Cruz-Alvarez and Rameshwar Detail Dismissal of Challenge to Abbott Labs’ Organic Infant Formula

Shook Partner Frank Cruz-Alvarez and Associate Ravika Rameshwar
have authored an article for the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal
Pulse discussing a New York federal court’s dismissal of a class action
centered on infant formula marketed as organic. The complaint alleged
that Abbott Laboratories, Inc. represented its Similac® Advance® as
organic despite containing ingredients prohibited in organic products by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Cruz-Alvarez and Rameshwar provide an overview of the case and detail
the relevant provisions of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990,
which establishes that a product can be labeled “organic” if a USDA-accredited
agency certifies it as such. The court compared the infant
formula allegations to a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
case challenging the organic label of milk and reached an analogous
conclusion: the state laws supporting the complaint challenged the
federal law’s certification determination and were thus preempted.
Accordingly, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint but granted
leave to amend.

Additional details on the dismissal appear in Issue 615 of this Update.

Issue 618