On September 4, 2013, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN or the Center), a public health regulatory center in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), published its 2013-2014 Plan for Program Priorities. The plan outlines certain goals and objectives that CFSAN intends to achieve to improve food and cosmetic safety. You can read the 2013-2014 Plan for Program Priorities on the FDA’s website, available here.
More specifically, the plan lists six goals: (1) reduce foodborne illness rates and cosmetic injury rates each year; (2) establish regulations, policies, guidance, and inspection and compliance strategies based on best science, prevention, and public health risk; (3) increase compliance with newly created preventive control standards across the farm-to-table continuum; (4) improve public health indicators through better nutrition and dietary choices; (5) develop and swiftly deploy the fastest and most effective methods for identifying, containing, and eliminating food and cosmetic hazards.
Each of the six goals corresponds to specific objectives. For example, the Center intends to continue to implement the provisions of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA). Particularly, in 2014 and 2015, it plans to publish preventive controls—as required by FSMA—for produce, food processing facilities, and food transportation. CFSAN will also publish a final rule for intentional contamination, address an approach to determine high-risk foods and the most significant foodborne contaminants, and draft recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods.
Additionally, the Center plans to improve the safety and labeling of dietary supplements. This includes developing regulations for “energy drinks” and publishing final guidance to help dietary supplement and beverage manufacturers determine whether a liquid food product, such as an energy drink, may be labeled and marketed as a dietary supplement. By the end of 2013, it will publish draft guidance for new dietary ingredients.
Next, CFSAN has been working to develop new food labeling regulations. Specifically, CFSAN will update the nutrition facts labeling and serving size information on food labels. The Center had also planned to publish a final rule defining gluten-free and on using the term on food labels in 2013, which the Center accomplished on August 5, 2013. In 2014, the Center plans to finalize rules required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010, specifically to require nutrition information on menus and vending machines.
Finally, CFSAN plans to reduce risks related to cosmetics. For example, it will publish guidance on current good manufacturing requirements for cosmetics and finalize guidance regarding the effects of manufacturing process changes, such as nanotechnology, on the safety of cosmetics. In 2014, it intends to develop draft guidance on the use of lead in lipstick.
If you have any questions about this new plan or compliance with FDA regulations, please contact us at: contact@sglawfl.com.