The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on February 28, 2023, that it would be withdrawing the 2005 proposed rule, “Food Standards; General Principles and Food Standards Modernization,” in response to comments received in 2005 after publication of the proposed rule and in 2020 after the FDA reopened the comment period for the proposed rule.  The proposed rule was intended to establish a set of general principles for FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) to use when considering whether to establish, revise, or eliminate a food standard.

Stakeholders stated in FDA’s 2018 and 2019 public meetings that, because of advancements and changes in manufacturing, technology, market trends, and nutrition science since 2005, FDA should solicit new data when determining next steps for the proposed rule.  FDA responded by reopening the comment period in February 2020, for FDA-specific aspects of the rule.

Many of the submitted comments suggested that the general principles be revised and consolidated to make them easier to understand and implement.  FDA and USDA-FSIS have agreed to withdraw the proposed rule to reconsider how best to approach the general principles to ensure any future revisions are consistent with the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.  An effort to publish a new proposed rule was included in the Fall Unified Agenda.