Regulatory Watch

FDA extends compliance date for certain uses of partially hydrogenated oils

Extension is designed to account for shelf lives of products already produced

The FDA has announced that it is extending the compliance date for certain uses of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs).

In 2015, the FDA issued a declaratory order setting a compliance date of June 18, 2018, for all uses of partially hydrogenated oils. A number of trade associations have informed the FDA that while usage of partially hydrogenated oils that is not covered by a food additive petition (non-petitioned uses) will be in compliance by the original date, shelf lives of products mean that some products will be in distribution for some time after the compliance date. To account for this, the new compliance date for non-petitioned uses of partially hydrogenated oils will be extended to January 1, 2020.

The food industry has also raised concerns about being able to comply with uses in food additives (petitioned uses) due to a food additive petition being denied. To allow for enough time to identify suitable replacements for PHOs in petitioned uses, the compliance date is extended to June 18, 2019. Petitioned uses include use as a solvent or carrier for flavoring agents, flavor enhancers and coloring agents; use as a processing aid; and use as a pan release spray oil.

KEYWORDS: FDA regulations

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Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.