Food & Nutrition

2025 DGAC Publishes New and Updated Protocols

The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) published new and updated draft protocols that were discussed during the fourth public meeting in January 2024. Several new food pattern modeling protocols and systematic review protocols were released and are available for public comment. Some of these new protocols address the implications for nutrient intakes when modifying the quantities of the Vegetables group and Fruits group within the Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern, as well as the removal or replacement of animal sources within the Dairy and Fortified Soy Alternatives and Protein Foods groups with plant sources, among others. The public is encouraged to submit comments on the protocols within the next month. Further updates to the protocols will be published online following Committee discussions at future public meetings. 

President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Announces New Partnerships 

The Biden Administration’s President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN) announced a new partnership with major sports leagues and players associations to increase nutrition programming and physical activity across the U.S. This partnership with the PCSFN was made under the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities, launched in March 2023. Under the partnership, 14 sports leagues and players associations signed agreements with the PCSFN to integrate messaging and education around nutrition, expand access to physical activity, and promote healthy lifestyles within their respective leagues and associations. The PCSFN serves as a federal advisory committee that aims to engage, educate, and empower individuals to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition.

Study Suggests UPF Consumption Increases Risk of Metabolic Diseases

A study published in Frontiers in Nutrition examined the association between metabolic diseases and ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption. The study examined several systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies between UPF consumption and metabolic disease risk, suggesting that UPF consumption, according to the NOVA classification system, was associated with an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Researchers found that specific types of UPFs, such as processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, may increase the incidence of T2DM. The study recommends that future studies are needed to examine the association between UPF consumption and other metabolic diseases.

Food Safety

Maryland State Legislature Introduces Bill to Ban Four Food Additives

The Maryland state legislature introduced a bill that would prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of food products that contain brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3 in the state, effective October 1, 2027. Most recently, similar bills in the Missouri, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and West Virginia state legislatures introduced bills that would prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of food products that contain the same four food additives, effective July 1, 2025, and January 1, 2027, respectively. These bills follow the enactment of California bill AB 418, which bans the use of these food additives in the state beginning January 1, 2027.

Missouri Introduces Chemical Label Integrity Act on Food Products

The Missouri state legislature introduced a bill that would require warning labels on food products containing certain chemicals, including acrylamide, arsenic, bisphenol A (BPA), blue 1, cadmium, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), lead, mercury, red 40, yellow 5, and yellow 6. The Chemical Label Integrity Act would require the warning label on food products containing these chemicals to include the name of each chemical in the food product and a statement that the food product contains such chemical. The warning label would be required to include statements that address the possible health effects of ingesting each chemical, including a statement that the chemical may cause cancer or is known to cause cancer, that the chemical may cause birth defects or is known to cause birth defects, and that the chemical may cause reproductive harm or is known to cause reproductive harm.

Agriculture

USDA Announces Investments to Support Food Supply Chain Resiliency

USDA announced that the agency invested over $270 million through cooperative agreements with state departments of agriculture to build resilience across the food supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems through the USDA Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Program. USDA announced that Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Utah, and West Virginia opened their Request for Applications for the RFSI Program, joining 28 states currently offering grant funding for projects supporting supply chain infrastructure. These state projects will expand capacity for aggregating, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distributing food products. This announcement follows the agency’s previous announcement in May 2023 of the availability of $420 million in funding to strengthen the food supply chain infrastructure and local and regional food systems under the RFSI Program. 

USDA AMS National Organic Standards Board to Host Public Meeting

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that the agency’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is hosting a public meeting on April 29 - May 1, 2024, with an opportunity for written and oral public comment. During the meeting, the NOSB will discuss substances petitioned for addition or removal from the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, substances due to sunset from the National List in 2026, and recommendations on organic policies. The deadline to submit written comments and register for oral public comment is April 3, 2024. The NOSB assists USDA in developing standards for substances used in organic production and advises the Secretary of Agriculture on implementing the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA).

Global

UK FSA Opens Consultation on Novel Foods, Food Additives, and Flavorings

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) opened a public consultation proposing to set a limit for ethylene oxide of 0.1mg/kg in all food additives, aligned with EU’s 2022 regulations that set this limit for ethylene oxide in all food additives. The public consultation also includes a call for comment on several regulated product applications, including four novel food authorizations, a food additive authorization extension, two new production methods for existing authorized food additives, and the removal of authorization for 22 food flavorings from the list of approved substances. The public consultation closes on March 29, 2024.

Fun Fact: Honey bees will tap approximately two million flowers and fly 50,000 miles to make one pound of honey.