http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2009-P-0147-0012
Summary
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition requesting that the Agency amend the standard of identity for milk and 17 other dairy products to provide for the use of any safe and suitable sweetener as an optional ingredient. FDA is issuing this notice to request comments, data, and information about the issues presented in the petition.
I. IDFA and NMPF Petition
The IDFA and NMPF jointly submitted a citizen petition (Ref. 1) on March 16, 2009, requesting that FDA amend the standard of identity in part 131 (21 CFR part 131) for milk (§ 131.110). Specifically, the petition requests that FDA amend § 131.110(c)(2) to allow the use of “any safe and suitable” sweetener in optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk. (1) The petition also requests that FDA similarly amend the standards of identity for 17 other milk and cream products. Those standards (hereinafter referred to as the “additional dairy standards”) are as follows: Acidified milk (§ 131.111), cultured milk (§ 131.112), sweetened condensed milk (§ 131.120), nonfat dry milk (§ 131.125), nonfat dry milk fortified with vitamins A and D (§ 131.127), evaporated milk (§ 131.130), dry cream (§ 131.149), heavy cream (§ 131.150), light cream (§ 131.155), light whipping cream (§ 131.157), sour cream (§ 131.160), acidified sour cream (§ 131.162), eggnog (§ 131.170), half-and-half (§ 131.180), yogurt (§ 131.200), lowfat yogurt (§ 131.203), and nonfat yogurt (§ 131.206). The petition asks that the standards of identity for these products be amended to provide for the use of any safe and suitable sweetener in the optional ingredients. (2)
IDFA and NMPF request their proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity to allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (e.g., chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener—including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame. IDFA and NMPF state that the proposed amendments would promote more healthful eating practices and reduce childhood obesity by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products. They state that lower-calorie flavored milk would particularly benefit school children who, according to IDFA and NMPF, are more inclined to drink flavored milk than unflavored milk at school. As further support for the petition, IDFA and NMPF state that the proposed amendments would assist in meeting several initiatives aimed at improving the nutrition and health profile of food served in the nation’s schools. Those initiatives include state-level programs designed to limit the quantity of sugar served to children during the school day. Finally, IDFA and NMPF argue that the proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity would promote honesty and fair dealing in the marketplace and are therefore appropriate under section 401 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341).
The petition acknowledges that the use of non-nutritive sweeteners in optional characterizing flavoringingredients in milk is allowed under the existing regulatory scheme, with certain additional requirements. The regulatory framework governing the naming of standardized foods that do not fully comply with the relevant standards of identity changed with the passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 and FDA’s rulemaking establishing the Agency’s requirements for foods named by use of a nutrient content claim and a standardized term (§ 130.10 (21 CFR 130.10)). Section 130.10(d) allows the addition of safe and suitable ingredients to a food named by use of a nutrient content claim and a standardized term when these ingredients are used to, among other things, add sweetness to ensure that the modified food is not inferior in performance characteristic to the standardized food even if such ingredients are not specifically provided for by the relevant food standard. Therefore, while the milk standard of identity in § 131.110 only provides for the use of “nutritive sweetener” in an optional characterizing flavor, milk may contain a characterizing flavor that is sweetened with a non-nutritive sweetener if the food’s label bears a nutrient content claim (e.g., “reduced calorie”) and the non-nutritive sweetener is used to add sweetness to the product so that it is not inferior in its sweetness property compared to its standardized counterpart. However, IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk—including flavored milk—as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value.”
As to the additional dairy standards, IDFA and NMPF state that administrative efficiency counsels in favor of similar changes. As long as FDA is dedicating resources to amending the standard of identity for milk, they argue, the Agency should also amend the standards for these products at the same time. They state that it is most efficient to consider all of the proposals together. According to the petition, the requested changes to the additional dairy standards present the same issues as the milk standard, and it is therefore appropriate to consider all of the requested changes together.
Please take a moment to speak out against this request that milk and milk products containing aspartame not require labeling to that effect!!
Detroit Has a Coke Problem Three Stories High
The Koch Brothers’ Toxic Mountain of Petroleum Coke
The toxic mountain of petroleum coke, or petcoke, is like coal but dirtier, and is being sold by Koch Carbon to fuel the coal plants of countries like China.
http://ecowatch.com/2013/koch-brothers-toxic-mountain-petroleum-coke/
GOAL TENDING 101
Listen to your soul’s instructions,
listen to what will not be silenced,
pay attention to what resonates deeply,
trust Divine guidance,
and celebrate all the way!
We invite you to join us on Saturday, June 1st to learn more about the People’s Platform
We believe that Detroit is full of vibrant, resilient people who look out for each other and are committed to protecting the public assets and resources we share as a community. Lets roll up our sleeves and come together and plan to take back our democracy. Come with your neighbors; bring block club members, friends and family.
We invite you to join us on Saturday, June 1st to learn more about the People’s Platform
and to participate in skill shares and workshops, that include:
Development and Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs)
Participatory Budgeting: An Overview
Telling Our Story: Community Media Making
Uprooting Racism Planting Justice
Models for Land Justice: Community Land Trust
Get ready for the new council by district: Know your City Charter and YOUR POWER!
Organizing for Transit Justice
Advocacy for Good Jobs
Update: Detroit Urban Ag Ordinance
This is not a political event.
Marygrove College - 8425 W. McNichols (6 Mile & Wyoming)
There is no charge to participate in the convention, but seating is limited.
Register TODAY!
