For the ninth consecutive year, Chambers USA has ranked Keller and Heckman’s Food and Drug practice as a Band 1 firm in the Food and Beverages: Regulatory & Litigation – Nationwide category. Keller and Heckman was one of only five firms to attain the Band 1 position. Additionally, Partners Devon Wm.

California Assembly Bill 418—which would ban the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any food product that contains titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye #3—passed the State Assembly on May 15, 2023. AB 418 was then read in the Senate on May 16, which is also expected to pass the bill. It was referred to the State Senate Committees on Health and Environmental Quality on May 24.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution. This publication proposes voluntary actions aimed at eliminating the release of plastic waste from land-based sources by 2040 and focuses on actions to reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic waste.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added five new substances to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications. The newly listed substances and the manufacturers are listed below.

On May 8, 2023, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed SB 543 into law. Effective January 1, 2025, the new law prohibits the sale or distribution of foodware containers with intentionally added per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as well as the use by food vendors of polystyrene foam containers for prepared food.

On May 2, 2023, the Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA) published draft model legislation aimed at reducing or eliminating per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on May 3, 2023, that it filed a color additive petition that proposes to repeal 21 CFR 73.575, which permits the use of titanium dioxide in food.

Legislation that would prohibit food service establishments, with capacity for dishwashing, from providing dine-in customers non-reusable eating utensils or eating containers unless requested was introduced to the New York City Council on April 11, 2023.

Two bills that would increase recycling accessibility in communities and improve recycling data collection were re-introduced in the U.S. Senate on April 19, 2023, by members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), ranking member of the EPW Committee; Tom Carper (D-DE), Chairman of the EPW Committee; and John Boozman (R-AK), a member of the EPW Committee.