The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and individual food companies have reportedly asked California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to delay taking action on its proposal to list methanol as a reproductive toxicant. While the chemical is used in varnishes, shellacs, paints, antifreeze, adhesives, and deicers, it also apparently occurs naturally in fresh fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, fermented beverages, and diet soft drinks. OEHHA has extended the deadline for comments on the listing proposal until March 4, 2009, in response to GMA’s request. According to an industry spokesperson, “The concern of the grocery manufacturers is that once a chemical is listed under Prop. 65, anyone who can detect it can file a claim, and many millions of dollars can be spent demonstrating that there’s no harm. So we thought it important for the agency to think about the consequences of a list, and whether . . .…
Category Archives Issue 292
British sheep farmers have reportedly threatened to resist an EU proposal that would require them to implement an electronic animal identification system starting in January 2010. With 30 million sheep in the United Kingdom, many farmers have described the plan as prohibitively expensive and unnecessary. Designed to track livestock movement in the event of an epidemic, the system would rely on ear tags costing between £0.50 and £1.50 each with an additional £5,000 or £6,000 per scanning machine. But farmers have argued that their current method of tracking sheep is adequate and avoids the technological issues associated with Internet and broadband use in remote areas. “When you consider that the average sheep farmer only makes something like £6,000 a year, this could see a significant number of farmers deciding it is just too much,” one farmer was quoted as saying. The proposal has drawn similar criticisms from farming organizations in…
A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee conducted a hearing February 11, 2009, to hear from victims, regulators and the individuals who own and operate the Georgia peanut processing facility responsible for the latest Salmonella outbreak. Titled, “The Salmonella Outbreak: The Continued Failure to Protect the Food Supply,” the hearing gave congressmen the opportunity to question Stewart Parnell who owns the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) about the company’s practice of shipping contaminated product to food processors even after it had tested positive for Salmonella. Parnell and the man who managed the plant invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to answer questions, including whether they would eat the recalled products, which now number in excess of 1,800 items. The outbreak has reportedly sickened more than 600 in the United States and Canada, led to a suspected nine deaths and launched at least four personal injury lawsuits to date.…
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