Earlier this month, Melissa Hockstad, Consumer Brands president and CEO, and Sarah Gallo, SVP, product policy and federal affairs, spoke with Agri-Pulse about the uptick in state legislation focused on ingredients and the need for consistency and direction at the federal level so industry can meet its goals of taking certain steps like phasing out certain colors from foods.

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CBA continues to be clear with Kennedy about what the industry will need to make the switch and realistic timelines and feels the administration has acknowledged these. “Realistically, there’s a time component to it, and there is a cost component to it, which is something that we were clear about during our conversations, and it’s something that we’re, of course, thinking about and how we would be able to proceed moving forward,” Hockstad said.

“One area the industry will need FDA to act on, for example, is ensuring that natural food dye replacements are safe and approved.

“Our No. 1 priority is food safety, and we’re going to make sure that if a safe ingredient is being removed from the marketplace, we have to have a safe ingredient to replace it,” said Sara Gallo, senior vice president of product policy and federal affairs at CBA.

FDA said it would expedite review of alternative dyes, which will help industry have a safe ingredient to transition to. It raises questions about agency resources, however.

Gallo said it’s important that FDA’s Office of Chemical Safety is well staffed so alternative dyes are evaluated in a timely manner and so consumers have confidence in them.

“I don’t think we can have an honest conversation around the availability of alternatives and ramping those things up if we’re not thinking about how the agency itself is prepared to handle that influx of work,” Gallo said.”