A change that is strongly supported by food trade associations, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in late March that the agency intends to extend the compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule by 30 months. You may recall from my prior commentaries on this subject that the Food Traceability Rule requires that producers, including farmers, processors, packers and retailers, maintain stringent traceability records containing key data elements to be used to notify FDA within 24 hours to help facilitate investigations of foodborne illness recalls and outbreaks. The Food Traceability Rule was scheduled to go into effect January 2026 but now the new compliance date will be June 2028.
The food industry breathed a sigh of relief with the FDA announcement citing the complexity and costs of complying with the rule. The FDA remains committed to successful implementation of the full requirements of the final rule, as it will allow for faster identification and removal of potentially contaminated food from the marketplace. The compliance date extension affords covered entities the additional time necessary to ensure complete coordination across the supply chain in order to fully implement the final rule’s requirements – ultimately providing FDA and consumers with significantly greater transparency and food safety oversight.
Competition In Meat And Poultry Industry
It’s back! Some high-powered senators are reintroducing a bill aimed to address what they say are anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries that hurt producers and consumers. Senators Ron Wyden(D-OR), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are leading the charge for this proposed bill along with several other senators.
The original bill did make it out of the Senate ag committee three years ago but never got to the next step – a full Senate vote. If enacted this time around, the legislation would create an Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate alleged anticompetitive actions.
SNAP Activity On The Hill
As I mentioned in my prior commentary, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are currently being closely reviewed by House and Senate republicans, which could impact food retailers if benefits are reduced. Republicans have said that they want to cut SNAP benefits from between $50 billion to $150 billion over the next 10 years. They plan to do this be shifting some SNAP funding to the states. Discussions are still ongoing on Capitol Hill.
In the meantime, lawmakers are looking to expand dairy access for SNAP recipients by enactment of two proposed pieces of legislation. The Dairy Nutrition Incentive Program Act would expand the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Program which Congress created only six years ago, to include milk varieties, cheese, and yogurt. Another bipartisan bill recently introduced is the Hot Foods Act which, if enacted, would allow SNAP recipients to use their benefits to buy hot foods like prepared rotisserie chickens, hot sandwiches, soups, etc. We will follow these two proposals for you.
Finally, several states, namely Arkansas, Indiana and Idaho, are taking their own steps to prevent SNAP recipients from spending nutrition aid dollars on candy and soda as part of Trump’s efforts to “make America healthy again.” In my opinion, having states set their own SNAP requirements creates a lot of confusion in the marketplace and food retailers and food manufacturers are already voicing opposition to allowing individual states to set their own SNAP regulations.
USDA Demands State Accountability On SNAP
Last month USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Department took steps to end government inefficiencies by issuing a stern warning to state agencies administering SNAP, demanding immediate action to address unacceptable long delays in processing SNAP applications and recertifications.
Currently, 33 state agencies are out of compliance for processing applications on time and 20 states are failing to meet federal requirements for recertifications. Expect to see changes! Acting Deputy Undersecretary at USDA John Walk said, “Federal law is clear: States must process SNAP applications within 30 days for most households, and seven days for those in urgent need. That is not a suggestion – it is the law.”
New Web Page For Food Allergen Labeling Guidance For Industry
For your food safety and consumer nutrition staff, let them know that the FDA has published a new web page, “Frequently Asked Questions: Food Allergen Labeling Guidance for Industry,” as a resource for the fifth edition of FDA’s Guidance for Industry titled: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergens, including the Food Allergen Labeling Requirements of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This final guidance is intended to help the food industry meet the requirements for listing major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, and sesame) on the labels of FDA-regulated foods. For more information, call 888-INFO-FDA.
Swipe Fees Hit New Record High
According to the Berman Report newsletter, new data released by the Merchants Payments Coalition shows that credit and debit card “swipe fees” hit a record $187.2 billion in 2024 – an increase of $15 billion compared to 2023. These are the fees business owners pay every time a customer uses a credit card. Federal lawmakers are expected to soon reintroduce the Credit Card Competition Act, which would help to lower costs by offering businesses more options to process a transaction.
Dietary Guidelines For Americans Update
The official dietary guidelines are used by the food industry and the medical and scientific industry to guide Americans toward healthy diets and are updated every five years with a lot of input from health and science non-government experts. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have pledged as part of their new Make America Healthy Again Commission, to continue work on the official guidelines which were drafted this past year by outside experts. The public comment period closed this past February and the two cabinet Secretaries have said they are committed to releasing the final Guidelines ahead of its statutory deadline of December 31, 2025.
Food Dye Ban Accelerated
In my prior commentary, I reported that food dyes were in HHS Secretary Kennedy’s crosshairs. In the past month, the secretary took aim and fired a bullet to accelerate his timeline for food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic dyes, such as Red Dye 40, setting a firm two-year deadline. He announced that the original 2029 target date to remove artificial dyes has now been re-set for 2027. Seeing the writing on the wall, a number of major food manufacturing companies have already begun the reformulating process.
First Class Postage Hike
It had to happen. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) plans to seek rate increases this summer that includes increasing the cost of a first-class stamp from 73 cents to 78 cents. If the Postal Regulatory Commission approves the 5-cent increase, expect similar increases for postcards, metered letters and international mail come July 2025. Trump and his DOGE folks are still looking into privatizing the postal service despite efforts by the U.S. postmaster general to become more self-sufficient. Trump wants to eliminate the Postal Commission and move the USPS to the Department of Commerce where he says it can obtain greater operational efficiencies.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net.
