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FDA Admits Defining Ultra-Processed Foods Is ‘Challenging’, Says It Won’t Ban Them
Establishing a streamlined definition of ultra-processed food (UPF) is turning out to be more challenging than the US government might have thought. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working with the US Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies to develop a definition of these foods, which have become a focal point of the Trump administration’s food policy.
UPFs have been linked to a host of health ailments, including early death. That said, many experts warn against conflating processing with nutrition, suggesting that most research points to the ill effects of consuming junk food that’s poor in nutritional credentials, rather than food that has been overly processed.
The contentious nature of these foods stems from the fact that there’s no standardised definition of UPFs. That’s what the FDA is struggling with — its acting deputy commissioner for food, Donald Prater, said the agency has found it “quite challenging” to set a definition because there are a variety being used out there. Speaking at the IFT First trade show in Chicago, he stated that the FDA is evaluating different proposals to “try to find something that makes sense”, since the science on UPFs is still evolving.
Trump Officials Kill Proposed Rules for PFAS-Contaminated Sewage Fertilizer
The Trump administration has killed proposed regulations for sewage sludge contaminated with PFAS and spread on farmland as fertilizer, a practice that has sickened farmers, destroyed their livelihoods, killed livestock, polluted water supplies, and poisoned meat and food products sold to the public.
The proposed regulations would largely have ended the use of sludge, also called biosolids, in the nation’s food system. But the Environmental Protection Agency tossed out its scientific research from less than two years ago that formed the basis of the proposed regulations. It justified the decision by declaring that sludge was not a wide threat to the public because it is mostly used on farms, and only a small percentage of cropland.
However, in comments published to the federal register, the EPA also advised the US public to “research” sludge companies to protect itself from the highly toxic chemicals contaminating home fertilizer widely sold for use in home gardens.
FDA Walks Back Positive Lab Test in Lettuce Cyclospora Outbreak
The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday withdrew an earlier positive test that had tied Taylor Farms’ lettuce to the cyclospora outbreak, even as health officials said the supplier remains a focus of their investigation. The false positive doesn’t change the scope of the current recall, but it could prevent it from expanding. The FDA had said Saturday that it had found a positive test linking cyclospora to Taylor Farms’ lettuce that wasn’t part of the current recall, suggesting it could widen.
By Sunday evening, the agency said it had re-examined the sample and determined the result was a false positive. “Due to the complexity in detection of cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification,” the FDA said.
Taylor Farms said the “FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for cyclospora.” Health officials are using other methods to trace the outbreak back to Taylor Farms produce, given the short shelf-life of lettuce and the specific challenges of testing for cyclospora.
Proposed EPA Rule Could Weaken Texans’ Voice on Certain Air Permits Used by Data Centers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to change its rules for permits issued to so-called minor air polluters by handing states greater power to decide how much notice and public input residents receive before such permits are approved or denied.
For Texans, the rule change could limit their right to speak out about a type of pollution permit that’s commonly issued to concrete batch plants and rock crushers, but is becoming increasingly used by massive data centers coming to the state.
It would allow the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — the state’s environmental regulator — the authority to rewrite its own rules, which could include scaling back opportunities to protest or challenge permits before they are issued.
What Role Could PFAS Play in North Carolina’s Closely Watched U.S. Senate Race?
North Carolina has played an outsized role in the United States’ forever chemical water contamination crisis, with much of that attention focused on chemical company Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant. Company officials have admitted that the plant discharged forever chemicals into the Cape Fear River for decades, largely under DuPont before it spun Chemours off amid mounting legal liabilities.
Those discharges polluted the primary drinking water source for Wilmington and its surrounding area, while air emissions carrying PFAS polluted groundwater around the plant. Now, Chemours is weighing in on North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, with its corporate political action committee contributing $5,000 to GOP candidate Michael Whatley’s campaign.
The Delaware-based company has also donated $6,500 to five GOP state legislators over the course of this biennium, according to federal campaign finance data. DJ Griffin, a Whatley campaign spokesman, did not reply to either an email or a text message asking about the GOP candidate’s stance on Chemours.
