Document mqX2XpQVRjOZqgz95v9NXmyr0

MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION 1825 CONNECTICUT AVENUE. N. W. WASHINGTON. D. C. 20009 *(202) 483-6126 April 26, 1971 To: FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC CHEMICALS COMMITTEE Subject: NAS Food Protection Committee Report for May 4 FDCCC Meeting Gentlemen: Since the last meeting of the FDCC Committee on November 4, the annual FPC meeting was held December 8-9 in Washington. A copy of the proceedings of this meeting is attached. Regarding the review of GRAS substances, Dr. Aalto's letter of Dec^mber_16 and Mr. Mulford1s letter of December 28 (giving information obtained at the December 8-9 FPC meeting) were sent to the committee December 29. Anticipating certain signing of the contract with FDA for the complete GRAS survey, NAS has just requested the names of contacts in MCA member companies to receive the survey forms for this second phase of the overall review. A letter is to be sent April 27 to executive contacts in MCA member companies to ascertain this information where it is not already known. There has been nothing further from NAS on the matter of providing data for the Food Chemicals codex project. Sincerely yours MMH:gr Attachment Distribution "B" M. M. Hoover, Secretary Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Chemicals Committee ASI 00002720 COPIED BY MCA PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FOOD PROTECTION COMMITTEE AND THE LIAISON PANEL The twentieth annual joint meeting of the Food Protection Committee and the Liaison Panel was held in Washington, D.C., on December 8-9, 1970. On December 8, the Industry Panel and FPC met in separate sessions from 9*00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and in joint sessions from 12:00 noon to 4:15 p.m., and from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on December 9. A. Industry Panel Meeting The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. by Lawrence Atkin, Chair man. There were no corrections to the minutes of the prior annual meeting held on December 9-10, 1969. Dr. Atkin posted the Industry Panel on the proposed rule making on food additives just published in the Federal Register. Vol. 35, No. 237, Tuesday, December 8, 1970, pp. 18623-18624, a copy of which is attached. The Wall Street Tournal article describing the proposed regulations was read to the meeting; a copy of this article, dated December 8, is also attached. Mr. Einar T. Wulfsberg asked to be permitted to read a prepared state ment on the safety and the "unsafety" of all chemicals. The meeting received his comments with interest. (A copy of his remarks is attached.) Dr. Atkin called for consideration of the Birdsall Report which documents the operational procedures of the Industry'Committee and the Industry Panel. This document had been circulated to each member of the Industry Panel in a mailing prior to the annual meeting. The report was accepted without amendment and will be available for all new and old members of the Liaison Panel. A recommendation was made from the floor urging companies to exercise their option to send two members to the annual meeting to ensure that there is always someone from each corporation who understands the workings of the Panel and the FPC. Dr. Atkin reviewed the purpose of the Industry Panel which he said is to encourage and thus support the functioning of the FPC without interference in its deliberations. Attention was called to an important distinction between work undertaken at the request of an agency of the government and work done on FPC f ASI 00002721 -2- 1 initiative. When studies are conducted for a government agency, the report is the property of the agency and can only be released by them; when reports are being prepared on FPC initiative, they can be, and frequently are, discussed with the Industry Committee during development, but final content of the report and approval for publication are the prerogative of FPC, the Food and Nutrition Board, and ultimately of NAS. There was discussion from the floor regarding the timing of the proposal on food additives just published in the Federal Register by FDA, questioning whether the efforts of the GRAS Review Committee had somehow been wasted. Dr. Atkin expressed the conviction that the GRAS review was still germane and would in no sense be a wasted effort. Dr. Hartley Howard reported on membership. During 1970, 100 organiza tions made annual contributions amounting to something over $48,000. With the gain of several new members and the loss of a few, the membership of the Industry Liaison Panel is about the same as last year. Arthur Schramm, chairman of the nominating committee consisting of Richard Henderson, Robert Harkins, and Paul Cundy, offered the following list of nominees for membership on the Industry Committee: Hartley Howard of Borden as Vice Chairman; and Art Hansen of Del Monte, Enio Feliclotti of Lipton, Charles Spiegl of Continental Can, Charles Trombold of Campbell Soup, and Earl Lockhart of Coca-Cola. The slate was elected as proposed. Dr. Atkin then reported on the National Conference on Food Protection. Additional material on this meeting had been previously circulated. Individuals desirous of participating in the workshops of this conference should inform the chairman of the panel in which he is interested. Kenneth Mulford raised the issue of the need for greater awareness on the part of industry and especially the Liaison Panel of FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius activities. Alan Thomas reported that a subcommittee of the Industry