More than 200 Chinese families whose children were sickened after consuming melamine-contaminated milk products have reportedly filed suit against a group of 22 milk producers before the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing. Earlier class action suits filed in Chinese courts were not accepted, so it is unclear whether this action will proceed. According to Lin Zheng, who is coordinating the litigation for a group of volunteer lawyers, this lawsuit includes four dead children not previously accounted for in government statistics. Lin also indicated that the lawyers will file another lawsuit on behalf of the survivors of a fifth unacknowledged dead child. The government reported that six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill with kidney stones and other problems. The latest action includes a demand for more than $5.2 million in compensation. In a related development, a dairy middleman, convicted of selling 600 tons of melamine-tainted “protein powder” to dairy companies,…
Posts By Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
The European Commission has reportedly indicated that it will file a World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge to the U.S. decision to impose new tariffs on European Union (EU) products involved in sanctions stemming from a dispute over beef hormones. The EU has banned hormone-treated beef since the early 1980s, and the WTO ruled in 1998 that the ban violated trade rules, thus opening the door for U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions. While the EU contends that it has scientific grounds to support the ban, the United States and Canada have maintained their trade sanctions against the European bloc. According to a French Roquefort cheese producer, 100 percent tariffs have been imposed on his products for nine years; a new sanctions update has increased the penalty to 300 percent. “Sales of Roquefort to the United States will be finished,” he reportedly said. At issue is a Bush administration decision to suspend the…
Whole Foods Market, Inc. has reportedly withdrawn from U.S. district court its due process challenge to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust proceedings against the company’s merger with Wild Oats Markets, Inc. The case was then refiled before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. According to a Whole Foods executive, “Whole Foods Market is interested in getting to the merits of this case as quickly as possible rather than spending everyone’s valuable time and resources arguing about jurisdiction. Filing with the Court of Appeals, which the FTC concedes has jurisdiction over the case, saves time and we want to move this case forward in the most expeditious manner for all concerned.” Additional details about Whole Foods’ petition appear in issue 285 of this Update. The FTC’s administrative hearings are scheduled to begin April 6, 2009, and Whole Foods claims that the commission has already prejudged the case. See PR Newswire, January…
With hundreds of foods containing potentially contaminated peanut butter being recalled daily, plaintiffs’ lawyers across the nation have begun to file claims against producers, suppliers, retailers, and others in the supply chain. Food claims lawyer William Marler has reportedly brought an action against the Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America on behalf of Vermont residents Gabrielle and Daryl Meunier whose 7-year-old son was among the nearly 500 people purportedly sickened by the Salmonella typhimurium traced to a Peanut Corp. processing plant in Georgia. According to a news source, the Meunier’s son spent six days in the hospital after consuming cheese and peanut butter crackers. A Minnesota-based food safety lawyer reportedly plans to file a claim against Peanut Corp. and its distributor, King Nut Companies, on behalf of the family of a 72-year-old woman who allegedly died in December 2008 after eating Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter served at a long-term care facility in Minnesota. In…
Minneapolis and St. Paul are reportedly developing ordinances to require some restaurants to remove trans fats from their menus and to list calories alongside portions. St. Paul would require chain restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide to abide by both proposed ordinances, while Minneapolis would apply its menu labeling regulation only to chain restaurants and its trans fat ban to all restaurants, groceries and bakeries. The city councils could take both measures under consideration as early as February. Meanwhile, the executive president of the Minnesota Restaurant Association, David Siegel, told reporters that most restaurants have already phased out trans fat in response to public demand. In addition, he noted a growing desire for a federal benchmark with respect to menu labeling laws. “Let’s give information to consumers and create a national standard like we did in grocery stores,” said Siegel, pointing to the cost and frustration of navigating the…
OSHA has published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, seeking data, information and comments about occupational exposure to diacetyl and food flavorings containing diacetyl. Diacetyl is a chemical used as a butter flavoring in products such as microwave popcorn, margarine, cooking sprays, snack foods, confectionaries, and other foods with dairy, butter and cheese flavors. Workers exposed to the chemical have reportedly developed respiratory impairments including a potentially fatal disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans. OSHA is considering developing a health standard regulating occupational exposure to diacetyl and food flavorings containing diacetyl and will accept comments until April 21, 2009. The agency requests that commenters focus on more than 60 specific questions concerning levels of exposure, number of employees exposed, symptoms and diseases found in exposed employees, exposure mitigation measures, employee training, risk assessments, and potential costs of an exposure standard, among other matters. According to OSHA, which is also seeking information about…
FDA has published a notice requesting comments, scientific data and information “that would assist the agency in its plans to conduct a risk assessment of the public health impact of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes in some ready-to-eat foods, sliced, prepared, and/or packaged in retail facilities.” According to the notice, “[l]ittle is known about how Listeria contamination occurs in retail facilities . . . There is thus a need to identify potential sources and practices that may increase L. monocytogenes contamination in retail settings and practices or interventions that could reduce or eliminate L. monocytogenes contamination of food products (sold to consumers at the retail level) and resulting human illness.” Comments and materials relevant to FDA’s risk assessment must be submitted by April 21, 2009. The agency specifically requests data and information about (i) ready-to-eat food markets in the United States; (ii) deli department characteristics; (iii) product contamination data; (iv) factors influencing the growth of the…
FDA this week published a draft assessment weighing the risks and benefits of fish consumption for children and the general population. The assessment considers the net health effects of fish consumption on fetal neurodevelopment, as well as fatal heart disease and stroke risk in the general population. FDA is seeking “to understand the relationship between the risk of not eating fish (and thus losing any health benefits fish may provide) and the risk of eating fish that contains methylmercury at the levels currently found in the commercial fish available to consumers.” The draft concludes that in respect to neurodevelopment, maternal consumption of fish species low in methylmercury “has a significantly greater probability of resulting in a net benefit, as measured by verbal development.” Although results also indicated “a significant probability of a net adverse effect for one-tenth of one percent of children,” the FDA assessment finds that the highest net…
The FDA has issued its final guidance on regulating genetically engineered (GE) animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The guidance clarifies FDA’s regulatory authority “and provides recommendations to producers of GE animals to help them meet their obligations and responsibilities under the law.” It is intended to apply to GE animals with heritable rDNA constructs. According to the guidance, GE animals are being developed for a number of purposes, including the enhancement of production or food quality traits, improvements to animal health, the production of products for human therapeutic uses, and enhancement of animals’ interactions with humans (e.g., hypoallergenic pets). The FDA explains when GE animal producers must comply with labeling and record-keeping requirements or submit information for agency approval.
Among the first official acts of the Obama administration was a directive from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to all federal departments and agencies not to finalize any pending rule and to extend final-rule effective dates for 60 days. According to a news source, the block affects a Department of Agriculture rule that established requirements for country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on meat and other perishable foods. A regulatory analyst for a Washington-based government watchdog group reportedly observed that the freeze would “give USDA an opportunity to tighten up the rule.” Critics have apparently said that the Bush rule could weaken distinctions between U.S. and imported meats by allowing domestic facilities that process domestic and imported animals to carry a multi-country label. See Bloomberg.com, January 21, 2009.
