FDA

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Tracy Feith has signed a deal to be a full-time designer for TOMS shoes, his first high-profile job since unexpectedly shuttering his business in 2011. Feith has been a consultant for the brand's founder Blake Mycoskie for a few months now and in his new role will be focused on the higher-priced TOMS+ line of shoes. [Fashionista]
  

• Cindy Crawford, her mother, Jennifer Crawford-Moluf, and her daughter, Kaia Gerber, all star in a new JC Penney commercial designed to remind viewers about Mother's Day on Sunday, May 13. In it, Kaia — who recently starred in a campaign for Versace's children's wear line — says Cindy is "just the best mom in the world. I mean, she's so nice and I can actually hang out with her and have fun." [The Daily Telegraph]
  

• Vena Cava's Lisa Mayock says that her brand's expansion deal with Li & Fung means that the brand is going to change and grow sooner than expected. "We're working on more collections and a few surprises in the next couple of months; maybe some lower price points." [Daily Front Row]
  

• Neon nail polish technically isn't approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, which has to authorize new beauty products before they hit the market. "Colorants used to create, neon, day-glo or glow-in-the-dark nail polishes have not gone through the FDA approval process, so technically they are not allowed for use for nail polish applications," said Doug School, chief scientific officer for Creative Nail Design. [Fashion Etc.]
  

• Salvatore Ferragamo is renewing its It brand status thanks to its clothing and shoes being seen on the backs of stars like Lady Gaga. "You can not just decide one day you want to target a younger customer, but it's just something that we see happening," said the brand's CEO Michele Norsa. [Forbes]

  Photo: Neon nails on Christian Dior's Spring 2011 runway.

>> Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa landed his first modeling assignment with the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Costa will star in a campaign advertising the organization's new "São Paolo for the Cure!" t-shirts, set to debut tomorrow in his native Brazil. He's joined in the campaign by fellow Brazilians Luciana Casta and Raquel Zimmermann. [Daily Front Row]
  

• Natalia Vodianova took flak for saying "It's better to be skinny than to be fat" at this past weekend's Vogue festival, and today she responded to the criticism on her Facebook page, explaining that her original comment was designed to make people laugh. "If I was giving a speech I would have chosen my words more carefully of course," she wrote. [The Cut]
  

• Opening Ceremony will open its first London store — a pop-up shop — to celebrate the start of the 2012 Olympic games this July. When the games are over, the store will move to a permanent spot on King Street in the Covent Garden neighborhood. "Bringing Opening Ceremony to Covent Garden is an important next step in the growth of our company," said founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. [Catwalk Queen]
  

• The Food and Drug Administration will start monitoring what goes into beauty products sold in the United States by creating a mandatory ingredient registry next year. Current law allows beauty companies to report their ingredients voluntarily, and there are only 10 ingredients that are banned from domestic products. In the European Union, tighter beauty industry regulations have banned some 1,200 ingredients. [Refinery29]
  

• Richemont, owner of luxury jewelers and watchmakers like Cartier and IWC, won a momentous infringement case against a company that registered the trademark for Vacheron Constantin — Richemont's oldest watch brand — in Russia and sold clothes under that label. The outcome of the case means that a well-known trademark in one country can't be taken and reregistered in another country, because it can confuse consumers and harm the original trademark holder's reputation. "This is a landmark case with worldwide implications," said Richemont chief counsel Frederick Mostert. [Material World]

  Photo: Natalia Vodianova walks during Stella McCartney's Fall 2012 show.

On the cusp of one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history, the debt deal passed last week in Washington has got us worried about the future of food safety. In January, things were looking up. President Obama signed a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation's food safety system with the Food Safety Modernization Act, the first major food reform since 1938.

But last week, everything changed. The House called for $285 million in cuts to the FDA, with $87 million coming straight out of the food safety budget. Stephen Grossman, the Deputy Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA wrote on Friday: "FDA’s responsibilities are not going to shrink just because federal spending is being reduced. We hope Congress sees, as we do, that FDA is not optional. It is part of what society needs to function."

In the past few years, the issue of food-borne illness has been brought time and time again to the attention of the general public. But if we want to look at the whole thing in a more positive light, maybe these cuts will be the push people need to consider the benefits of sustainable and local food sources. What do you think? Are savings on cheaper food really worth the potential price of your health?

It's been a long time coming, and after 33 years with no major updates on sunscreen labeling, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down. Starting next year, manufacturers will be required to eliminate SPF confusion by making it clearer as to what level and type of protection sunscreens provide. "These changes will help people make better-informed decisions about how to use sunscreens and allow them to more effectively protect themselves and their families," the FDA's Janet Woodcock said. To see the main highlights of the FDA's modernized rules, just keep reading.

• Trend backlash: dining concepts that never did take off. — Eater NY
• The FDA's finally tracking antibiotics in meat. — The Atlantic
• Blue Ribbon Sushi's Bromberg brothers take on Vegas. — Fork in the Road
• The fight over the Chairman Bao name continues. — The Feast
• What Jamie Oliver doesn't understand about American eating behavior. — Esquire
• Get to know pig breeds that could be the next pork wave. — NY Mag
• What to drink with that holiday prime rib roast. — Serious Eats
• Food fantasies are the secret to weight loss. — Slashfood

• Here's seven delicious drink recipes that can easily be made in batches. — Huffington Post Food
• Must make: Spanish meatballs with romesco sauce. — Hands on Gourmet
• While it may be harder to get through the security line, it's easier to find a drink at the airport. — USA Today
• Learn how Grant Achatz creates a menu for Alinea. — GQ
• Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich are fighting protesters with a lawsuit. — Grub Street NY
• Would you eat Whipped Lightning, an alcoholic whipped cream? — Eater
• Thanks to a new bill passed by the Senate, the FDA will have more power to regulate food. — The New York Times
• Taste-testing store-bought applesauce. — Serious Eats

In case you didn't get the message: smoking cigarettes is dangerous for your health. Since a picture is worth a thousand warnings words, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing the placement of graphic images on cigarette packages. The agency hopes the grisly images — corpses, cancer patients, and diseased lungs — will deter people from smoking. Tobacco use is responsible for 443,000 deaths per year.

Although there has been a steady decline in smoking, from 40 percent in the 1970s to 20 percent now, the numbers are no longer falling. In a statement released today, the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said, "The health consequences of smoking will be obvious every time someone picks up a pack of cigarettes."

The FDA has created 36 images to help the agency make sure its warnings have a visual, if not visceral impact. Here are 12 of the images. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Source: FDA

In an interesting move, progressive ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's, long known for its civic-oriented campaigns and eco-friendly packaging, announced yesterday that it would phase out claims of "All Natural" on frozen desserts that contain processed or artificial ingredients. The brouhaha began when public health advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest sent a letter to Ben & Jerry's parent company, Unilever, alleging nearly 50 products, including ice cream flavors Cherry Garcia and Creme Brulee, were mislabeled, as they contained ingredients such as alkalized cocoa, maltodextrin, corn syrup, and artificial vanilla.Although the Vermont-based ice creamery wasn't violating any label laws, it has nonetheless decided to phase out the term "all natural" in many of its products. "We are confident that Ben & Jerry's products are 'All Natural' as reasonable consumers would understand that term. However we don't want there to be any questions," CEO Jostein Solheim responded in a letter to the health watchdog group. I think this is a respectable move on the part of Ben & Jerry's and hope other companies have the good sense to follow suit, as to not mislead consumers. What do you think of the announcement?

Source: Flickr User _rockinfree