FDA to modernize proposed rules defining the identify of foods.

The FDA announced today that they were withdrawing the “Food Standards; General Principles and Food Standards Modernization” rule, proposed in 2005 and were aiming to make FDA definitions and standards of identity for foods consistent with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the standards used by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to inspect meat and poultry products.

Standards of identity describe in detail what a food product must contain and sometimes how it must be manufactured, but many are now 75 or even 80 years old. The 2005 rule aimed to establish general principles for considering petitions to establish, revise, or eliminate these standards, but it was never implemented. At public meetings in July 2018 and September 2019, and again during a public comment period in 2020, stakeholders suggested that the FDA should try again. There have been profound developments in food technology, manufacturing, and nutrition science since 2005. Products made from plant-based and precision fermented protein, dairy-free milks, and now cultured meat and seafood push against rigid standards of identity, and the general principles could be revised and consolidated to make them easier to understand and implement.