Summary#
This bill would give the Food and Drug Administration new authorities, create research programs, and set new recordkeeping and information-sharing requirements about human foods. Major parts of the bill include:
- A "sense of Congress" that an account called the Human Foods Innovation Account should be established to support research, a center of excellence, a public-private partnership, and other FDA food innovation work.
- Creation of a permanent Advisory Committee on Human Foods made up of nutrition and food safety experts and representatives of consumer, producer, and health professional groups to advise the FDA Commissioner.
- A competitive Critical Research Grant Program, run by FDA and NIH, to fund research in areas such as food biotechnology, infant and maternal nutrition, ultra-processed foods, specialty food safety (for example, infant formula), dietary supplements, and public understanding of risks and benefits.
- A Center of Excellence run by FDA human foods and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) to coordinate work where food and medicine intersect (for example, weight-loss drugs, food allergies, and food-as-medicine programs).
- An exemption from the Paperwork Reduction Act for voluntary information collected by FDA during research.
- New recordkeeping and disclosure rules for processed foods: manufacturers (excluding farms and restaurants) must allow FDA access to and copying of recipe records on request, including labeled and nonlabeled ingredients and amounts; manufacturers must submit nonlabeled contents (like flavors or incidental additives) to the Commissioner, and the Commissioner must publish a list of such articles and their contents on a website.
- A public-private partnership to share information about food packaging materials and to recommend chemical limits for food and food-contact substances. The FDA must report to Congress on the partnership’s work within 18 months and then annually.
What it means for you#
- Consumers: The bill seeks more research and advisory work on nutrition, infant and maternal nutrition, and food safety. No specific immediate consumer benefits or changes are described in the bill text.
- Food manufacturers and processors (not including farms and restaurants): They would need to allow FDA officers to access and copy processed food recipe records on request, and submit nonlabeled ingredients to the FDA for publication.
- Researchers and institutions: A competitive grant program is created to fund research in defined food and nutrition areas. The bill also exempts voluntary FDA research data collection from the Paperwork Reduction Act.
- Industry, academia, and consumer groups: The bill would create a formal public-private partnership to share information about packaging and recommend chemical limits.
Expenses#
No publicly available information on costs or appropriations is included in the bill text. Section 2 expresses a sense of Congress that an account should be established but does not itself appropriate funds or specify amounts.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.