The Affordable Care Act doesn’t just mean highly entertaining conversations over dessert amongst your relatives this holiday season. There’s one new requirement that’s been sort of overshadowed by health insurance exchanges and electronic medical records: companies that own more than 20 vending machines will have to post calorie counts for the items they sell. [More]
food and drug administration
FDA Proposal Gives Makers Of Antibacterial Soap A Year To Prove Their Products Are Safe
By 12.16.13
The Food and Drug Administration has been under pressure for some time now to take a closer look at antibacterial soap to see whether we should actually be slathering the stuff all of over our hands and bodies every day. And now it’s proposing a one-year period for manufacturers to prove that yes, the soap is safe for everyday use and in the long-term. [More]
FDA Scientists Find Amphetamine-Like Ingredient In 9 Diet Supplements… So Where’s The Warning?
By 11.19.13 — Updated: 2.8.17
Scientists from the Food and Drug Administration have found nine “all natural” dietary supplements that contain a “non-natural” amphetamine-like compound. But then why hasn’t the FDA itself issued any kind of warning to the public about using those products? [More]
FDA Working On A Plan To Completely Remove Trans Fat From Our Food Supply
By 11.7.13
While some restaurants proudly tout the lack of artificial trans fat in their menu items and grocery store aisles are peppered with items labeled trans fat free, if the Food and Drug Administration has its way, no one will have trans fat in any food. The FDA has apparently had it up to here with the stuff, and is starting a process that will take trans fat out of our entire food supply. [More]
FDA: There Are Gross Things (Like Bug Parts) In 12% Of Imported Spices
By 10.31.13
It’s never going to be a fun read when a report from the Food and Drug Administration includes the words “pathogen,” “filth” and “insects.” Unless your idea of fun includes learning that 12% of the spices we import for food purposes are contaminated. [More]
FDA Suggests Tightening Access To Painkillers Like Vicodin
By 10.25.13
Yesterday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the rules regarding drugs with hydrocodone, which is often in painkillers like vicodin, be a lot tighter. It suggests that the drug be reclassified along the level of other opioid painkillers like oxycodone and morphine. [More]
FDA Needs Help Solving Outbreak Linked To Jerky Treats That’s Sickened Thousands Of Pets
By 10.22.13
There’s been a recent spate of pet deaths and illnesses connected to jerky treats made in China in the last few years — with almost 600 pets killed and 3,600 more sickened as of now — but federal animal health officials say they’re puzzled over exactly what’s actually causing the illnesses. [More]
Salads Sold At Red Lobster & Olive Garden Linked To Cyclospora Outbreaks In Two States
By 8.5.13
Taking some of the guess-work out of figuring out why your stomach may currently be turned inside out, the Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that salads linked to a cyclospora outbreak that’s sickened at least 400 people have been tied to four restaurants in Iowa and Nebraska, including Olive Garden and Red Lobster. [More]
FDA Sets Rules For Gluten-Free Food Labels
By 8.2.13
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
FDA Says Writing Menu Labeling Regulations That Please Everyone Is A Tough Task
By 3.12.13
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]
Study: 20,000 Trips To The Emergency Room In 2011 Linked To Consumption Of Energy Drinks
By 1.17.13
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]