Committee had made initial contacts with the Federal Government to explore the feasibility of there being established within some government agency a full-time staff to coordinate the spreading of information and the collection of comments from all quarters. These initial efforts have not as yet been successful. Some groups that are providing liaison with industry include Morgan Hoover of the Manufac turing Chemists' Association, Inc. , Larry Wood of The Food and Drug Law Institute, Inc., and Robert W. Harkins of Grocery Manufacturers of America, Inc. After some discussion, John Birdsall indicated that the original subcommittee of the Industry Committee would be authorized to continue their efforts and to enlarge the subcommittee as required. ASI 00002722 i i -3- B. Tolnt Meeting of the FPC and the Liaison Panel Dr, Atkin briefly reported to the joint meeting the gist of the morning discussions which were summarized above. Dr. W. J. Darby, in his response, highlighted a number of issues now before the FPC. Dr. Philip Handler, President of the NAS, has instructed each board and committee to effectuate an orderly rotation policy in order to encourage the involvement of some of the younger scientists. Accordingly, the Food Protection Committee will be making some changes in its membership in the near future. Dr. Darby touched on the catalytic role of the FPC in advising govern ment, industry, academia, and the public. The formation of the FPC was based on a resolution passed by the Food and Nutrition Board in May 1949, recommend ing a standing committee on food protection; a year later, following a conference to consider this resolution, FPC was formed. Initial emphasis was placed on the use of pesticides, and the toxicology and chemistry of food additives and the effects on food processing. For the future, it is anticipated that FPC will be concerned with some of the international aspects of food protection. As in the past, FPC will emphasize development of principles and guide lines and will attempt to restrict their consideration of specific chemicals or processes. Dr. J. M. Coon reviewed the current and future activities of the Subcom mittee on Toxicology, including the development of statements on evaluating safety of food chemicals and toxicological insignificance. Prospective areas for future consideration include: (a) man as the subject of study, including the fate of chemicals in man vs. animals, the effect of chemicals in man vs. animals, and delineation of the species variation which complicates the study of the metabolism of chemicals in certain species; (b) delineation of dose response vs. no effect level and the need to determine a no effect level with carcinogenic compounds; (c) guidelines for the determination of toxicological insignificant levels of chemicals in food which might permit the development of a "SWOT" list (Safe Without Testing); (d) careful examination of the Delaney clause via the development of a detailed critique; and (e) education and information to the public. Dr. F. M. Strong reviewed the plans for the second edition of "Toxicants Occurring Naturally in Foods." The revised format will emphasize the level of toxicants in foods, the route absorption and metabolism, pathways for detoxifi cation, excretion, storage, etc. Development of the text is going well; the goal is to have completed manuscripts available by March 1, 1971. ASI 00002723 -4- In Dr. C. O. Chichester's absence. Dr. John Jackson of Green Giant commented on possible future activities of the Subcommittee on Food Technology. There are a host of problems and opportunities which need to be explored, in cluding (a) the use of iodine in processed foods, (b) GRAS review, (c) effect of processing on food additives, (d) open dating, (e) enrichment policies, and (f) fabricated foods and the levels of enrichment and fortification. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m. Dr. Ray Johnson, Acting Commissioner for Pesticides, Environmental Protection Agency, addressed the dinner meeting on December 8. He reviewed the responsibilities with which the new agencv is haraed and some of the plans being developed to discharge those responsibimies. The meeting was reconvened at 9:00 a.m. on December 9, with Dr. Darby presiding. The report on Radionuclides in Foods was given by Dr. Leo Bustad of the University of California. Dr. Rust was not able to present this paper. A first draft of the status report will be completed by spring. Dr. Bustad made a strong presentation for the fact that there was no cause for alarm from radionuclides in spite of certain published scare articles. Microbiology, Current and Future Activities, was reviewed by Dr, John C. Ayres. Dr. Ayres summarized reports on food-borne illness of the Center for Disease Control (formerly Communicable Disease Center),pointing out that much of the emphasis is on salmonella. It was Dr. Ayres' opinion that perfringens infections far exceed salmonella infections and that this will become apparent as better reporting is accomplished. Perfringens could be the most important cause of food-borne disease. He also pointed out that the incidence of shigella infec tion is more than double that of salmonella infection. Dr. Ayres listed four important objectives for future work; (1) The development of guidelines to industry for testing programs. (2) Collection of data on minimum bacterial loads under good manufacturing practice. (3) The standardizing of media so that laboratories will show closer correlation in collaborative studies. (4) A study of sampling requirements as to number, size, etc, to