The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has extended until June 14, 2012, the comment period for a proposed rule that would amend regulations governing the importation of live bovines and other animal products with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Under the proposed rule, APHIS would adopt World Organization for Animal Health criteria that identify a country’s BSE risks as negligible, controlled or undetermined, bringing U.S. import regulations in line with international health standards. APHIS has pushed back the deadline to allow “interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.” Additional details about the proposed rule appear in Issue 432 of this Update.
Category Archives Issue 441
A recent study has reportedly claimed that higher saturated fat (SFA) intake “was associated with worse global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories” in women aged 65 years or older. Olivia Okereke, et al., “Dietary fat types and 4-year cognitive change in community dwelling older women,” Annals of Neurology, May 2012. Harvard Medical School researchers evidently analyzed data from 6,183 participants in the Women’s Health Study over a four-year period, finding that those in the highest quintile for SFA consumption had “a higher risk of worst cognitive change” than their counterparts in the lowest quintile. At the same time, however, higher monounsaturated fat (MUFA) intake was related to better global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories. These results apparently led the study’s authors to speculate that “different consumption levels of the major specific fat types, rather than total fat intake itself, appeared to influence cognitive aging.” “When looking at changes in cognitive function, what…
University of Almeria researchers have reportedly used a new “multi-residue” technique to identify veterinary drug residues in baby food, raising concerns about the need to better regulate the substances permitted in animal-based products. M.M. Aguilera-Luiz, et al., “Multiclass method for fast determination of veterinary drug residues in baby food by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry,” Food Chemistry, June 2012. The study’s authors evidently analyzed 12 meat products containing beef, pork or poultry and nine milk powder samples, all of which purportedly contained trace amounts of antibiotics, including sulfonamides and macrolides, as well as anthelmintics and fungicides. In particular, the results allegedly showed higher concentrations of veterinary drug residues in chicken and other poultry products. “The concentrations detected have been generally very low,” one of authors was quoted as saying. “On one hand, this suggests they are not worrying amounts, on the other hand, it shows the need to control…
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has purportedly identified a sharp increase in the prevalence of prediabetes/ diabetes among U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, from 9 percent in 1999-2000 to 23 percent in 2007-2008. Ashleigh May, et al., “Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among US Adolescents, 1999−2008,” Pediatrics, May 2012. Relying on data from 3,383 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC researchers concluded that among adolescents, “the overall prevalence was 14% for prehypertension/hypertension, 22% for borderline-high/high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 6% for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (<35 mg/DL), and 15% for prediabetes/diabetes during the survey period from 1999 to 2008.” The study’s authors noted, however, that while there was “no significant change in prehypertension/hypertension and borderline-high/high lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol prevalence from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008,” prediabetes/diabetes prevalence rose by 14 percent. They also reported that 37 percent of…
“There are no longer any viable reasons to maintain outdated nutrition labeling standards for sugar,” opines Jennifer Pomeranz, director of legal initiatives at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, in this article urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise sugar labeling regulations to better inform and protect consumers. Citing recent developments such as recommendations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association to limit sugar consumption, “new and robust” science suggesting high-sugar intake is detrimental to human health, and the Institute of Medicine’s call for front-of-packaging labeling for sugar, Pomeranz maintains that FDA’s reluctance to require manufacturers to disclose sugar and added sugar is based on old science and obsolete concerns. “The need for more information relevant to sugar on food labels is long overdue,” she writes. “The government can currently require more information pertinent to total sugar consistent with the public…
Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Robert M. Kerr Food and Agriculture Products Center has reportedly signaled its intention to patent a new kind of steak after unveiling the product at the “Protein Innovation Summit” held April 16-17, 2012, in Chicago, Illinois. According to media sources, OSU researchers have dubbed the cut of beef a “Vegas Strip Steak” and said it derives from a part of the animal previously used for hamburgers. “It’s an un-obvious chunk of meat that has just been sitting there—a little diamond surrounded by a bunch of coal. The patent actually claims the kind of knife strokes that you make in order to create this cut of meat,” explained OSU Associate Vice President for Technology Development Steve Price in a May 23, 2012, NPR interview. “You take this muscle, you make cuts here, here and here and you end up with this Vegas Strip Steak.” Because it would be…
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), Public Citizen and Corporate Accountability International are reportedly urging the PBS network to “end a four-year marketing agreement between the popular children’s show ‘Martha Speaks’ and the fast food chain Chick-fil-A.” The marketing agreement includes 15-second ads for the restaurant before and after the show and in-store giveaways at more than 1,600 Chick-fil-A locations. According to the watchdog groups, “an astounding 56 million Chick-fil-A Kids’ Meals—which contain as much as 670 calories and 29 grams of fat—were distributed in Martha Speaks co-branded bags” in 2011. The groups also called for PBS member station WGBH, which produces “Martha Speaks,” to withdraw the ads from nomination for a children’s marketing award. “PBS deserves lots of awards, but using a beloved character to lure kids to a fast food restaurant is nothing to celebrate,” said CCFC’s Susan Linn. See CCFC Press Release, May 23, 2012.
Chipotle Mexican Grill has filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) advising that the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia “is conducting an investigation into possible criminal securities law violations relating to our employee work authorization verification compliance and related disclosures and statements.” The probe follows investigations into the company’s compliance with immigration laws by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm and public disclosure requirements by SEC. According to news sources, the company, which has indicated its intent to fully cooperate with the investigations, was forced to fire some 450 employees in 2011, after it learned that illegal immigrants had been hired to work in its Minnesota restaurants. Since then, the company has reportedly been using Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to confirm employee eligibility. See Reuters and Law360, May 18, 2012; Bloomberg, May 21, 2012,
The European Union (EU) Court of Justice has affirmed a General Court ruling that confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli, AG cannot register certain three-dimensional shapes, their colored wrappings or ribbons as European Community trademarks. Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG v. Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Mkt. (Trademarks and Designs), Case No. C-98/11 P (E.C.J., decided May 24, 2012). Additional details about the case appear in Issue 376 of this Update. The mark was sought for the shape of a sitting rabbit with a red ribbon. According to the court, the shape was “typical” for chocolate rabbits and was thus “devoid of any distinctive character.” The court also found that the gold-foil wrapping and small bells and bows embellishments were “common elements in the case of chocolate animals.” The court further ordered the chocolatier to pay the costs of the appeal.
A coalition of advocacy organizations has reportedly agreed to dismiss as moot its lawsuit seeking an order requiring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to respond to its 2006 petition asking the agency to regulate products containing nanomaterials. Information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 422 of this Update. The organizations, including Food and Water Watch and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, apparently indicated that while the agency has rejected some of their key proposals, FDA has formally responded to the petition. FDA has said that it will not regulate nanomaterials as new substances, but will evaluate them based on their effects on foods, drugs and cosmetics. See Capital Press, May 18, 2012.
