AHPA Updates

In this issue of the IADSA Newsflash:  China has issued three new technical guidelines related to health food; India is amending its supplement and food regulation; Korea has introduced some changes to its health functional Food Code; Australia has classified sports supplements under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA); and more.

In an adjustment to pesticide regulations years in the making, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule on November 6, 2020 revising and expanding the Agency’s pesticide tolerance crop grouping regulations for herbs and spices. These revisions incorporated and accepted many of the comments AHPA submitted in 2013 and again in 2019, requesting the addition of many herbal commodities that had not previously been included in EPA’s crop grouping system.

A national election that many have called the most important in a generation is now behind us. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) will host a webinar on November 10, 2020 (2:00-3:30 pm Eastern) to bring together three experts from Van Scoyoc Associates and our AHPA member community for an analysis and discussion of the election, with a particular focus on possible impacts for the herbal products and dietary supplements industries.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule on November 6, 2020 revising and expanding the pesticide tolerance crop grouping regulations. Crop groups are lists of similar crops which allow the establishment of shared pesticide tolerances for all commodities included in each group, permitting the use of identified pesticides on those crops. The final rule converts the previous group 19, “Herbs and Spices” into two new groups: group 25 for herbs and group 26 for spices. A large number of commodities were also added to each group.

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) joined a coalition of organizations headed by the Food and Beverage Issue Alliance (FBIA) to request a comment period extension for FDA’s recently published proposed rule on food traceability. AHPA has previously reported on the proposed rule in this AHPA Update.

Silver Spring, MD, Nov. 4, 2020 -- The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) today announced Amber Bennett’s promotion to Vice President of Marketing and Engagement, a new position that reflects AHPA’s expectation for continued growth and its ongoing commitment to finding more and better ways to serve its membership.

The November 2020 AHPA Report includes: AHPA Sports Nutrition Congress: A Grand Slam!; AHPA has released updates via the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed.; AHPA Chief Science Officer Dr. Holly Johnson to present at Whole Plant Expo; FDA issues proposed rule for traceability on "certain foods"; and more.

The American Herbal Products Association is calling attention to the need for food facilities (including dietary supplement facilities) that are required to register with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to renew their registration not later than December 31, 2020, if they have not already done so. The biennial food facility registration renewal period began October 1.

By all accounts, the inaugural, virtual AHPA Sports Nutrition Congress hit it out of the ballpark!

With 225+ registrants, 20+ speakers, and 13 sponsors, the full-day event moved at a rapid pace, with informational nuggets and key takeaways from every session. Speakers from competing companies came together to share their insights, expertise and stories to help build a better industry. Registrants were the winners.

AHPA has released updates via the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. to nine additional botanicals.