Even though the year started in a partial government shutdown, the government relations team from the American Bakers Association (ABA) continued to push forward on several key regulatory initiatives.

I recently met with one of the most actively engaged and supportive members of the American Bakers Association (ABA) and their senior management team. They asked me to provide a market and Washington update.

At long last, FDA has provided guidance on many dietary fibers. To be clear, the FDA announcement covers about 70–75 percent of common dietary fibers in use today, so more work needs to be done.

During the tumultuous first year of the Trump Administration, the untold story has been the significant efforts to mitigate the numerous regulatory overreaches by the Obama Administration.

This past year on the Stronger Together tour, after the merger of the American Bakers Association (ABA) and the Biscuit & Cracker Manufacturers’ Association, we stopped at Kansas State University (KSU) to meet with the Bakery Science & Management students and participate in the Grain Science and Industry Advisory Council meeting.

The 2017 American Bakers Association (ABA) Convention featured our most thought-provoking and provocative program yet, centered around the enormous disruptions impacting the baking industry.

With great trepidation that this column will become immediately obsolete or at least very dated in the short time from submitting it to publication, I want to address the whirlwind of regulatory relief announcements from the new Trump Administration.

With the election of Donald Trump, and a slightly narrower Republican majority in Congress, Washington and the national punditocracy is both stunned and clamoring to find meaning in the election results.

One of the strangest, most-convoluted policy fights in the history of modern food just cleared a major hurdle in July with President Obama’s expected signature of the GMO Labeling agreement between Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Multiple prevailing trends at the consumer and regulatory levels will factor into the business concerns of the bakery industry over the coming year. These include product-development dynamics like non-GMO, nutritional labeling, transparency and food safety—all of which have the potential to positively influence overall shopper perceptions related to bread and the other baked goods that play a part of dietary patterns.