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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. These 20 nutrition and public health experts will be tasked with reviewing the current body of nutrition science and developing a scientific report that will inform the development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. Registration is also now open to attend the first meeting of the Committee on February 9-10, 2023. During this meeting, the Committee will discuss the proposed questions, approaches to review research, and future work. A public comment period will remain open until late 2024, throughout the Committee’s deliberations.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced its investment of $25 million to expand the healthy incentive initiatives within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help purchase more fruits and vegetables. FNS will select up to three states to receive funding and support to run an Electronic Healthy Incentives Pilot (eHIP) that will test SNAP incentive program models to allow more incentive dollars to reach SNAP participants in their state. These incentive programs encourage SNAP recipients to purchase healthy foods and aim to improve food and nutrition security among its recipients. 

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published the final rule, Prior Label Approval System: Expansion of Generic Label Approval, to expand the circumstances under which FSIS will generically approve the labels of meat, poultry, and egg products. This final rule will expand generic approval to (1) “Organic” claims that appear in a product label’s ingredients statement; (2) “Geographic landmarks” displayed on a product label; and (3) “Negative” claims made on product labels that identify the absence of certain ingredients or types of ingredients. Additionally, FSIS will no longer evaluate generically approved labels that establishments and plants voluntarily submit for FSIS review.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) published the consensus study report, Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, with updated Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) equations for energy intake across the lifespan. One major update within the report includes that the DRI population is now defined as the general population, including those with overweight, obesity, and chronic diseases, rather than the previous “generally healthy” population.

The New York State Assembly introduced a bill that would require sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to be labeled with a safety warning. The bill defines sugar-sweetened beverages as any beverage with added caloric sweeteners that contains more than 75 calories per 12 fluid ounces. The safety warning, "Safety Warning: Drinking beverages with added sugar contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay," would be required to be displayed on food establishment menus and the exterior of vending machines dispensing SSB products in New York State.

Consumer Reports filed a petition urging the FDA to ban the artificial color Red Dye No. 3 in food, medicine, and dietary supplements. The petition suggests that the FDA has ‘failed to take the promised steps’ to ban this ingredient despite potential health consequences like cancers. Other organizations have taken similar steps to try and get FDA to ban this dye from the food supply, including The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), who filed a similar Red 3 petition in October 2022.

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published the final rule, Strengthening Organic Enforcement, that will strengthen the oversight of the sale, production, handling, certification, and marketing of organic products. This rule aims to protect the organic integrity and consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal by supporting strong organic control systems, improving farm-to-market traceability, increasing import oversight authority, and providing robust enforcement of the organic regulations. Additionally, this rule implements the 2018 Farm Bill mandates and addresses National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommendations.

The USDA's FSIS released its fiscal year (FY) 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan serves as the agency’s foundation document to expand upon the progress FSIS made over the past five years. Within the plan, FSIS identifies three strategic goals which are to prevent foodborne illness and protect public health, transform inspection strategies, policies, and use scientific approaches to improve public health and achieve operational excellence. The strategic goals, outcomes, and objectives within the Strategic Plan provide an integrated framework on how FSIS will fulfill their mission and address future public health challenges.

House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-PA) held his first unofficial Farm Bill listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. During the listening session, lawmakers agreed that nutrition topics and farm subsidies should remain in one package and noted that increased expenses for farm inputs and food production are one of the major issues that lawmakers will have to address while drafting the bill. Additionally, Agriculture Committee ranking member David Scott (D-GA) released his list of priorities for the Farm Bill that aim to “maintain the nutrition safety net and examine any gaps in coverage while ensuring that job opportunities, education and training are available in SNAP and other federal feeding programs.” Finally, G.T. Thompson also announced the House Committee on Agriculture Republican roster ahead of the 2023 Farm Bill hearing.

Colombia's Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MINHEALTH) issued an amendment that establishes new front-of-pack nutrition labeling (FOPNL) requirements, nutrition profiles and additional definitions for sweeteners, ultra-processed food, processed food products, minimally processed food, and food products without processing. Specifically, processed or ultra-processed food that contains any amount of sweeteners or excess of added sugars, sodium/salt, saturated fats and trans fats will now be subject to FOPNL. These requirements went into effect on December 16, 2022, and will be enforced beginning June 16, 2023.

England announced it will ban single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, and polystyrene cups and food containers beginning October 2023. This new ban is applicable to plastic packaging of food and drinks from only restaurants and cafes and is not applicable to supermarkets and stores. However, England has plans to address plastic packaging in supermarkets and stores starting in 2024.

Fun Fact: Bananas are the most consumed fruit in the United States.