To kick off the New Year, Food Directions is offering a sneak peek into our 2023 Food Policy Crystal Ball with key insights on Congress, The Administration, FDA, USDA, and more. Want access to the full report? Click here to purchase it.

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The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) will hold its first public meeting on February 9-10 of 2023. Online registration for the meeting is not yet open but will be announced at a later date. The purpose of this meeting will be to orient the 2025 DGAC with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) process. The DGAC membership has also not yet been released but is expected to be released anytime. Overall, this Committee will be tasked with completing a scientific review focused on questions prioritized by HHS and USDA to inform the 2025-2030 DGAs. The Committee plans to hold approximately six meetings, open to the public virtually, with a public comment period open until late 2024.

The Federal Government has published the Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. This is a semiannual compilation of information about regulations under development by federal agencies with estimated timelines of when they hope to achieve each action. Below is a list of a few notable HHS and USDA regulatory items with estimated dates of action.

The proposed rule, Use of Salt Substitutes to Reduce the Sodium Content in Standardized Foods, is currently at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The FDA is proposing to amend its regulations to permit the use of salt substitutes in standardized foods in which salt is a required or optional ingredient. The proposed rule, if finalized, would support industry efforts to reduce sodium content in standardized foods and improve dietary patterns by helping to reduce consumer sodium consumption.

The FDA and USDA both announced that January 1, 2026, will be the uniform compliance date for final food labeling regulations issued in calendar years 2023 and 2024. All food products subject to the uniform compliance date must comply with the appropriate labeling regulations when initially introduced into interstate commerce on or after January 1, 2026. The FDA and USDA periodically announce uniform compliance dates for new food labeling requirements to minimize the economic impact on the food industry of having to respond separately to each labeling change.

President Biden signed H.R. 2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, to provide $1.7 trillion to fund government operations across federal agencies. In particular, the bill includes increased funding for SNAP and WIC programs and provides funding for FDA to continue to set sodium reduction targets. The report language also supports FDA following the recommendations from the recently released Reagan-Udall Foundation report. Please find a summary of the bill here.  

President Biden signed into law the Food Donation Improvement Act, which would incentivize food donations by expanding liability protections for the donation of food and grocery products. The updated protections will cover food donors such as manufacturers, retailers, farmers, and restaurants to help curb food waste and incentivize food donations.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) update that examined the process USDA used to establish an increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in 2021. In its report, GAO cited that the process didn’t meet government standards for economic analysis and lacked external peer-review. The GAO developed eight recommendations for the USDA, including that the agency develop policies to ensure TFP reevaluations follow key project management practices, peer-review guidelines and quality standards, and publish information to allow external parties to reproduce results. 

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (FTC) issued an update to the Health Products Compliance Guidance, the first update to the guidance in nearly 25 years. This compliance guidance is designed to provide guidance for marketers of health products, including dietary supplements and foods. As part of this update, a major change includes that this guidance now covers all health-related products, not only dietary supplements. Among other things, the new guide also includes a more detailed discussion of the amount and type of evidence needed to substantiate health-related claims, with more emphasis on the fact that the FTC expects high-quality randomized, controlled human clinical trials.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the FDA is reportedly considering making long-awaited recommendations on how to regulate the use of the cannabis compound Cannabidiol (CBD) in foods and dietary supplements. FDA has repeatedly stated that under the current law, it's illegal to add CBD to food or dietary supplements because CBD is used in an FDA-approved drug. FDA continues to examine the evidence of the compound's safety, and is expected to issue recommendations on how to regulate CBD in foods and dietary supplements, possibly requiring new agency rules or legislation from Congress.

The FDA issued the 2022 edition of the FDA Food Code, which provides guidance to state and local authorities and retailers to help mitigate foodborne illness risks at retail and provide a uniform set of national standards for retail food safety. The 2022 Food Code addresses modifications such as adding sesame as a major food allergen, informing consumers of major food allergens as ingredients in unpackaged food, and for the first time, addresses food donations.

The FDA issued the final guidance, Best Practices for Convening a GRAS Panel, to provide information to those assembling a panel of experts (“GRAS panel”) to evaluate whether there is general acceptance among the scientific community that the publicly available scientific data and information demonstrate that a substance is safe under the conditions of its intended use in human or animal food. The final guidance clarifies the difference between a GRAS panel and an FDA advisory committee and highlights best practices to help those interested in convening a GRAS panel.

USDA and USTR Confirmations 

At the close and start of the year, long-awaited nominations for positions at USDA and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) were finally sworn in. Jose Emilio Esteban was sworn in as Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA and Alexis Taylor was sworn in to serve as the Under Secretary of Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at USDA. The Senate also confirmed Doug McKalip to serve as Chief Agricultural Negotiator in USTR on December 23, 2022. Following his Senate confirmation, McKalip is still waiting to be officially sworn in. 

The Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC) is hosting a virtual meeting on January 25, 2023, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. EST. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss general Federal Advisory Committee operations for newly appointed representatives, hold elections, receive updates from USDA offices, and perform a series of administrative actions. The FVIAC is tasked to develop recommendations for the Secretary of Agriculture on issues affecting the U.S. produce industry.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is hosting a public meeting on February 8, 2023, from 1-4 p.m. EST. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 43rd Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The CCNFSDU will meet on March 6-10, 2023, and was formed to address specific nutritional problems assigned by the Commission, draft provisions concerning the nutritional aspects of all foods, and develop standards and guidelines for foods for special dietary uses, among other operations. 

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is hosting a public meeting on January 19, 2023, from 1-3 p.m. EST. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and U.S. positions to be discussed at the 26th Session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which will meet on February 13-17, 2023. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) published a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxation manual as a guide for policymakers to design SSB taxation policies. The manual examines summaries and case studies of SSB global taxation and explores the SSB policy-cycle development process to support the enactment of taxes on SSBs. It also identifies industry tactics designed to dissuade policymakers from implementing SSB taxes. Overall, this manual suggests SSB taxes can serve as an effective strategy to promote healthy diets, improve nutrition, and prevent obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases globally. 

In an effort to curb the rising levels of diabetes, Singapore tightened its regulations around the display of the sugar content on beverages under the new Nutri-Grade system. Now, grade C and D drinks will have to indicate their grade and sugar content on the front of the package, and Grade D drinks will be banned from ads. These measures went into effect on December 30, 2022, and aim to help consumers identify beverages that are higher in sugar and saturated fat as well as reduce the influence of advertising on consumer preferences.

Fun Fact: There are more than 20 different types of edible nuts around the world.