Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s blog (FDA Voice) announced the publication of the agency’s Fall 2018 Unified Agenda, compiled by the administration of President Donald Trump. This document provides federal agencies the opportunity to share the government’s top regulatory priorities with the American public, including both short-term and long-term plans.

FDA has identified more than 70 actions in the Fall 2018 Unified Agenda. The following are FDA’s plans and statements regarding food safety.

Our Fall 2018 Unified Agenda includes key actions that will improve labeling and nutrition. We believe it’s important to maintain the basic nature and nutritional integrity of products while allowing industry flexibility for innovation to produce more healthful foods.

Specifically, we’re following up our earlier actions on partially hydrogenated oils in foods with a rulemaking that proposes to remove the remaining uses to further reduce deaths from coronary heart disease. We’re also working on updating the definition of the claim “healthy” on food labels so it reflects current nutrition guidelines and to encourage its use.

In addition, we’re also advancing rulemaking to revoke outdated standards of identity, including standards of identity in French salad dressing and frozen cherry pie. This is a down payment on a comprehensive effort to modernize food standards to reduce regulatory burden and remove old-fashioned barriers to innovation. To support this effort, we’ll also reopen the comment period on a proposed rule seeking to establish general principles to update the framework for standards of identity. In addition to standards of identity, there are statutory and regulatory provisions that relate to the naming of food products.

The Unified Agenda is released by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It demonstrates the current administration's ongoing commitment to fundamental regulatory reform and a reorientation toward reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens on the American people.

Sign up for Food Safety Magazine’s bi-weekly emails!

Subscribe to our podcast: Food Safety Matters!