Salt Lake City, UT—In December 2023, dietary supplement industry trade association delegates met with Jim Jones, the new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, to discuss issues related to food safety and nutrition.
Loren Israelsen, President of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), was in attendance at the meeting with FDA. His takeaways:
- Implementation of the new Human Foods Program (HFP) will focus on various recommendations of the Reagan-Udall Foundation (RUF) report, which suggests that the dietary supplement industry should continue to maintain familiarity with its findings.
- There will likely be a new focus on chemical and food safety. Previously, Israelsen noted, the emphasis was on the processes involved in food safety via the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
- Jones told the trade associations that the transition of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) to the HFP will likely take six months.
- Israelsen also shared Jones' current staff are working with urgency and purpose to realize the new organizational structure, new priorities, and resource allocation within the HFP.
What does this mean for the dietary supplement industry?
That remains to be seen, Israelsen said, adding, "the signals being sent suggest we should focus on chemical safety (pesticides, herbicides, colors, flavors, dyes, excipients, adulterants, and microbial risks) as a new priority, assuming that FDA enhances their focus on chemical risks. The good news is regular trade association/FDA meetings were proposed, and ongoing updates will be provided by both sides.”
