The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host four more live retailer training sessions in September. The remaining sessions will be in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. Topics up for discussion are:
- Who is subject to the regulation
- What products are regulated
- Age verification
- Displays and vending machines
- Samples, Coupons, Sponsorships and Gifts
- Light, low, and mild cigarettes
NACS will host a workshop with officials from the FDA to answer retailer questions regarding compliance with the new law at the NACS Show on Thursday October 7th at 9 a.m. Must be registered for the Show to attend. For more information on the FDA training sessions please click here.
NACS Staff Contact: Lyle Beckwith, lbeckwith@nacsonline.com
Food safety legislation advanced one step further today in the Senate with a bipartisan agreement to food safety legislation.
"Any 100-year-old-plus structure - like our nation's food safety system - needs improvements," a group of senators said in a joint statement. "We aim to not just patch and mend our fragmented food safety system; we hope to reinforce the infrastructure, close the gaps and create a systematic, risk-based and balanced approach to food safety in the United States."
According to Congress Daily, the food safety bill would overhaul how the FDA ensures the nation's food supply is safe, giving the agency the authority to recall tainted food products. It was passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in December but has been stalled in the Senate over the summer.
The managers' amendment does not address controversial language that would regulate the amounts of BPA in plastic containers and details will be posted later today.
NACS Staff Contact: Julie Fields, jfields@nacsonline.com
In the spring of 2010, EPA finalized the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule, which specifies that beginning in 2011, projects that will increase GHG emissions substantially will require an air permit. Today€™s rules will help ensure that these sources will be able to get those permits regardless of where they are located.
According to a statement issued by he EPA, "the Tailoring Rule covers large industrial facilities like power plants and oil refineries that are responsible for 70 percent of the GHGs from stationary sources. The proposals announced today are a critical component for implementing the rule and would ensure that GHG emissions from these large facilities are minimized."
EPA will work closely and promptly with states to help them develop, submit, and approve necessary revisions to enable the affected states to issue air permits to GHG-emitting sources. Additionally, EPA will continue to provide guidance and act as a resource for the states as they make the various required permitting decisions for GHG emissions.
NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger, jeichberger@nacsonline.com
On July 23, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") released a Notice informing retail food establishments that are not automatically covered by federal menu labeling requirements how to "opt in" to this regulatory scheme. Stores that choose to do so would be exempt from any state menu labeling rules after the federal regulations are promulgated. Although registration itself is a relatively simple process, doing so would subject retail establishments to a number of potentially onerous menu and nutrition labeling requirements, so stores should consider carefully any applicable alternative state menu labeling rules before deciding to register.
It is important to keep in mind that the new federal menu labeling requirements are not yet in effect. The FDA will be releasing additional rules and regulations by March 23, 2011, several months after which the law€™s mandates will become binding on convenience stores.
NACS encouraged FDA to make the registration process as easy and manageable as possible. Along those lines, FDA has created an online form that contains fields requesting the above information, available at fda.gov/menulabeling. FDA prefers that the information be submitted by e-mail by typing the complete information into the form, saving it on the registrant€™s computer as a PDF, and sending it by e-mail to menulawregistration@fda.hhs.gov. However, if e-mail is not available, the registrant can mail the form to FDA either by filling out the form online and printing it out, or alternatively by printing a blank form and filling in the necessary information by hand. The form can be faxed to FDA (fax #: 301-436-2804) or mailed to the following address:
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Compliance and Information Branch (HFS€"681)5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Please click here to view the entire guidance memo from NACS Counsel.
NACS Staff Contact: Julie Fields, jfields@nacsonline.com