BRAVE MAG

By Michelle Conlin

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration will consider a petition to revoke the safety status of dozens of processed refined carbohydrates unless food ‌companies can prove they are safe and not contributing to health issues and obesity, ‌U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in remarks that aired on Sunday.

He said the FDA would ​take up a request by former agency Commissioner David Kessler, who asked it last August to remove corn syrup and dozens of other sweeteners and starches from the list of ingredients classified as GRAS, or Generally Recognized as Safe.

"We will act on David Kessler's petition," Kennedy told CBS' "60 Minutes" program. "And the questions that ‌he's asking are questions that FDA ⁠should've been asking a long, long time ago."

Kennedy and Kessler say the GRAS classification, enacted by Congress in 1958, has allowed the use of ingredients without ⁠a full government safety review because it lets food companies verify the safety of those items without oversight. Kennedy said that he intends to close that loophole if he gets White House approval.

"There is no way ​for any ​American to know if a product is safe ​if it is ultraprocessed," Kennedy said on "60 ‌Minutes."

Kessler, a pediatrician, was FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997.

Two food industry trade groups, the Consumer Brands Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

During his tenure heading the FDA, Kessler tried to regulate tobacco under the agency. The effort ultimately failed, but it helped put a greater spotlight on the tobacco industry.

He now wants the FDA to take the ‌same approach with large food companies.

"We changed how this country ​views tobacco," Kessler told the CBS program. "We need to change ​how this country views these ultraprocessed foods."

Kennedy's ​campaign against processed foods and artificial dyes has been one of his most ‌high-profile endeavors in office. The Trump administration ​last month announced new dietary ​guidelines that urge Americans to eat more protein and less sugar than previously advised, while avoiding highly processed foods.

But on Sunday's show, Kennedy stopped short of saying he would call for ​more government regulations.

"I'm not saying that ‌we're going to regulate ultraprocessed food," he said. "Our job is to make sure that ​everybody understands what they're getting, to have an informed public."

(Reporting by Michelle Conlin in ​New York; Editing by Sergio Non and Alistair Bell)

By Makiko Yamazaki and Chang-Ran Kim

TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Japan's economy limped back to meagre growth in the fourth quarter, significantly missing market expectations in a key test for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government as cost-of-living pressures ‌drag on confidence and domestic demand.

Fresh off a sweeping election victory, Takaichi's administration is preparing to ramp up investment through ‌targeted public spending in sectors seen as vital to economic security.

Monday's data bring sharp focus to the challenge at hand for policymakers at a time when the ​Bank of Japan has reiterated its pledge to keep raising interest rates and normalise monetary settings from years of ultra-low borrowing costs.

"It shows that the economy's recovery momentum is not very strong," Meiji Yasuda Research Institute economist Kazutaka Maeda said. "Consumption, capital expenditure and exports - areas we hoped would drive the economy - just haven't been as strong as we expected."

Gross domestic product in the world's fourth-largest economy increased an annualised 0.2% ‌in the October-December quarter, government data showed, well ⁠short of a median market estimate of a 1.6% gain in a Reuters poll. It barely scraped back to growth from a larger revised 2.6% contraction in the previous quarter.

The reading translates into a quarterly ⁠rise of 0.1%, also weaker than the median estimate of a 0.4% uptick.

Economists project Japan will continue to expand at a gradual pace in coming months, though the fourth quarter's weak outcome suggests the economy might struggle to fire on all cylinders.

"Whether the economy can achieve sustainable growth ​really depends ​on whether real wages can firmly return to positive growth," Shinichiro Kobayashi, ​principal economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, said. "In ‌that sense, the key will be the outcome of this year's wage negotiations in the coming months."

A survey this month by the Japan Center for Economic Research showed 38 economists forecast an average annualised growth of 1.04% in the first quarter and 1.12% in the second quarter this year.

Kobayashi said the GDP report is unlikely to affect the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decisions. "Rather than this rate hike causing the economy to stall, the BOJ's focus is likely to be on how to contain inflation," he said.

Private consumption, which ‌accounts for more than half of economic output, rose 0.1% in October-December, matching ​market estimates.

It cooled from the 0.4% rise in the previous quarter, indicating that ​persistently high food costs remain a drag on household spending.

Capital ​spending, a key driver of private demand-led growth, also rose at a slow pace of 0.2% in ‌the fourth quarter, versus a rise of 0.8% in ​the Reuters poll.

Net external demand, or ​exports minus imports, contributed nothing to growth, versus a 0.3 point drag in the July-September period.

Exports posted a milder drop after the United States formalised a baseline 15% tariff on nearly all Japanese imports, down from 27.5% on autos and initially ​threatened 25% on most other goods.

"The impact ‌of tariffs appears to have peaked in July-September, but judging from the latest results, there is at least some ​possibility that firms will continue to take a somewhat cautious stance going forward," Meiji Yasuda's Maeda said.

(Reporting by Makiko ​Yamazaki and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Sam Holmes and Shri Navaratnam)

NEED TO KNOW

• More than 20,000 peanut butter items have been recalled across 40 states by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• The U.S. federal agency has classified the recall as Class II

• Ventura Foods LLC, which initiated the recall, "found pieces of blue plastic in a filter," per the FDA

Thousands ofpeanut butteritems have been recalled across dozens of states by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The U.S. federal agency has classified the recall asClass II, which means use of or exposure to affected products "may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote."

The recall was initiated on April 30, and the FDA assigned the Class II classification on Feb. 12. The agency has not listed an end date.

The recall covers various peanut butter products that were produced by Ventura Foods LLC. The company, which initiated the recall, "found pieces of blue plastic in a filter," per the FDA.

More than 20,000 single-serve peanut butter items and peanut butter-and-jelly combo packs are affected. Some were distributed by DYMA Brands, Inc., US Foods, Sysco Corporation, Gordon Food Service and Independent Marketing Alliance, among others, the FDA said.

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According to the FDA, the recalled peanut butter products were shipped to 40 states total: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A spokesperson for Ventura Foods LLC said in a statement, perNewsweek, "Ten months ago, DYMA Brands initiated a voluntary recall on various single-use peanut butter products due to the potential presence of a foreign material (plastic)."

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"While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation and classification process is thorough and can take time to complete, that timeline did not impact our actions. At the time the recall was initiated ... we acted with urgency to remove all potentially impacted product from the marketplace. This includes urging our customers, their distributors and retailers to immediately review their inventory, segregate and stop the further sale and distribution of any products subject to the recall," the statement continued.

"Protecting consumers remains our top priority, and we will continue to act swiftly and transparently as the FDA review progresses," added the Ventura Foods LLC spokesperson.

The company did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Sunday, Feb. 15.

A full list of items affected by the recall, which the FDA will continue to update, can be foundhere.

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