give a truly representative picture. Speaking for industry, Dr. Howard Bauman reiterated Dr. Ayres' comments. Dr. Bauman pointed out the scarcity of microbiologists, lack of good plant studies, and the urgent need for guidelines. With the change of feeding habits resulting in the development of fast feed facilities, institutional feeding, etc. , it has become ASI 00002724 -5- critical that we have a better understanding of the relevance of organisms in food products. Dr. E. M. Foster made the point that microbiological problems should be put in their proper perspective. The reservoirs of salmonella infec tion -- poultry, eggs, and meat -- need the major attention and are not getting it. Dr. L. J. Filer reviewed the reports to FDA from the advisory committees on safety and suitability of monosodium glutamate, salt and modified starch s for use in baby foods. Monosodium glutamate was deemed safe, but since it served no functional purpose, recommendations were to eliminate MSG from baby foods. Salt was also considered to be safe, and it was recommended that a low level be included in infant foods as a possible means of controlling the mother who might be tempted to oversalt in the complete absence of salt. Starches modified by present methods were deemed to be safe, even in infant feeding, recognizing the fact that an infant under six months does not handle any starch well in its digestive tract. It was felt that the modified starches would serve a useful purpose in that they cut down on the total starch consumption. Dr. Coon reviewed the past history of nonnutritive sweeteners. It was suggested that further studies should be carried on for carcinogenic properties and mutagenic properties. More frequent review should be made of the changing habits of use. While saccharin is considered to be safe for its intended use, it was recommended that further studies be continued on this item. Dr. H. E. Carter commented on the GRAS review. The test method for surveying GRAS status proved to give a satisfactory recall of information, and, with very slight modifications, was recommended to FDA for use in the 1971 nation-wide survey on food additives. The test program had been developed under contract from Food and Drug, and no further work needs to be done in con junction with the pilot program. After lunch, the meeting reconvened to hear reports from related activities. Dr. D. M. Hegsted reported for the Food and Nutrition Board. An expanded study of nutrients is being undertaken with special emphasis on recommended daily allowance. The Committee on Food Standards and Fortification Policy is att mpting to develop nutritional guidelines for various categories of processed foods and will consider the general matter of fortification policy. Also, iron fortification of foods is being restudied. A committee has been established to interpret the recommended daily allowances for nutrients. The Board has a committee to review the results of the National Survey. To date relatively complete data from five of the ten states in the survey are available for review. The Board's interest in international nutrition programs has recently been expanded. There is general agreement in the Board that stronger emphasis on nutrition education is needed; there is difficulty, however, in reaching a consensus on how best to carry on an educational program. ASI 00002725 - 6- Dr. M. R. De Carlo discussed the activities of the Agricultural Board, bringing to the audience's attention particularly the various publications in the field of animal nutrition. Dr. E. M. Mrak reported the work done by the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Pesticides and its predecessor Commission on Pesticides and their Relationship to Environmental Health. The Commission's report was published early in the year and many of its recommendations have been imple mented. Speaking for the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Dale Lindsay discussed the use of ad hoc committees to assist in FDA studies. He also mentioned that the Environmental Protection Agency is taking over much of FDA's work on pesticides. Dr. T. C. Byerly was unable to report for US DA. His report was given by Dr. Caro Luhrs. Many of the activities of USDA dealing with food protection were touched upon; the checking of meat and poultry for chlorinated hydro carbons; the checking for the presence of mercury, lead, and arsenic; control of the use of estrogens in animal production. Plans are under way for an ex panding program of testing during 1971. USDA will start monitoring beef tissue and hair for the presence of heavy metals. A new test method for nitrosamine is now available for analyzing meat tissue. The method is sensitive to 20 parts per billion. At the time of the report, nitrosamines had not been found in any samples tested. Dr. Bauman reported on the activities of the American Medical Associa tion Council on Foods and Nutrition. This Council, too, has an industry com mittee which meets with the Council. The members serve for eight years, the chairman for two years. In the absence of Dr. Hans Lineweaver, Dr. B. F. Daubert reported on the Institute of Food Technologists. IFT has agreed that, as an organization, it should take a part in the distribution of accurate informa tion to the public. Dr. Robert Roudabush spoke for the Society of Toxicology, and Dr. Edward Burger, Jr. represented the Office of Science and Technology, discussing briefly the efforts to correlate work being carried out in different governmental bureaus. The December 9 meeting adjourned at 4-00 p.m. ASI 00002726