Even before taking office, incoming members of the Trump Administration and some Republican members of Congress criticized various regulatory requirements in the $42.5 billion BEAD program as being unnecessarily burdensome and contributing to a perceived slow rollout of BEAD funding. The Commerce Department and Congress have now begun efforts to streamline and reform the BEAD
Keller Heckman Blogs
Latest from Keller Heckman
HHS Secretary Kennedy Directs FDA to Explore Rulemaking to Eliminate Self-Affirmed GRAS Pathway
- On March 10, 2025, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he is directing the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) “to explore potential rulemaking to revise its Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Final Rule and related guidance to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway.”
- This self-affirmation
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HHS Cuts Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking for Some Agency Actions
By Lauren Haas
- Health and Human Services (HHS) will no longer use notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures for “matters relating to agency management or personnel or to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts,” according to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The policy statement was published in the Federal Register on March 3, 2025.
- Usually, agencies must publish
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FDA Issues FSVP-Related Warning Letters
- FDA recently posted two warning letters issued to companies for failure to comply with the foreign supplier verification program (FSVP) requirements in Section 805 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 USC 384a) and the implementing regulations in 21 CFR part 1, subpart L. FSVP is intended to verify that
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Meat Industry Pushes Back on Cultivated Meat Bans
By Codi Coulter
- While several states are taking legislative action to restrict or ban the sale of cultivated meat, with legislators arguing that the bans would protect the meat industry, there is a different message coming from many groups in the industry itself. Critics of the bans argue that they would “restrict free trade and threaten food safety
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FTC Calls for Public Feedback on Tech Censorship
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) is asking members of the public to weigh in on whether tech platforms restricted or blocked their access because of content they posted on those platforms. The FTC issued a Request for Information (RFI) on February 20, 2025, to “better understand how technology platforms deny or degrade (such…
New State Legislative Efforts to Regulate Color Additives in Food
- The introduction of state legislation purporting to regulate food colors and dyes, which saw more than a dozen states introducing bills in 2024, continues to move forward. Recently, California issued an executive order to recommend actions to reduce foods with synthetic food dyes, and Utah recently introduced H.B. 402 seeking to prohibit foods containing various
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Raw Milk: State Legislative Updates and Challenges
- Several states have recently introduced or passed legislation related to raw milk, reflecting a growing interest in unpasteurized milk despite the fact that raw milk can carry harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E.coli, and Listeria, posing serious health risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
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Cultivated Meat: Legislative Challenges from Georgia and South Dakota
- As we’ve previously blogged, the regulatory landscape for cultivated meat is rapidly evolving with states like Nebraska, Florida, and Alabama taking significant steps to restrict or ban these products. The recent legislative actions in Georgia and South Dakota are the latest in various states’ efforts to regulate or restrict these products more stringently.
- Georgia
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Connecticut Bill Addresses “Shrinkflation”
By Lauren Haas
- The Connecticut legislature is considering an anti-price-gouging bill (House Bill 6856) that would add new disclosure requirements for food companies that adjust product sizes without price changes (a practice referred to as “shrinkflation”).
- If passed, the bill would require companies to “provide a clear and conspicuous notice” for at least 12 months when
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