Tracking Legislative Developments

  In light of the recent ruling by the FDA, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing to amend the meat-inspection regulations to permit the use of ionizing radiation for treating refrigerated or frozen uncooked meat, meat byproducts, and certain other meat food products. Details on this proposed ruling were published in the February 24, 1999 issue of the Federal Register, and comments are due by April 26.

  As for labeling of foods treated with ionizing radiation, the FDA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in the February 17, 1999 Federal Register. Out of these comments will evolve a formal proposal for amending the existing regulations. The goal is to develop a uniform labeling system, since those currently in effect are considered inadequate. Comments on these labeling proposal are due by May 18.

  Various consumer groups, such as the National Consumers League and Consumer Alert, have already voiced their views on labeling, and are pushing to have the warning statement be more prominent than the existing declaration of ingredients. In contrast, the National Food Processors Association (NFPA), in a May 21, 1998 petition, asked that the FDA remove the labeling requirements, claiming they cause "consumer concern about a non-existent hazard, at the expense of discouraging a process that can mitigate very real safety hazards."

  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has also commented on the issue of labeling irradiated foods. According to an excerpt from a May 1998 report, CSPI recommends that any foods "containing ingredients that have been treated by irradiation should be labeled with a written statement on the principal display panel indicating such treatment. The statement should be easy to read and placed in close proximity to the name of the food and accompanied by the international symbol. If the food is unpackaged, this information should be clearly displayed on a poster in plain view and adjacent to where the product is displayed for sale."

  Since its inception in 1978, the NTP has been coordinating the toxicology activities of the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research. The program is administered by the NTP director, who is also director of the NIEHS.

  The NTP is expected to make a recommendation about delisting saccharin by early this summer, and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala should make a final decision by the end of the year.

  Levitt's statment was met with approval by the National Food Processors Association, Washington, D.C., which stated that "CFSAN's list of priorities appropriately places a strong emphasis on food-safety related activities."

  The announcement comes as a follow-up to an announcement by the Clinton administration of an increase in the fiscal 2000 food-safety budget to the tune of an additional $105 million - representing a 15% increase in spending on food-safety programs.

  In response to the Council's plan, NFPA President John Cady issued the following comment: "We agree with this report that improved coordination is needed among the various government agencies overseeing U.S. food safety. This approach holds the greatest potential for truly enhancing what is already the world's safest food supply, rather than creating new layers of bureaucracy and potentially politicizing our food-safety system."