Two months after unveiling its Alert Energy caffeinated gum, and shortly after the Food and Drug Administration announced an investigation into products with additional caffeine, the folks at Wrigley have decided to pull the gum from store shelves, for now. [More]
Wrigley Gets Jitters About Caffeinated Gum, Pulls It From Market For Now
By May 9, 2013
Legislation Would Push FDA To Investigate Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals
By May 8, 2013
As Americans grow more concerned that the antibiotics being provided to farm animals are resulting in new strains of pathogens that are resistant to these drugs, a group of Senators have introduced legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority to collect data about this controversial practice. [More]
FDA Finally Solving The Burning Question Of Whether Antibacterial Soap Is Safe
By May 3, 2013
You put it on your hands, wipe your utensils with it before they touch your food, slather it all over your body and generally dunk yourself in it throughout your life — but is antibacterial soap safe? Or rather, is its resident germ-killer, triclosan, ineffective or even not good for you? The Food and Drug Administration is working on an answer. [More]
FDA Approves Morning-After Pill For Anyone 15 And Older Without A Prescription
By May 1, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that the morning-after pill has been approved for girls and women 15 and older without a prescription, as well as putting it out on drugstore shelves instead of keeping it stashed behind the pharmacy counter. [More]
bring it onHave you been aching for that one taste-bud tantalizing pancetta you had while visiting Italy ten years ago, but which you couldn’t get because of FDA restrictions on the import of Italian cured meats? If so, here’s some good news. Reports indicate that the ban –which had previously been eased but still severely limited imports — will be lifted starting May 28. [via L.A. Times]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By April 22, 2013
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned about potentially fraudulent work done on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by a contract research firm in Texas, they didn’t pull the drugs off the market. You might think, though, that they might hold off on approving new drugs based on testing that came from that lab. You would be wrong. [More]
FDA Just Says No To Generic, Crushable Versions Of OxyContin
By April 17, 2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t want to make it too easy for people who might abuse the powerful painkiller OxyContin, and has such has declared that generic drug manufacturers cannot produce their own, crushable versions of the drug. [More]
FDA Approves Morning Sickness Drug It Pulled Off The Market 30 Years Ago
By April 9, 2013
You don’t have to have ever been pregnant to understand one of the yuckiest drawbacks experienced by women — morning sickness, that awful time when lunch won’t stay down and the toilet is a mom-to-be’s best friend. Thirty years ago the Food and Drug Administration put the kibosh on a treatment designed to alleviate morning sickness, the agency is putting it back on the table now. [More]
April Food And Drug Recall Roundup – Potato Chips With Salt And Vinegar And Metal Fragments
By April 9, 2013
Our monthly Recall Roundups have grown so expansive that we’ve had to separate them into two separate roundups: one for consumer goods, and one for consumables. In this edition of the Food and Drug roundup, dangers lurk everywhere, from uneviscerated herring to “all-natural male enhancement supplements” that are pretty much just Viagra. Yes, again. [More]
The Secret To Delicious No-Sugar-Added Baking: Tasty, Tasty Sugar
By March 15, 2013
What’s the secret to totally delicious healthy, no-sugar-added baking? Fat and sugar, of course! This re-enactment of a classic “Seinfeld” episode is brought to you by Butterfly Bakery of New Jersey, where three out of the company’s 45 varieties of baked goods were shown to contain a lot more saturated fat and sugar than the label stated. By “a lot,” we mean twice the saturated fat listed on the label, and three times the sugar. [More]
FDA Says Writing Menu Labeling Regulations That Please Everyone Is A Tough Task
By March 12, 2013
If you’re hankering for a calorie count on your local restaurant chain’s menus, it’s going to be awhile: the Food and Drug Administration says it’s finding the task of writing up menu labeling regulations a very tricky one. The requirement to include calorie counts on menus and in vending machines is part of the 2010 health care law, but the rules on which businesses must comply have yet to be written. [More]
Group Calls For Limits On Sugar In Soft Drinks
By February 13, 2013
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which loves to ruin everyone’s day by reminding people of all the calories and fat in the foods we enjoy, are calling on the FDA to set a safe level of added sugars in soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. [More]
Annie’s Frozen Pizzas Recalled Since Metal Shards Aren’t The Tastiest Topping
By January 23, 2013
Pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, sausage, heck, we’ll even take some anchovies on my pizza over say, a crunchy metal shard. Annie’s is issuing a recall of its Annie’s Homegrown Frozen Pizza because it’s possible that a few varieties could have fragments of “flexible metal mesh.” Apparently a faulty screen at third-party flour mill is to blame for this extraneous topping. [More]
Study: 20,000 Trips To The Emergency Room In 2011 Linked To Consumption Of Energy Drinks
By January 17, 2013
Following on the heels of reports linking ill health effects to energy drinks like Monster and 5-Hour Energy, a new government study says those beverages are “a rising public health problem,” and have been linked to 20,000 visits to emergency rooms around the country. [More]
FDA Says Ambien Is Making Us Too Groggy In The Morning, Requires Lower Recommended Dosages
By January 10, 2013
Zolpidem, the active ingredient in prescription sleep aids Ambien, Edluar, and Zolpimist, is apparently leaving some users — especially women — groggy and impaired in the morning. Thus, the FDA is requiring the manufacturers of these drugs to lower the current recommended doses. [More]
FDA Proposes New Food Safety Rules In Wake Of Peanut & Cantaloupe Contamination
By January 4, 2013
Following more than a year of ugly headlines about recalls of possibly tainted peanuts, cantaloupes, leafy greens and other food products, the Food & Drug Administration has proposed new rules aimed at making the food on our plates safer to eat. [More]
FDA Replies To Lawsuit Over Food Regulation Deadlines: Slow Your Roll, We’re Working On It
By December 3, 2012
Back in January 2011, the government signed a law that said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to undertake an overhaul in food safety regulations, the first of its kind in about 70 years. Well, time’s been a-ticking and now a new lawsuit leveled at the agency claims the FDA has missed a bunch of deadlines required by the Food Safety Modernization Act. But the FDA says that’s not the case, it’s just that it’s a big job that it’ll take time. [More]
Processing Plant Behind Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2012 Won’t Reopen Just Yet
By December 3, 2012
The Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2012 began with a few voluntary recall notices on the shelves of Trader Joe’s, and has now escalated to the Food and Drug Administration making an unprecedented move to shut down the plant where the offending nut products were processed. [More]
