Consumer Reports’ monthly roundup of its efforts to promote a safe and healthy food system. This month’s Food Policy Insider will cover:
Food Industry Observes Transparency Week by Opposing Disclosure Laws:
Representatives from the packaged foods, frozen foods, and beverage industries designated the week of June 8 as their second annual National Consumer Transparency Week, which they observed by expressing their continued opposition to food chemical disclosure legislation—another tactic in the food industry’s multimillion-dollar campaign to oppose food transparency proposals. The food industry also lobbied Congress to pass legislation that would block pro-consumer state food laws, with one of the biggest targets being legislation in New York that would close a loophole in federal law that allows food companies to keep the FDA in the dark about potentially harmful chemicals.
Infant Formula Industry Fighting Against Testing and Disclosure Laws:
Over the past two months, legislatures in California, New York, and Vermont passed bills that would require infant formula manufacturers to routinely test for toxic elements—arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury—and disclose those results to the public. Consumer Reports has found concerning levels of these heavy metals in infant formula and baby foods, with exposure shown to harm child development and contribute to behavioral challenges and other neurological damage. The infant formula industry argued that disclosing test results would confuse parents and caregivers. Consumer Reports’ position is that parents and caregivers can easily distinguish between low and high numbers.
USDA Risks Becoming Irrelevant on Food Safety:
The USDA announced a delay in the implementation of a rule that would declare Salmonella an adulterant in not-ready-to-eat breaded stuffed chicken products, claiming currently available test methods have accuracy limitations—despite the agency’s own evidence confirming a validated test with no false-positive issues in May 2024. Consumer Reports wrote the USDA to express concern over this lack of transparency and to request any data supporting the claim of testing inaccuracies. If USDA fails to move forward with this rule, it risks being perceived as irrelevant on food safety oversight and beholden to industry interests.
Read the full Food Policy Insider for more information on food chemical disclosure legislation, infant formula heavy metal testing, and USDA food safety oversight.