FDA Revokes Standard of Identity for French Dressing

FDA is revoking the Standard of Identity for French Dressing. The Standard, initially established in 1950 and modified over time. "The French dressing standard allowed for certain flexibility in manufacturers’ choice of oil, acidifying ingredients, and seasoning ingredients. Tomatoes or tomato-derived ingredients were among the seasoning ingredients permitted, but not required. Amendments to the standard since 1950 have permitted the use of additional ingredients, such as any safe and suitable color additives that impart the color traditionally expected (39 FR 39543 at 39554-39555"

"Most, if not all, products currently sold under the name “French dressing” contain tomatoes or tomato-derived ingredients and have a characteristic red or reddish-orange color. They also tend to have a sweet taste. Consumers appear to expect these characteristics when purchasing products represented as French dressing. Thus, it appears that, since the establishment of the standard of identity, French dressing has become a narrower category of products than prescribed by the standard. These products maintain the above characteristics without a standard of identity specifically requiring them." Plus there are variations in fat (oil).

So basically, the Standard of Identity is not needed.   "Therefore, after considering the petition and related information, through the proposed rule, we tentatively concluded that the standard of identity for French dressing no longer promotes honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers consistent with section 401 of the FD&C Act and proposed to revoke the standard of identity for French dressing. The preamble to the proposed rule also noted that the proposed revocation is consistent with section 6 of Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review” (January 18, 2011), which requires agencies to periodically conduct retrospective analyses of existing regulations to identify those “that might be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them” accordingly."