Saturday, June 1st 9am-4pm
Register online at http://www.unitingdetroiters.org/
or by phone 313.556.2020 Ext. 2035
Registration Deadline is May 29th
Presented by Building Movement Detroit in collaboration with Marygrove College’s Social Justice Program
U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Monsanto, Rules Against Farmers
“The Court chose to protect Monsanto over farmers. The Court’s ruling is contrary to logic and to agronomics, because it improperly attributes seeds’ reproduction to farmers, rather than nature,”
http://ecowatch.com/2013/supreme-court-sides-with-monsanto-rules-against-farmers/Can local jurisdictions create law which restrict what the US Government says to enable? Why are we forced to grown and consume what the government dictates?
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges joins us to discuss what could mark the most significant government intrusion on freedom of the press in decades. The Justice Department has acknowledged seizing the work, home and cellphone records used by almost 100 reporters and editors at the Associated Press. The phones targeted included the general AP office numbers in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Hartford, Connecticut, and the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery. The action likely came as part of a probe into the leaks behind an AP story on the U.S. intelligence operation that stopped a Yemen-based al-Qaeda bombing plot on a U.S.-bound airplane. Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and former New York Times reporter, calls the monitoring “one more assault in a long series of assault against freedom of information and freedom of the press.” Highlighting the Obama administration’s targeting of government whistleblowers, Hedges adds: “Talk to any investigative journalist who must investigate the government, and they will tell you that there is a deep freeze. People are terrified of speaking, because they’re terrified of going to jail.
A new app allows you to scan a product in the supermarket aisle and learn who exactly is behind that box of cereal. More impressively, you can join user-created campaigns to boycott groups of companies who may have lobbied against a cause you believe in.I couldn’t scream SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY fast enough at this. And it’s free! Due to all the traffic, the app is down right now - the developer says he’s getting more than 10 new users every second. Download it! Vote with your wallet!
BUYCOTT had to be removed from Google Play (Android market) to address the traffic coming to download the app. The developer told Forbes on Wednesday: “Things are *slightly* more stable, but the app is now #10 in the App Store overall, which is pretty unbelievable. I simply didn’t set up the servers to be prepared to handle 10+ new users every second. I was expecting a more manageable rise. I had to pull the Android app from the store because I haven’t had a second to address the issues with it and I’ll take any relief I can get right now. Will continue to try and get it in decent shape but I’ll eventually need some sleep!”
The app contains the Demand GMO Labeling campaign and with the upcoming March Against Monsanto on May 25 happening world-wide publicity is peaking. Here is some information about the campaign:
A Time magazine poll in January 1999 reported that 81% of those surveyed supported the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods. [1] A more recent ABC News poll in June 2011 showed that 93% of Americans favor mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods. [2] How is it that policy with such overwhelming popular support over such a long period of time has gone ignored? One need not look further than the army of lobbyists representing powerful business interests that don’t want to see GMO labels on food. The major chemical companies like Monsanto and DuPont don’t want consumers to know that some ingredients in the product they’re buying was made from patented, genetically-modified seed. The major snack food manufacturers don’t want consumers to know that the product they’re buying was made with the cheapest GMO ingredients available.
Knowing what’s in your food is a basic right. Consumers in the European Union have a right to know if their food contains GMOs, although most GMOs are not approved for human consumption. All Chinese and Russian consumers have a right to know if their food contains GMOs. Saudi Arabian consumers have a right to know if their food contains GMOs. [3] But Americans have been left in the dark by companies seeking the maximize profits and the politicians who are willing to do their bidding.
This campaign starts with a list of all companies that donated more than $150,000 to oppose GMO labeling in California. For a company to be removed from the list, it must publicly commit to supporting mandatory GMO labeling on food.
Even with the app currently removed from Google Play market you can bet many people are going to put this on their bucket list of must-get apps.
Yep! Downloaded! The people are voting with their dollars!
“So I shouldn’t be surprised that the Mother’s Day Parade shooting has largely been forgotten. On Sunday, shots were fired into a crowd during a parade in the New Orleans 7th ward. Police said they saw three suspects running from the scene.
This is the largest mass shooting in the United States where the shooters were still at large after the crime was committed. Think about that for a minute. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Fort Hill to Aurora, all the shooters were either killed or apprehended on site. But the person or people responsible for shooting 19 Americans are still free.”
One of the people who got shot was an antiviolence blogger. Somehow we aren’t seeing massive solidarity for New Orleans or the entire city going on police lockdown to find the perpetrators. Two reasons: 1) This mostly affected Black people, and we all know how much the media and the police give any fucks about Black people in New Orleans; 2) This was a gun crime, so we can’t criticize it because GUNS ARE FREEDOM!
(Source: daughterofalkebulan)
“So I shouldn’t be surprised that the Mother’s Day Parade shooting has largely been forgotten. On Sunday, shots were fired into a crowd during a parade in the New Orleans 7th ward. Police said they saw three suspects running from the scene.
This is the largest mass shooting in the United States where the shooters were still at large after the crime was committed. Think about that for a minute. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Fort Hill to Aurora, all the shooters were either killed or apprehended on site. But the person or people responsible for shooting 19 Americans are still free.”
One of the people who got shot was an antiviolence blogger. Somehow we aren’t seeing massive solidarity for New Orleans or the entire city going on police lockdown to find the perpetrators. Two reasons: 1) This mostly affected Black people, and we all know how much the media and the police give any fucks about Black people in New Orleans; 2) This was a gun crime, so we can’t criticize it because GUNS ARE FREEDOM!
(Source: daughterofalkebulan)
