In Washington, D.C., committed to advancing policies that enable consumers to safely benefit from innovations in how foods are produced, the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. issued a statement on the process FDA is undertaking for reviewing and modernizing the agency’s standards of identity for dairy products.
The FDA is also facilitating food innovations that can give consumers more choices, enable better nutrition, and improve labeling to reflect the healthy attributes of food. Diet is a powerful tool for reducing chronic disease and food labels – including the name of food – inform consumers about what they’re buying; and, standards of identity are used to ensure that foods have the expected characteristics.
One area that needs greater clarity – and which has been the subject of much discussion of late – is the wide variety of plant-based foods that are being positioned in the marketplace as substitutes for standardized dairy products.