A federal court in New York has granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the owners of Kangadis Food Inc., a company that declared bankruptcy when faced with class claims that it falsely labeled its products as pure olive oil when they actually contain an industrially processed substance. Ebin v. Kangadis Family Mgmt. LLC, No. 14-1324 (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y., order entered October 24, 2014). Additional information about the litigation appears in Issue 539 of this Update. According to the court, the “plaintiffs have failed to adduce competent labeling evidence from which any reasonable juror could conclude that defendants used their alleged domination of Kangadis Food Inc. as a means to accomplish the fraud here alleged.” Counsel for the defendants reportedly surmised that the court agreed that the plaintiffs’ “derivative claims are nothing more than a desperate attempt to extract some value from the defendants, individuals and a separate entity with…
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A California federal court has rejected in part and granted in part Total Sweeteners Inc.’s motion for summary judgment in a case alleging that the molasses supplier sold American Licorice Co. shipments tainted with lead that American Licorice then used to create Red Vines black licorice candy, resulting in a costly recall. Am. Licorice Co. v. Total Sweeteners Inc., No. 13-1929 (N.D. Cal., order entered October 22, 2014). Additional details about the case appear in Issue 494 of this Update. American Licorice argued that, under the sales contract, Total Sweeteners was obliged to provide molasses that complied with state and federal regulations; Total Sweeteners asserted that American Licorice knew that molasses has some naturally occurring lead and should have tested for it upon receipt. The court focused on the contract, agreeing with Total Sweeteners that the sales contract between the parties, and not a subsequent purchase order with terms favorable…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a technical report from a joint Food and Agriculture Organization/WHO Expert Committee tasked with evaluating the safety of certain veterinary drugs and recommending maximum residue limits (MRLs) in food. Among other things, the report addresses toxicological and residue data on various anthelminthic, antiparasitic, antifungal, and antibacterial agents and attendant MRLs in minor species, honey and fish. Issue 543
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a public meeting and is soliciting public input on whether to expand the products included in its guidance, titled “Toxicological Principles for the Safety Assessment of Food Ingredients”—also known as the “Redbook.” The agency is apparently considering this expansion “to include chemical safety assessments for all products over which FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) has statutory authority including regulatory contexts such as food additives, food contact substances, dietary supplement ingredients, food contaminants, and cosmetics.” According to FDA, “The Redbook would describe toxicological principles which apply across regulatory categories while still providing specific guidance for applying these principles within each particular context. The safety of foods containing microbial contaminants will continue to remain outside of the scope of the Redbook.” The meeting will take place December 9, 2014, in College Park, Maryland, and those wishing to participate in…
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has updated its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan for Chemical Assessments to include bisphenol A (BPA), seven phthalates and 15 other substances. Designed to help the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics identify chemicals with “the highest potential for exposure and hazard,” the TSCA Work Plan in 2012 flagged 83 chemicals as part of an ongoing initiative to expedite assessments for substances believed to have reproductive, developmental or neurotoxic effects, as well as those that are “probable or known carcinogens” or “persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic.” The plan also targets substances used in children’s products and those that have been detected in biomonitoring programs. This latest update to the TSCA Work Plan removes 15 chemicals and adds 23 new ones, bringing the total list to 90 chemicals. In addition to BPA, the chemicals added to the updated list include dibutyl phthalate, butyl benzyl phthalate, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di-n-octyl…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied two citizen petitions asking the agency to prohibit the use of aspartame as a non-caloric sweetener. Dated July 16, 2002, the first petition argued that the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act authorizes FDA to recall dangerous chemicals without manufacturer approval. Citing studies conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF), the second petition urged FDA to revoke approval for the sweetener under the Delaney Clause in section 409(c)(3)(A) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which provides that “no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal, or if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in man or animal.” Responding to these claims, FDA reasoned that the first petition and subsequent comments…
A recent study has purportedly found that “a very large amount of BPA [bisphenol A] is transferred from thermal paper to a hand as a result of holding a thermal receipt for only a few seconds immediately after using a product with dermal penetration chemicals.” Annette Hormann, et al., “Holding Thermal Receipt Paper and Eating Food After Using Hand Sanitizer Results in High Serum Bioactive and Urine Total Levels of Bisphenol A (BPA),” PLOS One, October 2014. Designed to mimic scenarios common in fast-food restaurants, the study measured dermal, serum and urine BPA levels in subjects asked to use hand sanitizer, handle a receipt and then consume 10 french fries. The data evidently showed that holding a thermal receipt for 45 seconds after using a hand sanitizer “resulted in the maximum amount of BPA that was swiped from the palm and fingers,” though this measurement “likely underestimates the amount of free…
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has issued a report challenging the proposed organic aquaculture production regulations under consideration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Titled Like Water and Oil: Ocean-Based Fish Farming and Organic Don’t Mix, the report argues that USDA should reject proposed standards that would allegedly dilute the value of organic certification by allowing the agency’s seal to appear on fish products sourced from ocean-based farms. In addition to citing the high number of fish escapes reported in the previous two decades, CFS claims that “open-ocean fish farms can never be organic,” partly because synthetic chemicals prohibited under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) are ubiquitous in the marine environment. The group also alleges that open-ocean farming not only alters the natural behavior of migratory fish in violation of OFPA, but harms wild fisheries by using wild-caught fish as a feed source. “It’s mind-boggling to think that…
The James Beard Foundation has organized its fifth annual food conference around the theme of “Health & Food: Is Better Food the Prescription for a Healthier America?” The October 27-28, 2014, event in New York City will reportedly provide attendees a “better sense of actual health trends … and what solution-oriented food-system leaders and the medical community can do to make a difference.” An October 27 conference segment will include a conversation titled “Sugar and Health: What Is the Connection?” between Robert Lustig, M.D., and sustainability consultant Jonathan Halperin. Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, has garnered media attention in recent years for comparing sugar to a poison and linking it to metabolic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver cancer, and other noncommunicable diseases. A second conversation titled “The Sweet Truth” will feature New York University Professor Marion Nestle and food journalist Corby Kummer, author of…
The Pew Charitable Trusts and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have released an October 2014 report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reevaluate its current meat and poultry inspection system. Seeking to identify innovations that could better protect consumers, Meat and Poultry Inspection 2.0 compares U.S. regulations to those used in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. It also examines scientific assessments undertaken by the U.K. Food Standards Agency and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as part of their efforts to modernize food safety regulations. “Modernizing government inspection of meat and poultry plants would focus resources on the food safety risks posed by bacteria and other microbiological and chemical hazards, and away from some human and animal diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, that have been successfully controlled in most developed countries,” argues the report. “However, out of a concern that modernizing government…
