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Thursday, October 23
11-11:50am
Location: Casanova 603
California Proposition 65: Foods and Dietary Supplements Have Become Major Targets
California voters passed the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic
Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65), which requires the governor to
maintain a list of carcinogens and reproductive toxicants, and
manufacturers to warn consumers on product labels if “safe levels” of
these chemicals are exceeded. Some foods and dietary supplements contain
listed chemicals, so manufacturers must assess their products for
compliance. Manufacturers must be in a position to better understand the
unique scientific/regulatory requirements and challenges of this law.
Major enforcement activities in the last several years include the
listing of highly visible chemicals, some difficult-to-defend lawsuits
against food products and supplements, and warning notices now required
for fish containing mercury and French fries containing acrylamide. This
year, additional regulatory initiatives have arisen on food labeling,
the possible listing of some beneficial nutrients and a more automatic
listing mechanism. Therefore, it is critically important to raise the
awareness level about Prop 65’s potential impacts within the industry.
Speaker:
 James R. Coughlin, Ph.D., received
his master’s of science in food science and technology, his doctorate in
agricultural and environmental chemistry and his postdoctoral training
in environmental toxicology at the University of California, Davis. Dr.
Coughlin worked at Armour Foods, General Foods and Kraft Foods managing
external toxicology and regulatory affairs. He served as president of
the Paris-based Association for Science and Information on Coffee and as
vice president of the International Society for Trace Element Research
in Humans. He was elected three times as chair of the Institute of Food
Technologists’ Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division and has served
six years on the IFT/FDA Expert Panel on Food Bioterrorism Defense and
as IFT’s Codex Subject Expert on Food Contaminants. Dr. Coughlin
specializes in risk assessment of food additives/contaminants,
California Proposition 65, functional foods and health issues
surrounding coffee, meats and other major food products and ingredients.
Since 1991, he has been an independent consultant to food, nutraceutical,
chemical and consumer products companies and their trade associations,
law firms and public relations firms.
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