Sweet politics

Dairy Foods, August, 1992 by Gail Rosenbaum

IDFA's Washington Conference offers glimpses into legislative and regulatory affairs. And great ice cream.

There's no place quite like Washington, D.C., in an election year. While detractors have long berated "the government" for its leisurely work pace, the nation's capital is a virtual hive of activity this summer.

The International Ice Cream Association's (IICA) Washington Conference and accompanying Capitol Hill ice cream party, held June 17-18, presented an opportunity for International Dairy Foods Association members to tap in to the election year excitement in the capital, meet with Congressional leaders and receive updates on pertinent dairy issues such as nutrition labeling, exporting, metric labeling and milk pricing.

The tenth annual Capitol Hill ice cream party drew a crowd of just under 10,000 and kicked off this year's Ice Cream for America campaign, a nationwide promotional program sponsored by IICA. The program features "July is National Ice Cream Month," a campaign to increase ice cream sales. Annual U.S. ice cream consumption reached an all-time high of 1.44 billion gallons last year, and consumption is highest in July and August, IICA reports. Legislators such as Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) dropped by for a cone and some good-natured mingling with the masses.

Conference attendees also attended legislative briefings by members of Congress, featuring Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) and Rep. Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas) sharing their views on the economy, election year politics and federal budget issues. Their insights were informative, if partisan, as they predicted what might be accomplished in the remainder of this legislative session.

FDA hammers out final regs

Less predictions than progress reports, administrative briefings delivered by FDA and USDA officials offered insight into both departments' agendas. Labeling is currently the food industry's hottest issue, and FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Planning Michael Taylor discussed the Administration's progress in fine-tuning the final regulations. Taylor said the final regs, required by the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, should offer "a good bit more flexibility in many of the rules than was seen in the proposals." Taylor acknowledged that implementation of the final regulations will be delayed, but he could not yet say if the delay would be six, nine or 12 months. He also addressed the proposed definition of the descriptor "light," which included a one-third reduction in calories, and, for products deriving 50 percent or more of their calories from fat, a 50-percent reduction in fat. "We learned from the comments that this is a problematic definition for certain dairy products that can achieve a 50-percent reduction in fat but not a one-third calorie reduction," Taylor said, citing ice cream and cheese as examples.

Taylor said FDA believes a 50-percent reduction in fat is a "significant, positive aim, which in our judgment deserves bearing the term |light.'" In response, FDA is working to decouple the calorie and fat elements of the |light' definition. The agency is considering the move because, given the objective of the statute, it makes sense to provide "signals to attract consumers to improved products," Taylor said.

FDA also is considering moving some disclosure information to the back label panel and testing type sizes other than those originally proposed, Taylor said, in hopes of avoiding a confusing, cluttered label. "The purpose is to have useful signals in the marketplace to help [consumers] choose products."

Jerry Kozak, IDFA vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, says he is pleased to hear that decoupling is under consideration. After all, Kozak says, "The three main areas of concern in our labeling comments were light," the extension, and label clutter," all of which have now been favorably addressed by FDA.

USDA at work

In her briefing, USDA Deputy Secretary Ann Veneman described USDA's current agenda. First, Veneman said, USDA is working to increase markets for agricultural products. Second, attention to environmental issues is heightening; third, Veneman said USDA is trying to "upgrade the technology available to service farmers and farm programs." Nutrition education is the final item on the agenda. Veneman pointed out that a whopping 60 percent of USDA's budget goes toward food assistance programs such as food stamps, school breakfast and lunch, and the Women, Infants and Children program, and noted that education goes hand in hand with assistance.

Veneman concluded by supporting trade with Mexico and the passage of a North American Free Trade Agreement, noting that the combine North American market has more than 360 million consumers and an economy worth $6 trillion. "Mexico alone represents a market of 90 million consumers, four times larger than Canada," Veneman said. "From 1986 to 1990, agricultural exports to Mexico grew from $1.1 billion to $2.5 billion, creating 320,000 new jobs in the United States."