The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has updated its guidelines on product endorsements and testimonials to include those who use social media, such as blogs, Facebook® and Twitter®, to promote products in exchange for payment or free products. The guidelines, effective December 1, 2009, could result in penalties of $11,000 if violated and will require disclosures of commercial relationships. Even individuals submitting reviews to online stores, such as Amazon.com, will be covered by the new guidelines. Under another change to the guidelines, advertisers will no longer be able to use the safe-harbor disclaimer, “Results not typical,” but will instead be required to “clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect,” if they make a claim about consumer experience with a product or service as typical when this is not the case. According to FTC, “The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law intended to help advertisers comply with the Federal…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI Canada) has issued a report claiming that excess sodium “likely kills more Canadians every year than any other chemical substance” added to food. Titled “Salty to a Fault: Varied Sodium Levels Show Lowering Salt in Processed Foods IS Feasible,” the report surveyed 318 foods and purportedly found that a majority of Canadian restaurants and perhaps most packaged foods sold in grocery stores contain unhealthy and unnecessarily high levels of sodium. It calls on Health Canada to set category-by-category sodium-reduction targets for foods, alleging that “salt remains largely untouched by food safety laws and is grossly underestimated as a public health risk by government officials who generally direct much more attention to substances that pose rare or more acute risks.” The report apparently found varying degrees of sodium among groups of comparable foods, citing as an example two restaurant french fry orders…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) held a “pre-regulatory workshop” on September 25, 2009, to present to stakeholders its proposed warning program for exposures to Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) chemicals in foods sold at retail. According to a news source, industry representatives raised “significant” concerns over the draft proposal, which would require producers to place product-specific warning information on an internet database and retailers to access the information and select from a “menu” of options to communicate product warnings to the public. A spokesperson for the California Grocers Association reportedly complained that, as drafted, the existing plan would be impossible to comply with. She claimed that grocery stores should be able to make binders available to shoppers containing warning summaries for different foods. The effect on small grocers is also apparently an issue, and OEHHA counsel called on stakeholders to submit comments on how “small” retailers could…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced the availability of a new general food defense plan developed by the Office of Data Integration and Food Protection, with input from small and very small establishments. FSIS has notified facilities identified in a 2008 survey as lacking a food defense program about the voluntary general plan, which aims to “reduce the chances of someone intentionally contaminating the food supply in order to kill or hurt people, disrupt [the] economy, or ruin [their] business.” Designed to reduce company liability, the general food defense plan includes sections on (i) outside security measures, (ii) inside security measures, (iii) personnel security measures, and (iv) incident report security measures. FSIS will also conduct a second food defense survey in December 2009. See Meatingplace.com, September 30, 2009.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Union (EU) have announced separate plans to study nanotechnology, a field believed to have huge potential in food processing and packaging. EPA’s strategy involves studying over the next several years how manufactured nanomaterials may harm human health and the environment. “EPA’s role among federal agencies is to determine the potential hazards of nanotechnology and develop approaches to reduce or minimize any risks identified,” according to an EPA news release. The research will use a “multidisciplinary approach that examines all aspects of nanomaterials in the environment, from their manufacture and use to their disposal or recycling.” EU plans to develop a strategy on how best to reap the economic benefits of nanotechnology because of its “exceptional importance for being at the forefront of managing the shift to a low carbon, knowledge-based economy,” according to an EU news release. “Mastering such technologies lays [a]…
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson has urged Congress to pass sweeping legislative reform of the country’s chemical management law and announced plans to review the controversial food-packaging chemical bisphenol A and the perfluorinated chemicals used in nonstick cookware. In a September 29, 2009, speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Jackson claimed that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has “fallen behind the industry it’s supposed to regulate. It’s been proven an inadequate tool for providing the protection against chemical risks that the public rightfully expects,” she said, declaring that as “more and more chemicals are found in our bodies and the environment, the public is understandably anxious and confused.” Legislation to strengthen TSCA is expected to be introduced soon. The Obama administration has issued “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation,” to aid Congress during the legislative process. The six principles would give EPA the…
A putative class action was reportedly filed in a California state court against Nestlé, alleging that the company falsely advertises its “Juicy Juice Brain Development Fruit Juice” as a product that will improve toddlers’ brain function. Plaintiff Alexis Farmer, who then dismissed the complaint without prejudice several days later, reportedly claimed that she purchased the company’s juice relying on labeling and advertisements stating that it contained DHA Omega-3, a “fatty acid especially important for brain development in children under two years old.” Farmer was seeking damages and injunctive relief; her complaint apparently alleged false and misleading advertising, unjust enrichment, fraud, and civil code violations. See Courthouse News, September 23, 2009. In a related development, Health Canada has apparently decided not to stop infant-formula manufacturers from claiming that DHA, in any amount, will support normal brain and eye development, particularly for children under two. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency asked the…
The New York City Planning Commission has reportedly approved a proposal that would offer zoning and tax incentives “to encourage the development of full-service grocery stores that devote a certain amount of space to fresh produce, meats, dairy and other perishables,” according to a September 24, 2009, article in The New York Times. The plan would apparently relax zoning restrictions in some areas to permit supermarket construction and would include tax abatements and exemptions for approved stores in parts of northern Manhattan, central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and downtown Jamaica in Queens. In addition, the regulations would require new store owners to display entrance signs stating that their establishments sell fresh food. Based on a similar Pennsylvania program, the proposal has purportedly garnered support from food policy experts, supermarket executives and City Council members, who must also vote on the plan. “This is about being able to walk to get your…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) plans to conduct a study of food marketing to children and adolescents for a follow-up report to its 2008 study titled “Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation.” FTC seeks public comments by November 23, 2009, on proposed information requests to approximately 45 major food and beverage companies and quick-service restaurants about their marketing activities, expenditures and nutritional information concerning food and beverage products marketed to children and adolescents. FTC plans to evaluate possible changes in the nutritional content and variety of youth-marketed foods, and “proposes to seek scientific and market research exploring psychological and other factors that may contribute to food advertising appeal among youth.” See Federal Register, September 21, 2009.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a public hearing for November 12-13, 2009, to discuss issues related to ways the internet and social media tools are used to promote FDA-regulated medical products, including prescription drugs for humans and animals. Comments from “consumers, patients, caregivers, health care professionals, patient groups, internet vendors, advertising agencies, and the regulated industry” are requested by October 9, 2009. FDA is “particularly interested in hearing views from the public as to how expanding Web 2.0 technologies may be used to promote medical products to both health care professionals and consumers in a truthful, non-misleading, and balanced manner.” Emerging internet technologies such as blogs, microblogs, podcasts, social networks and online communities, video sharing, widgets, and wikis have prompted questions from regulated companies and other interested parties regarding advertising and labeling provisions, regulations and promotion policies. See Federal Register, September 21, 2009.
