Silver Spring, MD—The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday that it is extending the comment period until Jan. 28, 2019, on its request for input on the labeling of plant-based products with names that include the names of dairy foods, such as “cheese,” “milk” and “yogurt.”
The original comment deadline was Nov. 27, 2018. The agency had announced late last week its intention to extend the comment period by 60 days. The notice to extend the comment period was published in Wednesday’s Federal Register.
The Food and Drug Administration in late September had issued a request for comments on the labeling of plant-based products with names that include the names of dairy foods.
The agency is seeking comments on, among other things: current market conditions and labeling costs of plant-based products; consumer understanding, purchase and consumption of plant-based products, particularly those manufactured to resemble dairy products; consumer understanding regarding the basic nature, characteristics and properties of plant-based products; consumer understanding of the nutritional content of plantbased products and dairy products and the effect, if any, on consumer purchases and use; and the role of plant-based products and dairy products in meeting the recommendations of the federal Dietary Guidelines.
The Food and Drug Administration said it had received requests for a 120-day extension of the comment period. The requests conveyed concern that the original 60-day comment period did not allow sufficient time to develop meaningful or thoughtful responses to the questions that appeared in the September notice requesting data and other evidence in support of answers.
FDA said it has considered the requests and decided to extend the comment period for another 60 days, until Jan. 28, 2019. The agency believes that a 60-day extension allows adequate time for interested persons to submit comments without significantly delaying any potential further action on these important issues.
Comments may be submitted electronically, at www.regulations.gov. The docket number is FDA- 2018-N-3522.
As of Wednesday, FDA has already received more than 6,000 comments in response to its request for information.
