CSPI urges removal of ineffective oral decongestant phenylephrine from market

Docket No. FDA-2024-N-4734-0001: Amending Over-the-Counter Monograph M012

The undersigned individuals write in strong support of the Food and Drug Administration’s November 8, 2024, proposed order to remove the oral decongestant phenylephrine as a nasal decongestant active ingredient from OTC Monograph M012. Data provided to the agency and summarized in the FDA’s Briefing Document for the Nonprescription Drug Advisory Committee meeting on September 11-12, 2023, confirm that oral PE is barely absorbed into the bloodstream and that the best conducted clinical trials provide no evidence of efficacy on relevant clinical outcomes. View the resource below to keep reading.

Online Grocery Marketing Scorecard Report

Three-quarters of Americans’ calories come from food purchased at retailers, making grocery stores and the retail food environment key contributors to the diets and health of Americans. As the food environment evolves, it is becoming more digitized. The COVID-19 pandemic more than doubled sales in online grocery shopping in the U.S., and online grocery sales is projected to account for over ~21% of total grocery sales in the U.S. by 2025. The expansion of online grocery shopping presents new opportunities and challenges for improving food access and prioritizing healthy food marketing. Despite the growing use of online grocery platforms, there is limited research examining online food marketing practices. To address this gap, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) conducted online shopping simulations in 2023 to assess the online food retail environments at 11 top revenue-generating online food retailers in the U.S. Our study scored and ranked these retailers based on the healthfulness of food marketing online with respect to the following four dimensions: • Pricing: healthfulness of products marketed with price marketing strategies (e.g., discounts, rewards, and time-limited deals) • Placement: healthfulness of products marketed with placement strategies (e.g., sponsored product recommendations, cross-promotions, search result ordering) • Promotion: healthfulness of products marketed with promotion strategies other than pricing (e.g., title cards, banner advertisements, branded site content, user feedback, links to social media pages, retailer-generated shopping lists) • Usability: prevalence of website tools or features that support an informed and equitable shopping experience for all customers (e.g., nutrition-related filters, online SNAP acceptance, and compliance with web accessibility guidelines) This report is the first of its kind to identify and rank individual online retailer performance—thus providing information retailers can use to increase healthy food marketing, decrease unhealthy food marketing, and make healthy food choices online accessible for all consumers.

FDA asked companies to cut food dyes. Is it enough?

Food companies broke their promises to ditch dyes before. Now, a vague “understanding” with the FDA leaves room for them to do it again.

CSPI letter of support for CA SB646

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is pleased to support SB 646 (Weber Pierson), which strengthens maternal and fetal health protections by requiring manufacturers to test and publicly disclose the levels of four toxic heavy metals—arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead—in all prenatal vitamins sold or distributed in California. View the resource below to keep reading.

FDA's 'plan' to remove food dyes: Industry 'understanding'

FDA announced a 'plan' to phase out synthetic food dyes, then revealed that it is entirely voluntary and requires 'understanding' from food manufacturers.

Kennedy, HHS have no “agreement” with industry to eliminate food dyes; only an “understanding”

Food Safety & Chemical Disclosure Fact Sheet (New York A1556A/S1239A)

Little evidence of sodium reduction in food supply despite ‘encouraging’ data published by FDA

FDA’s delay of traceability rule is a step backwards on transparency, food safety