• Yesterday FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response & Evaluation (CORE) Network announced the release its 2023 annual report summarizing food-borne outbreak and adverse events in FDA-regulated foods.
• In 2023, the CORE Signals and Surveillance Team, which evaluates emerging outbreaks and disease surveillance trends in collaboration with CDC, FDA field offices, and state agencies, evaluated 69 incidents, of

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• FDA is “set to rehire some of the staff that was let go during mass firings in the past three months.” Earlier this year around 3,500 FDA employees, or around 20 percent of its workforce, was let go without cause, and many more left due to retirement, voluntary buyout, and resignation.
• While FDA and

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• A recent article titled, “Defining the Role of Processing in Food Classification Systems –The IUFoST Formulation and Processing Approach,” reports on a proposed novel approach to defining ultra-processed food (UPF) known as the IUFoST Formulation and Processing Classification (IF&PC) scheme.
• As we have previously blogged, there is no formal legal definition of

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• Currently, acesulfame K (E 950) is an authorized food additive in the European Union (EU) in 34 food categories with maximum permitted levels ranging from 25 to 2500 mg/kg in 31 foods categories and at quantum satis in 3 food categories of table-top sweeteners.
• In its updated scientific assessment, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

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• As first reported by the Washington Post, an internal draft budget document suggests significant cuts to HHS, including cuts to FDA, NIH, and CDC. According to the draft budget documents, the Trump Administration may propose $6.5 billion funding for FDA in 2026, a 17% decrease from the budget in 2023. 
• In addition to the

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• Kevin Hall, Ph.D, a senior NIH researcher involved in food and metabolism research, including the effects of ultra-processed foods (UPF), resigned earlier this month, alleging that he had experienced censorship regarding his recent research which he said “did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.” He

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• Last week, Pennsylvania introduced HB 1130, a bill that would introduce mandatory reporting and transparency requirements for substances considered “safe” under federal law.  If passed, companies using generally recognized as safe (GRAS) substances in food products will be required to make food safety disclosures pertaining to those ingredients.
• Under the house bill, if companies

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