2023-07187. Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Reopening of the Comment Period
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Start Preamble
AGENCY:
Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION:
Notice of availability; reopening of the comment period.
SUMMARY:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is reopening the comment period for the draft guidance entitled “Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry,” which was announced in the Federal Register of January 25, 2023. We are taking this action in response to requests for an extension to allow interested persons additional time to submit comments.
DATES:
FDA is reopening the comment period on the draft guidance published Start Printed Page 20526 January 25, 2023 (88 FR 4797). Submit either electronic or written comments on the draft guidance by May 8, 2023, to ensure that we consider your comment on the draft guidance before we begin work on the final version of the guidance.
ADDRESSES:
You may submit comments on any guidance at any time as follows:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
- If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).
Written/Paper Submissions
Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA–305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
- For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA–2022–D–0278 for “Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240–402–7500.
• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” We will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in our consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240–402–7500.
Start Further InfoFOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Eileen Abt, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240–402–1700; or Philip Chao, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulations and Policy (HFS–024), Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240–402–2378.
End Further Info End Preamble Start Supplemental InformationSUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
In the Federal Registe r of January 25, 2023 (88 FR 4797), we published a notice of availability for a draft guidance entitled “Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry.” This action opened a docket with a 60-day comment period to receive comments related to action levels for lead in processed food intended for babies and young children.
We have received a request for a 60-day extension of the comment period for the draft guidance to provide additional time to provide analytical data. In the interest of balancing the public health importance of establishing action levels for lead in food labeled for babies and young and granting additional time to submit comments before we finalize the draft guidance, we have concluded that it is reasonable to reopen the comment period for 30 days, until May 8, 2023. We are reopening the comment period because the request for an extension of the comment period arrived too late for us to extend the comment period. We believe that an additional 30 days allows adequate time for interested persons to submit comments.
Start SignatureDated: April 3, 2023.
Lauren K. Roth,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023–07187 Filed 4–5–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164–01–P
Document Information
- Published:
- 04/06/2023
- Department:
- Food and Drug Administration
- Entry Type:
- Notice
- Action:
- Notice of availability; reopening of the comment period.
- Document Number:
- 2023-07187
- Dates:
- FDA is reopening the comment period on the draft guidance published January 25, 2023 (88 FR 4797). Submit either electronic or written comments on the draft guidance by May 8, 2023, to ensure that we consider your comment on the draft guidance before we begin work on the final version of the guidance.
- Pages:
- 20525-20526 (2 pages)
- Docket Numbers:
- Docket No. FDA-2022-D-0278
- PDF File:
- 2023-07187.pdf
- Supporting Documents:
- » Reference 14 - Pourrut, B., M. Shahid, C. Dumat, P. Winterton, E. Pinelli, 2011. Lead uptake, toxicity, and detoxification in plants. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 213:113-136. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 13 - FDA Survey FY 2021. Analytical Results for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children, FY2021. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 12 - FDA Survey FY 2013-14. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 11 - FDA, 2022. Analytical Results for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children Sampled under the FDA’s Toxic Elements in Food and Foodware and Radionuclides in Food – Import and Domestic Compliance Program, FY 2008 to FY 2021. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 10 - FDA, 2021. Closer to Zero: Action Plan for Baby Foods. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 9 - WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, 2011. Evaluation of Certain Contaminants in Food, 73rd Report of the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives. WHO Technical Report Series 960. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availab
- » Reference 8 - FDA, 2018. Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food: Draft Guidance for Industry. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 7 - Codex Alimentarius, 2021. Revision of the Code of Practice for the Prevention and Reduction of Lead Contamination in Foods. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 6 - Entwistle, J. A., Amaibi, P. M., Dean, J. R., et al., 2019. An Apple a Day? Assessing Gardeners' Lead Exposure in Urban Agriculture Sites to Improve the Derivation of Soil Assessment Criteria. Environmental International, 122; 130-141. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability
- » Reference 5 - Huang, F., Zhou H., Gu, J., et al. 2020. Differences in Absorption of Cadmium and Lead Among Fourteen Sweet Potato Cultivars and Health Risk Assessment. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 203; 111012. RE Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability