A new bipartisan, bicameral bill has been introduced in the House and Senate that aims to standardize and clarify food date labels to reduce food waste. You will recall that food labeling information has for some time often confused consumers and there has been a major push by consumers, manufacturers, retailers, and legislative bodies alike to reduce food waste and channel more unsalable but safe food to the needy. This new bill aims to tackle these two problems.
The Food Date Labeling Act, according to Food Safety News, is being brought forth by the Bipartisan Food Recovery Caucus co-chair Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). Through new legislation, they seek to limit the number of different phrases on product labels and provide consumers with information that differentiates safety versus quality issues.
The objectives of the legislation would standardize the language used on food date labels, reducing confusion and improving understanding among consumers, said Food Safety News. Apart from baby formula, date labels on food are not federally regulated or standardized. The proposed Food Date Labeling Act would change this and save consumers money while preventing over half a million tons of food waste from entering landfills each year, according to the bill’s legislative sponsors.
In response to the reintroduction of the bill, Danielle Melgar, an advocate for the United States Public Interest Research Group emphasized the importance of accurate and useful information and explained, “Consumers want and deserve accurate and useful information about the food that they purchase” and further highlighted the absurdity of throwing away perfectly good food because of an arbitrary, hard-to-understand label and praised the Food Date Labeling Act as a solution to this problem.
USDA Funds Projects For WIC
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $16 million in subgrant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to over 35 projects aimed at testing outreach strategies to increase participation and equity in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC. The new funds are made possible through a cooperative agreement with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), a nonprofit whose mission is to improve the well-being of people struggling with poverty-related hunger.
Did you know that only 50 percent of eligible individuals participate in WIC? FRAC said, “WIC has played an essential role in helping children grow up healthy and ensuring mothers get the support they need before, during and after pregnancy. But for the program to truly maximize its potential we need to get 100 percent of eligible individuals enrolled and actively participating.” These new USDA grants are aimed to do just that – get more needy folks enrolled in the WIC program. Hopefully food retailers will notice an uptick in WIC voucher redemptions.
Farm Bill Update
When drafting the new farm bill, many pieces of a huge legislative puzzle must fall into place to appease both Democrats and Republicans as well as the “farm-to-fork” food industry participants and players. However, above all, figuring out exactly what the new farm bill will cost is high on legislators’ minds as they currently contemplate the all-important farm bill. Well, last month the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) updated its cost estimates for crafting the upcoming farm bill that is scheduled for a final vote in the fall.
CBO’s input is crucial to the farm bill process as it basically informs and educates House and Senate members as to how much money they must allocate within programs and if federal funds must be moved from one pot to another. According to Politico News, CBO has just adjusted its projected SNAP funding allocation for fiscal 2024 to 2033 upward by about $17.7 billion from its February estimate of $1.205 trillion, bringing total outlays over the next decade to $1.223 trillion. In 2023 alone, CBO has just adjusted SNAP costs for fiscal 2023 upward significantly and predicts the program will cost about $145 billion, up from its previous estimate of about $127 billion. What all this means in our opinion at Policy Solutions is that the next farm bill is expected to be the most expensive farm bill ever with a potential price tag of around $1.5 trillion! If you thought correctly that funding social welfare programs like SNAP and WIC were major points of contention with the recent debt ceiling issue, it will be even more so within the upcoming farm bill discussions.
A Warning
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has intensified its efforts to investigate harassment cases against young employees specifically in the food industry. If you want to stay out of the way of the EEOC enforcement arm, it is advisable to have within your operating procedures solid anti-harassment policies. This includes regular workplace training policies and having a formal process in place to address reported incidents. This is what you pay your HR and legal counsel folks to do so dust off your rules, regulations, and policies to make sure they are up to date and in compliance.
Enhancing Organic Markets
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the USDA is taking additional steps, as part of its commitment to strengthen the market for domestically grown organic goods, to support producers seeking organic certification. These new organic opportunities are part of the USDA’s “Organic Transition Initiative,” launched in 2022, which is a suite of offerings to help existing organic farmers and those transitioning to organic production and processing.
Through the new Organic Market Development Grant Program, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will issue up to $75 million in new competitive grants. The goal is to increase the consumption of domestic agricultural commodities by aiding in the expansion of markets or development of new markets, marketing facilities, and uses for such commodities. More information can be found at: farmers.gov/organic-transition-initiative.
Food Traceability Rule
Last month I highlighted a new video that is available for compliance with the new Food Traceability Rule. Now we have a printed document that can help guide food retailers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a new “Small Entity Compliance Guide” for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Food Traceability Rule. The compliance guide describes the requirements of the Food Traceability regulation to assist small businesses in complying with the applicable recordkeeping requirements. The FSMA Food Traceability Rule was issued in November 2022 and the compliance date for recordkeeping requirements is January 20, 2026. For more information, go to [email protected].
Debt Ceiling Deal With SNAP
The debt limit deal that made it over the finish line with only a few days to spare last month offers a win for both sides of the aisle, SNAP. House Republicans who have struggled unsuccessfully for many years to tighten work rules for SNAP beneficiaries walked away from the new debt ceiling discussions with a win that will expand the work requirements to people in their early 50s. However, on the president’s side coupled with House Democratics, they also won key new exemptions for SNAP beneficiaries for veterans and the homeless. The final deal sunsets the SNAP work requirements in 2030 and also includes new policies dealing with emergency cash assistance known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Of course, not everyone is pleased. As one House Democrat said, “It isn’t good. But it’s better than defaulting.”
As I previously mentioned, all the discussions dealing with the debt ceiling will have a major impact on the upcoming farm bill discussions. As the adage goes: “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” as some legislators from both sides of the aisle are saying. A hard-core group of legislators are still not pleased with the outcome on SNAP and other food insecurity measures in the recent debt ceiling discussions. I will report more on this matter next month.
Active Shooters
What is our world coming to? Training programs for safe food handling techniques, how to rotate stock for freshness, how to run an efficient store and a slew of other training programs are taking a backseat to a new training program that is now available for food retailers entitled “Training Grocery Store Employees on How to Respond to Active Shooters.” The Retail Learning Institute in collaboration with the Coca-Cola Institute and Rouses Markets and others, have launched an essential online course aimed at equipping grocery store employees with the necessary knowledge to respond effectively to active shooter incidents. Who ever thought? Available in both English and Spanish, this concise five minute course provides a comprehensive how-to video that emphasizes the “run, hide, defend” approach. Go to www.retaillearning.net for more information. Sad that we must resort to this, isn’t it?
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at [email protected].