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A bill to levy tougher regulations on the U.S. cosmetics industry was introduced to Congress in late July. The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (H.R. 5786) calls for a list of ingredients prohibited from use in cosmetics, new recall authority for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), randomized postmarket cosmetics testing, and new registration fees for companies, among other measures, according to Representative Jan Schakowski (D-IL), who introduced the bill together with Ed Markey (D-MA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

NP Nutra (Gardena, CA) has added a certified-organic mangosteen powder to its Super ORAC line of ingredients. Compared to other mangosteen products, Super ORAC mangosteen powder has an unmatched ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) content of 1500-1800 umole TE/g, says the company.

FDA principal deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, MD, is slated to return as a keynote speaker at The Conference, the Council for Responsible Nutrition's annual symposium for the dietary supplement industry.

As part of the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA; Parma, Italy) ongoing series of public consultations on health claims guidance, the agency has announced that it will hold a meeting on scientific requirements for gut health and immune function health claims on December 2, 2010, in Amsterdam.

TSI Health Sciences’ (Missoula, MT) Pureflex chondroitin sulfate sodium line has obtained self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status for use in food and beverages. The company has also obtained self-affirmed GRAS status for its Pureflex glucosamine line. The GRAS affirmation for chondroitin was conducted by a panel of independent experts, which deemed the Pureflex products, derived from bovine, avian, marine, and porcine sources, safe when added to conventional foods and beverages.

Originally Published

Originally Published

Originally Published

FDA has been faced with evaluating and regulating an increasing range of health-related product claims from food and supplement companies. Does the agency have the tools to judge whether proposed claims are valid?

The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 is the most recent initiative in Washington that could affect nationwide food standards for children. Announced by Representative George Miller (D-CA) on June 10, the bill calls for enhancing and expanding access to school food programs and “…for the first time, establish[ing] nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools,” according to Miller’s Web site.

Senators Orrin Hatch (R–UT) and Tom Harkin (D–IA) introduced a new bill on May 25 that demands the Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Washington, DC) implement the regulatory powers provided by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994.

U.S. herbal dietary supplement sales jumped nearly 5% in 2009, says a report published in May in HerbalGram, the American Botanical Council's (ABC; Austin, TX) quarterly journal.

Albion Human Nutrition's (Clearfield, UT) chromium nicotinate glycinate chelate (chromium chelate) has been registered on CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society and an internationally recognized scientific database of chemical substances that scientists and regulatory bodies use when evaluating ingredients for their products. Albion's chromium chelate CAS No. is 1208240-55-4.

Nutraceuticals International LLC (Elmwood Park, NJ) has opened its third office, in Guadalajara, Mexico. The office will be run by new sales-team member Arturo Elias. The company says that the new office will help increase its footprint in Latin America.

Tahitian Noni (Provo, UT) has received its third Novel Food approval from the European Commission on Food Safety. Not only are the company's noni juice and noni leaf approved as novel foods in the European Union, but now so are its noni concentrates and puree. All of these forms can now be sold in the European Union.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have again confirmed that ingredient supplier Jungbunzlauer's Ladenburg, Germany, facility complies with current good manufacturing practices. The compliance applies to all Ladenburg products, including citric acid, tripotassium citrate, trimagnesium citrate, tricalcium citrate, calcium lactate gluconate, Citrofol (citric acid esters), and other products.

BI Nutraceuticals' (BI; Long Beach, CA) manufacturing facility in Islandia, NY, has been organic certified by Quality Assurance International. The facility is now approved to manufacture and distribute certified-organic vitamin premixes, custom blends, and granulated or roller-compacted ingredients. (The company's Long Beach, CA, facility was organic-certified in 2004.)