The Real Marketing Edible Artificials Truthfully Act (Real MEAT Act) has been reintroduced to the U.S. Senate, and it would clarify the definition of beef and pork for labeling purposes by requiring alternative proteins to clearly display the word “imitation” on their packaging.
PFAS concentrations, which do not break down easily in the body, tend to increase rather than diminish over time. In light of these concerns and the prevalence of PFAS in consumer products like food packaging, many state and local governments, as well as public interest organizations, have begun enacting or promoting legislation that would regulate the implementation of PFAS in consumer products.
With California Assembly Bill 899 recently being signed into law, any baby food products sold or made in the state will require testing for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, beginning January 1, 2024. Consumer disclosures will be required a year after.
The European Commission has set significantly stricter limits for the use of nitrites and nitrates as food additives to reduce consumer exposure to carcinogenic nitrosamines. EU food business operators have two years to adapt to the new limits.
The California Food Safety Act—statewide legislation that bans the sale of foods containing red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben—was signed into California law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 7, 2023.
The Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act (EFSIA) was recently reintroduced to U.S. Congress. If passed, the bill would allow U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators to enter concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and conduct microbial sampling to trace foodborne illness outbreaks.
Titanium dioxide has been removed from the list of chemicals that would be banned as food additives under California Assembly Bill 418, which was recently named the California Food Safety Act.
With a draft legislation recently introduced to the European Commission, Italy is seeking to prohibit the production and marketing of cell-based meat, as well as the sale of plant-based proteins labeled as meat.
A bill proposed in the New York Senate seeks to ban the use of five “five of the most pervasive and harmful food additives” in the state: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propyl parabens, red dye 3, and titanium dioxide.
A bill has been reintroduced to U.S. Congress that would create an Office of Food Safety Reassessment within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regularly review the safety of chemicals used in food.
