On July 7, Trump nominee Judge Stephen Vaden was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of USDA. He previously served as General Counsel to USDA and on the U.S Court of International Trade during President Trump’s first term.
As of July 1, 2025, new EU maximum levels for nickel—a heavy metal known to contaminate food, which can have acute and chronic health effects—went into effect for a range of foods. Additional limits for nickel in cereal will go into effect in July 2026.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has announced Dr. Justin Ransom as its new Administrator. The previous Administrator, Dr. Denise Eblen, who served in the role in December 2024, will remain in the Office of the Administrator as Deputy Administrator.
FDA recently published a final guidance for industry to describe and answer questions about FDA’s use of remote regulatory assessments (RRAs) to oversee and assure compliance of FDA-regulated products, outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK Food Standards Agency has established a safe upper limit for THC consumed in hemp-derived CBD foods and beverages of 0.07 milligrams per day, and is encouraging businesses to reformulate CBD products in light of the new THC recommendations.
A survey of produce growers found that seven percent of respondents do not implement food safety risk reduction practices on their farms, reporting time and money to be the biggest challenges. Larger operations and farms subject to third-party audits were more likely to adopt risk reduction practices.
FDA’s Human Foods Program has published a proposed agenda for guidance document work to be advanced in 2025, prioritizing opiate alkaloids on poppy seeds, the use of food coloring from natural sources, and new dietary ingredient (NDI) notifications, among other topics.
Local authorities have been managing high volumes of overdue inspections accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite some workforce growth, backlog issues persisted in 2024.
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