In recent years much has been made of gluten — people with celiac disease can’t eat it and others simply want to keep their diets free of it. But until now, there hasn’t been any official word from on high regarding how to actually define what makes a gluten-free food. The Food and Drug Administration is changing that with a final rule on what characteristics a food must have in order to be really and truly gluten-free. [More]
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FDA Finally Realizes Maybe It’s Time To Do A Better Job Of Improving The Safety Of Imported Foods
By 7.26.13
Perhaps your kitchen is only stocked with locally sourced organic food, but around 15% of what Americans eat — including half the fresh fruit, one-fifth of fresh veggies and 80% of fish — comes from around 150 different countries. So, finally getting around to implementing changes mandated by the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the Food and Drug Administration has proposed a couple rules aimed at beefing up controls on imported edibles. [More]
FDA Bans BPA From Infant Formula Packaging (Because Manufacturers Have Already Stopped Using It)
By 7.11.13 — Updated: 4.1.14
Fresh off patting itself on the back for only approving two new cigarette products (because they’re basically the same as the cigarettes already on the market), the Food and Drug Administration is continuing to show its willingness to take a timid stance on a controversial topic, by banning the use of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in the packaging of infant formula… because packagers have all stopped using it anyway. [More]
Pepsi Scolded For Continued Use Of Controversial Caramel Coloring Considered A Carcinogen In California
By 7.3.13
A couple years back, the state of California declared that a caramel coloring agent, 4-methylimidazole (or 4-MEI), was a carcinogen and said that any beverages containing certain levels of 4-MEI would have to carry a warning label. With the most populous state in the nation effectively telling them to find another coloring agent, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi promised to change their respective formulas. But while Coke has made the switch nationally, Pepsi has only stopped using 4-MEI in California, says a new report. [More]
FDA Okays Two New Cigarettes Because They Are Just As Harmful As What’s Already Available
By 6.25.13
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products. Since then, no new tobacco products have been released on the U.S. market, but that’s about to change with the FDA giving the green light to a pair of new cigarette offerings that the agency says are no better or worse for you than what’s already legally available. [More]
June Food And Drug Recall Roundup – Sulfites, Plastic Fragments, And Salmonella
By 6.18.13
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 coconut candy bars to sugary cereals. [More]
Court Gives Females Of All Ages Permission To Buy Generic Emergency Contraception
By 6.6.13
There’s been a bit of a back and forth between the courts and the White House recently over who can buy what kinds of emergency contraception, or the morning after pill. The Food and Drug Administration had approved the one-pill brand name Plan B for any women 15 or older, which didn’t apply to other forms. But now a federal appeals court says girls of any age can buy two-step generic versions without prescriptions while the federal government appeals a judge’s ruling that any females can get Plan B, regardless of age. [More]
Congress To Once Again Consider Legislation That Would Ban BPA From Food Packaging
By 6.4.13
Bisphenol-A (better known as BPA) is a chemical used in all manner of food packaging, in spite of numerous studies linking BPA to everything from increased risks of certain cancers to diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, heart disease, and maybe even childhood obesity. Since the FDA has decided there still wasn’t enough science to ban BPA from food packaging (though it later hedged on this ruling and banned BPA from baby bottles), lawmakers in Congress are having another go at a legislative effort to limit the use of BPA. [More]
Hope You Don’t Get Lyme Disease Because There’s A Short Supply Of Drug Used To Treat It
By 6.4.13
It’s the outdoors season, when many of you go out into the wilderness and do various things with trees and wildlife and whatnot. Some of you will be feasted upon by deer ticks and some of those unlucky souls will contract Lyme Disease. It’s never a good year for that to happen, but this summer is particularly bad, as supply for a drug used in the treatment of Lyme Disease is running low. [More]
If European Sunscreens Are So Great, Why Can’t We Buy Them In The U.S.?
By 5.28.13
As someone with skin that basically ignites upon contact with the sun’s rays, I’m always looking for a better sunscreen to aid me in my battle against the inevitable sunburn. Recently I heard about a product that was anecdotally called “miraculous,” but couldn’t find it in U.S. stores. I bought it from a British retailer online, and subsequently want to marry it. So if there are such great sunscreens in Europe and elsewhere, how come we can’t get them in the U.S.? [More]
Wrigley Gets Jitters About Caffeinated Gum, Pulls It From Market For Now
By 5.9.13
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]
Legislation Would Push FDA To Investigate Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals
By 5.8.13
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 5.3.13
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 5.1.13
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]
Report: FDA To Lift Ban On Cured Meats From Italy
April 29, 2013
Have 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] [More]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By 4.22.13
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 4.17.13
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 4.9.13
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]
