion chromic cell. All components of the sensor are made with entirely edible materials, including table salt, red cabbage and beeswax.
The device could ensure that frozen food is handled correctly and is safe for consumption. Furthermore, the sensor could be used by workers in the supply chain as well as consumers, ensuring that the food was properly frozen during the whole supply chain. Now that is cool technology.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net.
