reported by Cecelia Blalock

Washington correspondent

Global bar-code standard

The verdict is in. The global bar-code standard will adopt the 13-digit European Article Numbering (EAN) code rather than the 12-digit Uniform Code Council bar code used in the United States and Canada.

Playing catch-up

NFPA asked FDA for a 60-day extension, to September 3, 2004, for the comment period on rule making regarding nutrition content claims in food labeling.

Trans fat labeling...continued

The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the National Food Processors Assn. offered their comments to the Food and Drug Administration on how trans fat information should be included on food labels.

House subcommittee passes allergen labeling

The House Subcommittee on Health mirrored action in the Senate by passing legislation requiring food labels to state in clear, plain language if the product contains one or more of the eight major food allergens.

More from reported by Cecelia Blalock

France allows health claim for cranberries

The French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA) will allow food, drink, and dietary supplement manufacturers to claim that the North American cranberry Vaccinium macrocarpon can “help reduce the adhesion of certain E.

Voluntary COOL legislation

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Minority Member Charles Stenholm (D-TX) introduced legislation to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a voluntary country-of-origin labeling program.

Food GMPs

FDA is modernizing the good manufacturing practices (GMPs) used for foods, which were last revised in 1986. In 2002, the agency established an internal Food GMP Modernization Working Group that has been researching the impact of food GMPs on food safety, the impact of revised regulations on food safety, and the likely economic consequences of such revisions.

Ban trans fat?

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned FDA to prohibit the use of partially hydrogenated oil, commonly referred to as trans fat, as a food ingredient.

Net carb labeling

The Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition is working on draft guidance for labeling of net carbohydrates. The draft will be based on its report on obesity, which had a central thesis that “calories count.”In response to the report, the Grocery Manufacturers of America’s president and CEO C.