AHPA Updates

AHPA strongly supports inclusion of the provisions of the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 in the Farm Bill, as included in the version passed by the Senate on June 28, 2018, and notes that similar language is not included in the House version of this legislation (H.R. 2).

Associated Milk Producers Inc. announced on July 24, 2018 that it is recalling dry whey powder produced at the cooperative’s Blair, Wisc., dry whey plant on specific dates in May and June due to the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The company identified this as a “precautionary recall” and reported that all products shipped to the marketplace tested negative for Salmonella. The company also stated that all of its customers that received this material have been notified of this issue.

On June 5, 2018, the California Court of Appeal ruled against private plaintiff Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation (Mateel) and upheld the current 0.5 microgram per day safe harbor for lead, as set in 1989 by the predecessor agency to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). The ruling has since been finalized by the Court. Mateel had sought to force OEHHA to repeal the regulations for setting a “maximum allowable dose level” (MADL) for lead as a reproductive toxicant and to revoke the safe harbor for lead. 

Recent market and import data for hemp products and ingredients show that the U.S. market has a highly dedicated and growing demand base, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

AHPA's Tonnage Survey is considered "a vital index of native U.S. botanical consumption," according to the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. If your company is a primary raw material producer, your input is essential to helping defend ongoing sustainable harvest of North American herbs.

AHPA has been working with an expert advisory committee to review, revise and broaden AHPA's Herbs of Commerce, the standard for common and scientific plant names used for herbal products.

The latest data presented at NBJ Summit shows that herbal and botanical supplements sales grew by 8.5 percent in 2017 and sales of all dietary supplements grew by 5.4 percent.

This issue of the IADSA Newsflash includes an update on the EU considering whether to set limits for 21 pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food supplements

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is proposing an additional 10 percent ad valorem duty on numerous Chinese imports with an annual trade value of approximately $200 billion. The list of products of China identified by USTR as subject to this new proposed tariff includes many herbal and plant-derived substances as well as a number of other ingredients found in dietary supplements.

In an effort to ensure American consumers can discern if their food includes GMOs, AHPA recommended significant revisions to a proposed rule issued by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to establish a mandatory, national bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard.