The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been on a roll lately. Its regulatory agenda is so full that advocates went to court to force timelines on the multitude of food-safety regulations required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The FDA is moving forward with a number of nutrition-related items, such as revoking the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), due to trans-fat, and the first revamp of the Nutrition Facts panel in more than 20 years.
The American Bakers Association (ABA) and its member companies have long lead food-safety efforts and provided clear information to consumers regarding member company products. In that vein, the ABA supports the FDA’s objectives on both PHOs and the Nutrition Facts panel rewrite. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are rolling over and accepting the FDA’s initiatives.