Senate FY18 Agriculture Spending Bill Would Set Deadline for FSIS to Determine Foreign Catfish Equivalence
The Senate Appropriations Committee on July 20 advanced fiscal year 2018 agriculture spending legislation (here) that would require the Food Safety and Inspection Service to determine inspection equivalence no later than March 1 for all countries that want to continue exporting catfish to the U.S., according to the bill’s committee report (here). The report directs FSIS to complete country-by-country equivalence determinations “based on volume of catfish exports to the United States.” The bill matches the $1 billion outlined for total FSIS funding in the House Appropriations Committee-approved version, and would provide $953.2 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, $46.8 million above the amount outlined in the House version.
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Senate appropriators during the July 20 markup also adopted an amendment (here) by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to require any genetically engineered salmon to sport the label “genetically engineered” or “GE” before the product name. If the legislation is enacted, the amendment would continue an FY16-FY17 import ban on any food containing genetically engineered salmon, either through FY18 or until the Food and Drug Administration finalizes labeling regulations for informing consumers of such content.
Senators also targeted improvements to FDA’s import review procedures, directing the agency to submit a report within 180 days of enactment on how it is monitoring the impact of a recent reorganization of its field offices, including whether the change has enhanced consistency of facility inspections. The FDA is also directed to report on its efforts to implement nutritional labeling requirements for added sugar and single-ingredient products (see 1605200021), and to provide clarity on the package labeling of sugar content. The committee also directs the FDA to perform a detailed analysis of consumer perception of foods marketed with the word “maple” or related iconography, noting an “explosion” of products marketed using that word and related iconography.
After the FDA in June issued updated draft guidance on current good manufacturing processes for medical gases (see 1706280012), Senate appropriators said they are “significantly concerned” the agency hasn’t initiated a rulemaking despite statutory requirements to do so. Senate appropriators also directed the FDA to develop a testing regimen for sunscreen ingredients and to finalize a rule limiting the maximum Sun Protection Factor (SPF) to “50” or “50+,” as directed by FY17 spending legislation. “The Committee is also disappointed that FDA failed to issue a proposed rule to establish testing and labeling standards for sunscreen sprays and directs FDA to do so immediately,” the report says.
The committee rejected Trump administration proposals for user fees for food facility registration and inspection, food import, food contact substance notification, cosmetics, and international courier imports (see 1705250030), noting in the report that Congress hasn’t authorized any of those fees. But the committee does recommend funds for permanent indefinite user fees as assumed in the administration’s budget, including $6.4 million in food reinspection collections, $5.3 million in Voluntary Qualified Importer Program collections, $4.7 million in export and certification fees, and $1.4 million in food and feed recall collections.
The committee is proposing $29.3 million for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service agricultural quarantine inspections (AQI), about $1.5 million more than the administration’s request. The legislation would expressly prevent imports containing a partially hydrogenated oil from being deemed adulterated by the FDA, until the compliance date for a June 2015 order on the topic comes into effect on June 18, 2018 (see 1506160024).
The committee “strongly encourages” USDA to focus National Organic Program resources on “robust oversight” of domestic and international operations that carry the USDA organic seal “in light of recent news reports that have shed light on inadequate enforcement of the standards” (see 1706260060). The report also cites concerns about seafood fraud, and says the National Institute of Food and Agriculture should research technologies to provide “rapid, portable and facile” screening of fish species at ports, and wholesale and retail centers.
The bill doesn’t contain any language similar to the House version’s language to regulate e-cigarettes (see 1707120035). A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said a floor vote for the bill hasn’t been scheduled. The office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., didn’t comment.