The Health Regulation Agency (ARSA in Spanish) has published the 2024 version of the Regulation for the Sanitary Control of Food and Beverages, which incorporates updates on food safety matters (establishments that produce, store and transport food and beverages).
The Americas
Regulatory news in the Americas
Honduras – ARSA publishes new Regulations for Sanitary Surveillance and Inspection
The Health Regulation Agency (ARSA in Spanish) has published the Regulations for Health Surveillance and Control. The new regulation establishes the rules for the supervision, review, verification, oversight, surveillance and inspection of compliance with legal, technical and administrative regulations of establishments, products and services of health interest, executing the necessary policies and procedures for the application of current health regulations, in order to correct behaviors and bad practices that affect or may affect people’s health, through technical and legal processes, by means of
the imposition of preventive, corrective, promotional and sanctioning measures. Likewise, to supervise the import and export processes or any other customs regime of products for human consumption and use.
In addition, concerning physicochemical and microbiological analyses to determine the quality, safety, efficacy and innocuousness of products of sanitary interest.
Brazil – MAPA publishes amendment on the regulation of wine and derivatives
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) published MAPA Ordinance No. 723/2024 which, amends Regulatory Instruction No. 14 of 2018 dealing with the identity and quality standards of wine and grapes and their derivatives. Among the main changes are the tolerance to the variation of the alcoholic content of wines and the increase of the minimum alcohol levels in some beverages.
The main objectives of the altercation are: harmonization with the Mercosur Wine Regulation and other international standards or recommendations (International Organisation of Vine and Wine and European Union); elimination of the conflict with the Anvisa food additives standard.
Main changes:
Labeling of wines and grape and wine derivatives.
Labels will have to express the alcohol content in percentage based on a temperature of 20ºC. In addition, a variation of 0.5% more or less will be allowed, as long as the limits for each beverage are respected.
Minimum alcohol limits for soft drinks and sangria.
Soft drinks with wine or refreshing wine beverages had an increase in the minimum alcohol content to be classified as such beverage. Previously this graduation was 3% to 7%, now it must be 3.5% to 7%. Sangrias also had changes in these limits. With the new standard, the alcohol content must be between 7% and 12%, whereas before it was 4.5% to 12%.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) published MAPA Ordinance No. 723/2024 which, amends Regulatory Instruction No. 14 of 2018 dealing with the identity and quality standards of wine and grapes and their derivatives. Among the main changes are the tolerance to the variation of the alcoholic content of wines and the increase of the minimum alcohol levels in some beverages.
Expansion of chemical levels.
There were also some adjustments to cover wines produced in other regions of the country. This is due to the fact that the bases of some chemical elements and minerals naturally present in wine were taken from products from Rio Grande do Sul, the largest national producer. However, climatic, soil and management factors affect the levels of these components and therefore it was necessary to increase some maximum permitted levels.
Argentina – New certification system for agro-ecological foods
A new agroecological certification system seeks to enhance food quality. The system is promoted by the Mesa Agroalimentaria Argentina in collaboration with the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico del Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA in Spanish). It aims to cover the absence of official parameters to certify the quality of food produced by small producers, who occupy an increasing share of the market.
The protocol, which began to be implemented a week ago in the province of Buenos Aires, is called the Participatory Guarantee System (SPG in Spanish) for Popular Agroecological Certification. It will continue to be applied in those provinces where it is requested by the different entities that bring together producers, mainly those grouped in the Mesa Agroalimentaria Argentina (MAA in Spanish).
Peru – The Peruvian Society of Foreign Trade declares that draft laws on food and beverage labeling contravene current legislation
The Peruvian Foreign Trade Association (Comex Perú in Spanish), indicated that draft laws have been presented that seek to influence the regulation of food and beverage packaging, which would contravene international regulations and denaturalize the national regulations in force, posing risks to the health of the population and the fulfillment of international commitments.
The international trade association pointed out that the packaging of processed foods and beverages is regulated by a group of national provisions. Thus, there is the Regulation of Surveillance and Sanitary Control of Food and Beverages (Supreme Decree 007-98-SA), the Code of Consumer Protection and Defense (Consumer Code) and the Law for the Promotion of Healthy Food for Children and Adolescents (Law 30021).
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