U.S. attorneys in New York have reportedly secured court approval of a consent decree with three companies that allegedly exported meat containing vertebral column to Japan in violation of U.S. trade requirements. The settlement resolves an action filed in March 2011 alleging that the companies exported veal containing ineligible bone and tissue fragments, which action resulted in Japan closing its borders to all U.S. beef products for six months, purportedly costing the industry $500 million in losses. Details about the case appear in Issue 385 of this Update. Under the agreement, the companies neither admit nor deny the allegations,but they agree to “permanently provide additional access,record-keeping,and reporting in order to ensure ongoing compliance.” The decree alsoentitles the United States “to substantial andescalating monetary relief in theevent of future violations for the next three years--$10,000 for the first violation,$25,000 for the second,and $50,000 for each violation thereafter.” Thedecree allows the U.S.…
Category Archives Issue 391
McDonald’s Corp. has filed a motion to dismiss a putative class action seeking to stop the company from advertising and selling to children its allegedly “unhealthy Happy Meals” with toys. Parham v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 11-00511 (N.D. Cal., motion filed April 18, 2011). Details about the lawsuit appear in Issue 375 of this Update. The company contends that the plaintiff lacks standing to sue under the unfair competition law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act or false advertising law and argues that the complaint is the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s “attempt to distort state consumer protection law beyond recognition” to stop McDonald’s from selling Happy Meals containing toys in California. According to the motion, the plaintiff does not allege physical harm, reliance on the company’s advertising (that is, “Plaintiff does not allege that her own children saw any particular advertisement or made a single purchase from McDonald’s”), or identify…
Maryland’s attorney general (AG), joined by the AGs of 17 states and the territory of Guam, have expressed to Pabst Brewing Co. concerns over the company’s “new flavored malt beverage, Blast by Colt 45,” characterizing it as a “flavored ‘binge in a can.’” In his April 21, 2011, letter, Attorney General Douglas Gansler alleges that selling a fruit-flavored beverage with an alcohol concentration of 12 percent in brightly colored 23.5 ounce cans, “poses a grave public safety threat and is irresponsible.” He contends that the target market includes underage consumers, “in violation of state law.” According to Ganlser, each can contains 4.7 servings of alcohol and, if consumed quickly as intended, an individual “will have engaged in binge drinking, putting himself or herself at risk of serious injury and other health and safety problems.” The AGs call on Pabst’s CEO to “take immediate steps to significantly reduce the number of servings…
Swedish government officials have reportedly asked food processors and packaging companies to submit alternatives to bisphenol A (BPA) in food and beverage can linings. The Swedish Chemicals Agency and the National Food Administration want the companies to submit plans by the end of 2011 and manufacturers to outline when BPA alternatives would be available to the food industry. See CN Brewing, April 20, 2011.
The European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) has reportedly amended draft legislation “to ensure that labels are legible, do not mislead, and provide the information that consumers need to make choices.” According to an April 19, 2011, press release, ENVI members have passed draft legislation “that aims to modernize, simplify and clarify” food labels by requiring them to include “mandatory nutritional information, inter alia on artificial trans fats and the country of provenance.” Under the new rules, meat products would also bear additional labeling to indicate “where the animal was born, reared and slaughtered,” whether the animal was “slaughtered without stunning (in accordance with certain religious traditions),” and whether a product is “formed meat” containing various meat parts. The rules would also forbid labels from misleading consumers about replaced ingredients and require foods containing aspartame to be labeled “Contains aspartame (a source of phenylalanine; might be unsuitable…
EPA has issued a final rule exempting milk, milk product containers and milk production equipment from Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. Effective June 17, 2011, the rule could potentially save the milk and dairy industries more than $140 million a year by eliminating “unnecessary burdens,” according to EPA. Implemented in the 1970s to protect U.S. inland waters and shorelines, SPCC regulations require facilities storing more than 1,320 gallons of oil to “create and implement plans to prepare, prevent and respond to oil spills.” The exemption does not apply to “fuel oil and other applicable oils stored on farms, farms that store the regulatory threshold of fuel oil and other applicable oils covered under the SPCC.” Because some facilities may still have oil storage subject to SPCC regulations, the rule also excludes milk storage capacity from a facility’s total oil storage capacity calculation and removes compliance date requirements…
An organization that promotes family-scale farming and organic foods has called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Dean Foods, which purportedly claims that its Horizon “milk with Omega-3 DHA” products support brain and eye development in children and benefit pregnant and nursing women. In its April 21, 2011, letter, the Cornucopia Institute details the company’s allegedly false and misleading claims “targeted to pregnant women and children” and urges the agency to enjoin the company, if appropriate, to prevent further false and misleading marketing claims. According to the institute, the company is also promoting its Horizon milk as “natural nourishment . . . without the additives you’d rather avoid,” despite using a DHA oil that is “an extract from mutated and fermented algae that have never been part of the human diet.” The letter notes that in 2004 FTC questioned whether the company that makes the DHA supplements added…
A bill (S. 831) spearheaded by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) would require country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter. Franken was quoted as saying that the legislation “isn’t a silver bullet, but it does give family farms another tool that will help them compete in a crowded marketplace. And it gives consumers the option to purchase milk and cheese from our own family farms.” See Product Liability Law 360, April 15, 2011.
The U.S. Senate has approved a bill (S. 216) designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” according to the legislation’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The proposal would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the ability to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years. See Press Release of Senator Patrick Leahy, April 15, 2011.
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