Venable partner Claudia Lewis was interviewed on June 2, 2017, in a podcast with FoodNavigator about enforcement and regulatory issues in the food industry. While regulation and guidance from some agencies is on hold while the Trump administration continues to ramp up, the FDA, FTC, and USDA continue to address multiple issues related to how foods and beverages are marketed.
Discussing a recent update to the Foreign Supplier Verification Program requiring food consumed in the U.S. to meet the same safety standards regardless of where it is produced Lewis said, "When the FDA is inspecting facilities they are focusing on are you getting ingredients abroad? What have you done to ensure you are getting bonafide ingredients? And that they are not contaminated and they are the appropriate types of ingredients to be including in food stuff here in the United States. That is a new focus for the FDA."
Lewis noted that the FTC and the USDA are also looking closely at the use of the word "organic" on products. "FTC and the USDA had a roundtable discussion last year in September to talk about organic claims and discuss consumer perceptions in that area." She added that they discussed the possibility further qualifying the term "organic" if consumers thought it meant something that it did not.