The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is revoking 52 “obsolete and unnecessary” food Standards of Identity (SOIs) for canned fruits and vegetables, baked goods, dairy products, macaroni products, fish and shellfish, and other foods. The action is part of the agency’s ongoing analysis of its portfolio of more than 250 SOIs to ensure that they remain useful and relevant, the goal of which is to reduce bureaucracy and focus resources more efficiently.

FDA is revoking, or will revoke, the 52 SOIs through three rulings:

• A direct final rule revoking SOIs for 11 types of canned fruits and vegetables that are no longer sold in U.S. grocery stores, including seven standards for fruits artificially sweetened with saccharin or sodium saccharin. (The agency is issuing a companion proposed rule in the same issue of the Federal Register in case the direct final rule is withdrawn due to significant adverse comments). Specifically, the direct final rule revokes the SOIs for: artificially sweetened and canned apricots, cherries, figs, fruit cocktail, peaches, pears, and pineapple; canned preserved figs; canned seedless grapes; canned field corn; and canned dried peas. 
• A proposed rule that would revoke SOIs for 18 types of dairy products, including certain milk and cream products, cheeses and related cheese products, and frozen desserts. Specifically, the direct final rule revokes the SOIs for: acidified milk and sour cream; low-sodium cheddar and colby cheeses; caciocavallo siciliano cheese; cold-pack cheese food with fruits, vegetables, or meats; cook cheese/koch kaese; gammelost cheese; high-moisture jack cheese; nuworld cheese; pasteurized blended cheese with fruits, vegetables, or meats; pasteurized process cheese or cheese food with fruits, vegetables, or meats; samsoe cheese; sap sago cheese; goat's milk ice cream; and mellorine. 
• A proposed rule that would revoke SOIs for 23 types of food products, including bakery products, macaroni and noodle products, canned fruit juices, fish and shellfish, and food dressings and flavorings. Specifically, the direct final rule revokes the SOIs for: milk bread, rolls, and buns; enriched macaroni products with fortified protein; milk, nonfat milk, and enriched nonfat milk macaroni products; wheat and soy macaroni products; vegetable noodle products and enriched vegetable noodle products; wheat and soy noodle products; frozen concentrate for artificially sweetened lemonade and colored lemonade; frozen orange juice; reduced acid frozen concentrated orange juice; canned concentrated orange juice; orange juice for manufacturing; orange juice with preservative; concentrated orange juice for further manufacturing; concentrated orange juice with preservative; Olympia oysters; frozen, raw, lightly breaded shrimp; and vanilla-vanillin extract, flavoring, and powder.

Many of the standards listed in the two proposed rules predate more recent consumer protections such as requirements about ingredient safety, ingredient labeling, food packaging, safe food production, and manufacturing practices and nutrition labeling information and claims.

SOIs were first established in 1939 to promote “honesty and fair dealing” and to ensure that the characteristics, ingredients and production processes of specific foods were consistent with what consumers expect. However, according to FDA, advances in food science, agriculture and production practices, and additional consumer protections have rendered many of the older, more rigid “recipe standards” unnecessary. “Many of these standards have outlived their usefulness and may even stifle innovation in making food easier to produce or providing consumers healthier choices, said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H.

The decision to revoke the 52 SOIs are part of FDA’s and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS’) “Deregulatory Plan,” for which a request for information was released in May. The Deregulatory plan is in line with President Trump’s Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation Executive Order.