The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has denied a plaintiff’s motion to centralize several lawsuits involving recalled infant formula, purportedly contaminated with insects, before a multidistrict litigation (MDL) court for pretrial proceedings. In re: Abbott Labs., Inc., Similac Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2211 (J.P.M.L., decided February 4, 2011). The panel noted that while it had centralized food-product contamination lawsuits in the past, it would not be appropriate to do so here because individual issues predominated over common ones. According to the panel, “discovery and motion practice may be expected to concern (1) the particular product each plaintiff purchased, (2) any injuries that consumption of the product caused, (3) whether the product contained beetles or beetle larvae, and/or (4) what advertising or other representations were made to each particular plaintiff (and, relatedly, whether the plaintiff relied upon those representations).” Still, the panel encouraged the parties to pursue a voluntary coordination strategy,…
Category Archives Issue 381
Utah State Representative Bill Wright (R-Holden) has reportedly introduced legislation (H.B. 365) that would exempt from federal regulation all foods grown and consumed within the state’s borders. He was quoted as saying, “Within the state, it’s state’s rights. We already have regulations over those items. We function well now. We don’t think they have a right or authority to regulate those items that are not in interstate commerce, as long as they’re grown within the state, packaged in the state and remain in the state.” A Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) spokesperson apparently responded by claiming that the politician was “playing to people’s fears and misrepresenting the facts and doing it for political purposes.” According to CSPI, Utah merited a “D” grade for its ability to detect contaminated food outbreaks. Some produce and livestock farmers echoed Wright’s concerns, contending that regulations and inspections add costs to their…
Massachusetts public health regulators have reportedly approved proposed rules that would prohibit public schools from selling sweetened soft drinks, salty and calorie-laden packaged snacks, and white bread sandwiches as a way to combat childhood obesity. Effective in the 2012-13 school year, the proposed regulations need the approval of the state’s Public Health Council, which is expected to consider the issue in spring 2011. According to a news source, the proposed regulations would apply to a la carte lines, snack shops and vending machines, but not main cafeteria lines. “You don’t want to be feeding kids a bunch of sugar or low-nutrient foods and expect them to be well-prepared to learn,” said Jill Carter, executive director of the Health and Wellness Department in Boston’s public schools. See The Boston Globe, February 10, 2011.
The German Cabinet has reportedly approved an action plan proposed byFood, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner that incorporates “tighter rules for dioxin checks into the Food and Feed Code (LFGB)” and proposes several statutory changes to feed production regulations. A response to dioxin-tainted animal feed that temporarily disrupted the European Union’s (EU’s) egg, poultry and pork supply, this early warning system will “enable the supervisory authorities in Germany to respond in a quicker and more targeted manner,” said Aigner, who has vowed “to promote these rules at EU-level. “ The new rules require German food and feed manufacturers “to report all test results on dioxins and similar problem substances to the competent authorities,” who will verify the information and act “immediately” if necessary, and directs private laboratories to “automatically report alarming measurement results of undesired substances that are hazardous to health in foods and animal feed.” According to…
The European Committee for Standardization has approved a single-test method that can detect nine different sweeteners and their dosages in drinks, and canned and bottled fruits. Developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center’s (JRC’s) Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, the method sets national standards for European Union (EU) member states, Croatia, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland to evaluate sweetener levels in imported foodstuffs and those produced within the EU. Using a high-performance “liquid chromatographic with evaporative light scattering detection,” the method can simultaneously test for six EU authorized sweeteners: acesulfame-K (ACS-K), aspartame (ASP), cyclamic acid (CYC), saccharin (SAC), sucralose (SUC), and neohesperidine dihydrochalcone (NHDC). It can also test for three non-authorized sweeteners: neotame (NEO), alitame (ALI) and dulcin (DUL). According to JRC, the method “can provide several pieces of information which are needed to correctly label the food. It can provide whether or not the non-authorized or the authorized…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has requested comments on two petitions for rulemaking submitted by animal rights groups seeking reformed regulations concerning “the disposition of non-ambulatory disabled” livestock at slaughter. FSIS also plans to clarify its requirements for “condemned non-ambulatory disabled cattle at official slaughter establishments.” The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) apparently asked FSIS to “repeal a provision in its ante-mortem inspection regulations that permits veal calves that are unable to rise from a recumbent position and walk because they are tired or cold to be set apart and held for treatment.” Current provisions allow those calves, if found free of disease, “to proceed to slaughter if they are able to rise and walk after being warmed or rested” and ultimately processed for human food. HSUS has petitioned the agency to amend the regulations “to require that non-ambulatory disabled veal calves be…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced its decision to partially deregulate the Roundup Ready® sugar beets developed by the Monsanto Co. These genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets resist the company’s Roundup Ready® herbicide. A court previously determined that APHIS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by deregulating the sugar beets without conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS). APHIS’s interim action was taken on the basis of its finding of no significant impact on human health or the environment by the GE sugar beet root crops and will remain in effect until its EIS is completed in 2012. The agency’s action means that farmers can continue planting GE sugar beets under mandatory conditions that will restrict their movement and environmental release. According to APHIS, these conditions will ensure “that the implementation of this interim regulatory action will not result in any environmental impacts…
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