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FDA Statement On Vibrio Vulnificus In Raw Oysters

November 16, 2009

Several weeks ago, the FDA announced its intent to change, by summer 2011, its policy regarding the post-harvest processing of raw Gulf Coast oysters harvested in the warmer months. The intent of this change in policy, which would affect about 25% of the total annual harvest, would be to substantially reduce the number of Americans who suffer severe and painful illness and death from the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria.

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FDA Issues 2009 FDA Food Code

November 10, 2009

The Food and Drug Administration announced the publication of the new FDA Food Code, a model code and reference document that provides a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the food industry. The 2009 FDA Food Code is a key component of the President’s overall public-health-focused food safety framework for maintaining a safe food supply.

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Consumer Groups Call on Obama Administration to Take Action on Food Safety During First 100 Days

December 12, 2008

b>IOM Recommendation to Move Meat and Poultry to FDA Questioned/b>br/>WASHINGTONThe Institute of Medicine today stated that the Food and Drug Administrations food safety system remains ill-equipped to meet emerging challenges, and the legal authority underlying all government inspection programs should be updated to emphasize prevention of foodborne illness. The IOM further suggested there would be benefits to creating a new focused food safety entity within the Department of Health and Human Services rather than continuing at FDA. Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Science in the Public Interest endorsed that action and today are urging President-Elect Barack Obama to act quickly to advance it.

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GAO Says FDA Fails to Ensure Accuracy and Truthfulness of Food Labels

October 9, 2008

b>FDA Urged to Develop Simple, Front-Label Nutrition Symbol/b>br/>WASHINGTONA new report from the Government Accountability Office gives federal food regulators failing marks when it comes to preventing false and misleading labeling.

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CSPI Praises Senators for Bipartisan Food Safety Bill

August 13, 2008

b>Statement of CSPI Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal/b>br/>The bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would help refocus the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on preventing, rather than just reacting to, food-borne disease outbreaks. Senators Richard Durbin, Judd Gregg, Christopher Dodd, Richard Burr, Tom Harkin, and Lamar Alexander have developed constructive legislation in a bipartisan manner, proving that the safety of the food we serve our families is not a partisan political issue.

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Senate Move on FDA Funding Praised

May 7, 2008

b>Statement of CSPI Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal/b>br/>Along with my colleagues in the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, I stand in strong support of Senator Herb Kohls move to include $275 million in new funding for the Food and Drug Administration in the pending emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Virtually no one, inside or outside Congress, believes that the FDA has the resources necessary to assure the safety of Americans food, drugs, and medical devices. The proof hits home for American consumers every day.
o one, inside or outside Congress, believes that the FDA has the resources necessary to assure the safety of Americans food, drugs, and medical devices. The proof hits home for American consumers every day…

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Congress Tells FDA to Tighten Standards for Health Claims

December 20, 2007

b>/b>br/>WASHINGTONThe just-passed omnibus spending bill urges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to permit so-called qualified health claims for foods until a Government Accountability Office report on the controversial program is completed. The step, first approved by the House of Representatives last August, has prompted the FDA to annouce today that it is commencing a scientific review of several health claims previously permitted by the agency. The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest welcomed the move.

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FDA to Hold Hearing on Regulating Salt Content in Food

November 27, 2007

b>Move is in Response to CSPI Petition from 2005/b>br/>WASHINGTONFor almost three decades, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit nutrition watchdog group, has been urging the Food and Drug Administration to do somethinganythingto help Americans avoid high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease by reducing dietary salt consumption. CSPI first petitioned the FDA in 1978 and sued FDA in federal court for its food-dragging in 1983. Then in 2005, CSPI filed a second lawsuit against the FDA, accusing it of not making good on its Reagan-era promises to press food companies to voluntarily reduce salt content in foods. Later that year, CSPI filed another formal petition with the agency urging it to regulate salt.

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CSPI Urges FDA to Facilitate Adverse Reaction Reporting for Dietary Supplements

September 16, 2007

b>Industry Opposing Consumer Alert on Labels/b>br/>WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is under pressure from the dietary supplement industry to weakly implement a law intended to prevent a repeat of the difficulties the agency faced in its nine year effort to ban ephedra, during which time the supplement was linked to 155 deaths and thousands of serious injuries. For much of that time, the, FDA lacked sufficient data to justify a ban in court partly because adverse reactions to ephedra were not reported.

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