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.

An $80 million grant from the US DOE  will allow AVAPCO LLC to ramp up production bioethanol and nanocellulose by upcycling woody residue from sawmills, paper, and pulp plants. Life cycle analysis provides  a valuable tool for assessing the climate change and environmental  benefits.

A new paper summarizes progress on safer and sustainable by design (SSbD) approaches for nano and advanced materials and highlights recent work to meet the challenges to their practical implementation: including progress on projects that Vireo is carrying out as a DIAGONAL Project Partner.

Replacing animal-origin cell culture reagents, such as fetal bovine serum (FBS), will support sustainability and cruelty-free claims for cultured meat. It is also an important step towards risk reduction and assuring food safety. The SFA continues to take a leadership position among the world’s regulatory agencies ensuring that these sustainable new products are also safe.

The US Congress has passed the first update since 1938 to the federal law regulating personal care products. The FDA will now have some of the same oversight powers for cosmetics that it has for other product categories, and requirements for animal testing on cosmetic products are removed.