Brazil – IDEC files appeal against withdrawal of labeling on foods with a percentage less than or equal to 1% of GMOs

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The Institute for Consumer Protection (IDEC in Portuguese) filed an appeal before the Supreme Federal Court against the decision that establishes that the identification on the label of foods with a percentage less than or equal to 1% of GMO in their composition is unnecessary, adopted by the 2nd Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), in October of last year.

The institute maintains that the decision is contrary to Brazilian legal principles and violates fundamental rights, as well as constitutional norms of consumer protection and human dignity, essential to the Brazilian economic and social order. “The Federal Constitution enshrines the rights to good citizenship, human dignity, pluralism, self-determination, information, healthy food, food security and sovereignty, health, equality, culture and tradition and a balanced environment, rights that are not negotiable and whose decisions are contrary,” the document states.

The appeal requests that the STF reinstate the decisions taken by the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region) that prohibited the Federal Union from allowing or authorizing the marketing of any food containing GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), without express reference to that information on its labeling, regardless of the percentage, and that forced it to take measures to inspect and withdraw those products that do not comply with the decision.

Venezuela – SENCAMER publishes draft of Venezuelan Standard COVENIN 1291-1:2025 Isolation and identification of Salmonella spp. Part 1: Foods

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The Decentralized Service for Standardization, Quality, Metrology and Technical Regulations (SENCAMER in Spanish), has published the draft Venezuelan Standard COVENIN 1291-1:2025 Isolation and identification of Salmonella spp. Part 1: Food.
This standard applies to the method for isolating and identifying Salmonella spp. in food samples for human and animal consumption. Water samples and environmental samples in the food production and handling area are excluded from the scope of this standard.

PNVC-1291-1-2025Download

Brazil – Anvisa publishes results achieved in its food regulation agenda in 2024

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The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese) released the Activities Report of the General Directorate of Food. The document presents a brief summary of the main results of the area in 2024, with emphasis on the risk and safety assessment processes, regulation of food and packaging, determination of regulatory and service standards, transparency and communication.

The relevant aspects in the report:

  • Execution of 46% of the matters of the Regulatory Agenda 2024/2025 under its responsibility.
  • Granting of two regulations in the matter with the Seal of Good Regulatory Practices, one in the gold category and another in the silver category.
  • 46% reduction in global liability for registration, post-registration and evaluation applications.
  • Greater agility in the analysis of requests for competence in the area, with a reduction in time of 30 days in the case of registration and post-registration and 55 days for risk and effectiveness assessments.
  • Reduction in the percentage of rejections out of all approved requests, which reached the lowest level in the five-year historical series.
  • Reduction in the response time of queries sent to the area by the Call Center, maintaining the percentage of user satisfaction (90%).

Relatório Atividades_2024_jan2025Download

Brazil – DICOL approves optimization of requests in the Food sector

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One of the highlights of the 2nd Public Meeting of the Collegiate Council (DICOL in Portuguese) of 2025 was the proposal of a Normative Instruction (NI) to establish the conditions of the optimized procedure for the analysis of evaluation requests in the area of ​​Food by admitting supporting documentation issued by an Equivalent Foreign Regulatory Authority, an agenda item approved unanimously, due to its positive impact.

Optimized analysis
According to the technical presentation presented by the head of the Directorate General for Food (GGALI in Portuguese), Patrícia Castilho, the proposal covers issues related to risk assessment, the possibility of optimizing the analysis process and the criteria and procedures for the admission of new documents issued by the Foreign Regulatory Authority Equivalent (AREE in Portuguese). This means that all issues involved in risk assessment, including packaging materials and technologies, food additives, processing aids, new foods and ingredients and veterinary medicines, can benefit from an optimized analysis.

Improved management
Director Daniel Pereira, rapporteur of the proposal, stressed that the measure will allow for better management of Anvisa’s human and financial resources, expanding its capacity to respond to the market and to society as a whole.
In this regard, for an increasingly efficient and proportional regulatory action by the Agency, capable of reconciling health security with the creation of an environment favourable to the development of the country, the director stressed the importance of integration with global dynamics and the adoption of innovative forms of collaboration as fundamental elements for the continuous improvement of regulatory practices.

Costa Rica – Commission rejects and archives bill on front labeling of food and beverages

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The Committee on Disability and Senior Citizen Affairs archived a bill that sought to require the placement of front labels on prepackaged foods to warn of excess calories, sugars, sodium and fats.
After two tied votes, the legislative forum proceeded to archive file 23,861 that was presented in August 2023 by the Liberationist deputy Andrea Álvarez Marín.
Álvarez Marín and the Frente Amplio member Priscilla Vindas Salazar voted in favor of the project, while the Christian Socialist Daniela Rojas Salas and the independent María Marta Padilla Bonilla voted against it.
As part of the arguments against the project, Deputy Padilla expressed that the file raised legitimate concerns about the “repercussions of front labeling on regional trade.” She pointed out that this type of initiative mainly affects those who sell products in a more informal manner.

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