Baking & Snack - November 2005 - 10

NEWS FRONT
Bakers seek trans fat deadline extension
Rather than revisiting the same issues over and over in dozens of
baker petitions, the Food and Drug Administration has been urged
to grant grain-based foods companies a 6-month industry-wide
extension of the trans fat labeling compliance date.
The blanket extension was sought in a letter from the American
Bakers Association. Written by Lee Sanders, vice-president of regulatory and technical services, and Paul C. Abenante, president and c.e.o.,
the letter was sent in response to an FDA request for comments about
a possible case-by-case extension of the trans fat labeling date.
While suggesting it would consider extensions, FDA said it expected to receive roughly 56 requests. This expectation was
premised, in part, on the few requests it has received to
date. The expectation is a faulty one, according to ABA.
The bakers noted that from the time the final trans
fat labeling rule was first promulgated in January 2003, FDA
had taken a hard line with regard to potential extensions. Earlier this year, a coalition of food industry trade associations
sought an extension to reconcile the labeling deadline with the
statutory deadline for food allergen labeling. The group, which
included ABA, was turned down.
"ABA understands that virtually all of its 90 baker members would request an extension (although the need for
such individual requests may be obviated by the industrywide request that ABA is making)," the association said. "If 90 firms in
the baking industry alone will request extensions, then FDA's estimate
of 56 requests is off by orders of magnitude."
The baking industry request for extensions is based both on the
costs they face Jan. 1 to discard bags and because of disruptions
caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In explaining these factors,
Ms. Sanders and Mr. Abenante challenged the idea that the compliance burden will fall overwhelmingly on small bakers.
"While small firms may feel a greater impact proportionately, the
sheer volume of packaging materials that will need to be discarded
by large firms amounts to significant numbers in terms of both dollars wasted and tonnage to be discarded," they said.
ABA said the hurricanes are disrupting bakers' ability to comply with
the trans fat labeling compliance because of critical disruptions in the
availability of both food packaging materials and trans fat replacers.
"With respect to packaging, ABA is aware of severe reductions in
available plastic and petroleum-based packaging materials and fears

most the restriction in supply of resin, from which bread bags and
other baked goods packaging are made," ABA said. "The constriction in the resin supply may substantially impair packaging supplies
not only for new, compliant packaging but also for already compliant packaging. Many of the suppliers of resin have declared force
majeure for all contracts and related agreements pertaining to film
and packaging products due to disruptions in the resin supply chain
caused by the hurricane's damage to the Gulf region."
ABA said even baking companies that already have transitioned to
trans fat labeling and have altered formulations to reduce or eliminate
trans fat may be forced to revert to their noncompliant
packaging because supplies of palm oil, a major trans fat
substitute, have been disrupted because of the storm.
"Accordingly, these firms may need to go back to
their old label stock, which would at least accurately reflect
the product's ingredients but will not bear trans fat labeling," the association said. "There would not be ample time
or resources to run a third set of labels that reflects both
the trans fat declaration (which will likely be zero for such
products) and an accurate ingredient declaration."
In its request for comments, FDA said its decision
whether to exercise enforcement discretion would be
based, in part, on whether products contain 0.5 g or
less trans fat. ABA urged the agency to drop this criterion, noting that
many baked foods, including bread, already have little trans fat content and are being easily transitioned to the new labeling.
"Rather, it is the labeling for products whose trans content would
need to be assayed that is still being transitioned, and for which extensions are needed," ABA said. In offering a sector-wide, rather than
case-by-case, extension, FDA would facilitate an "apples-to-apples"
comparison of the trans fat content of comparable foods.
"Such an extension would avoid the potential consumer confusion that could result if some companies obtain extension and need
not declare trans fat on their product labels as of Jan. 1, 2006, while
manufacturers of comparable products are required to make such
declarations as of that date," ABA said.
The request for an industry-wide 6-month extension of
the trans fat labeling deadline also was submitted by ABA to the
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and
Drug Administration.

Ivy receives international award
Joanne C. Ivy, senior vice-president of the American Egg Board, received the Denis Wellstead Memorial Trophy as the "International Egg
Person of the Year" from the International Egg Commission at the IEC
annual conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The honor is presented annually to the individual who contributes most significantly

12 / BAKING & SNACK / November 2005

to the betterment of the egg industry worldwide.
Ms. Ivy joined the American Egg Board in 1986
as director of industry relations. She became a vicepresident of AEB in 1988 and was elevated to senior
vice-president in 1996.

IVY

Baking & Snack - November 2005

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