A recent study has reportedly claimed that higher levels of urinary bisphenol A (BPA) “were associated with a higher odds of obesity … and abnormal waist circumference-to-height ratio” in children. Donna Eng, et al., “Bisphenol A and Chronic Disease Risk Factors in US Children, Pediatrics, September 2013. Using data from 3,000 children ages 6 to 18 who were enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2010, University of Michigan researchers evidently sought to evaluate cross-sectional associations between urinary BPA “and multiple measures of adiposity, cholesterol, insulin, and glucose.” The results suggested that although urinary BPA was associated with an increased risk of obesity, “there were no associations found between BPA and laboratory measures of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk,” an outcome that apparently contrasted with previous adult studies. “Our findings suggest the need for longitudinal analysis to elucidate temporal relationships between BPA exposure and the development of obesity…
Category Archives Issue 495
A recent New York Times report has claimed that the failure of a new computer system used by meatpacking and processing plant inspectors did not stop untested shipments of beef, poultry, pork, and lamb from reaching consumers. According to an August 17, 2013, article by Ron Nixon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acknowledged the August 8, 2013, system failure but “played down the threat to public safety and insisted that the breakdown of the $20-million computer system had not compromised the nation’s meat supply.” Designed to speed up the inspection process, which involves sending meat samples to laboratories to test for E. coli and other contaminants, the new computer system is an important piece of USDA’s plan “to provide real-time information about the conditions at meat processing plants and make it easy for the agency to track food safety problems before they led to outbreaks.” But Nixon notes that…
Although the typical energy drink user is reportedly young and male, a recent news source indicates that a new demographic is emerging as a top consumer of these beverages—busy, young mothers. Recent data from Nielsen reveal that busy mothers and their households—categorized as “Young Bustling Families”—are more likely to drink energy drinks than the average U.S. household, with a purchasing index of 150, higher than both “Young Transitionals” or young adults just out of college, and “Independent Singles” in their 20s and 30s. In response to these new consumption patterns, some energy drink makers have developed “women-friendly” energy drinks, including a pink lemonade-flavored beverage from which a portion of sales are donated to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, and a beverage with no sugar or calories that apparently features a sweeter, more refreshing flavor, and is packaged in a white can with “feminine design elements.” See Convenience Store News,…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumers Union and Food Animal Concerns Trust have sent a letter urging U.S. delegates to an upcoming U.N. food standards agency meeting about residues of veterinary drugs in food to ask other countries to stop using drugs that have long been prohibited for use in the United States due to “human health concerns, particularly carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.” The drugs in question include carbadox, nitrofural, furazolidone, chlorpromazine (thorazine), stilbenes (e.g. diethylstilbestrol, DES), olaquindox, dimetridazole, ipronidazole, metronidazole, and ronidazole, and according to Food Animal Concerns Trust Director Steven Roach, they are “not needed for animal health” and most countries have adopted safer alternatives. “We urge the U.S. delegation to insist on a recommendation that other countries prohibit use of these drugs, as the U.S. itself does,” said Roach. See Consumerist, August 21, 2013.
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF’s) Bridging the Gap research program recently published a study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine concluding that the food and beverage industry “still spends the bulk of its money to promote unhealthy products” to children and teens. Lisa Powell, et al., “Food Marketing Expenditures Aimed at Youth: Putting the Numbers in Context,” American Journal of Preventative Medicine, August 2013. Seeking to contextualize a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report that found food and beverage companies spent less on youth-focused marketing in 2009 than in 2006, the study suggests that the expenditure trends highlighted by FTC ultimately fail to account for changes in the marketing landscape that allegedly negate the overall decrease in spending. In particular, according to a concurrent issue brief, Rudd Center and Bridging the Gap researchers reported that “the vast majority of…
A former non-exempt Anheuser-Busch brewery worker in California has filed a putative class action against the company alleging that it violated the state labor code by failing to include the value of free or discounted beer—termed “incentive pay”—in employees’ regular pay rates and thus undercompensated them by calculating overtime pay on the basis of pay rates that were too low. Controulis v. Anheuser-Busch, LLC, No. BC518518 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed August 16, 2013). The plaintiff also claims that the company failed to timely provide a final paycheck when employees were discharged or quit. According to the complaint, the plaintiff was terminated during the year preceding the complaint’s filing while he was on a leave of absence. Seeking to certify several classes of California employees, the plaintiff alleges failure to pay overtime wages, wage statement violations, waiting time penalties, unfair competition (that is, by underpaying its employees, the…
A federal court in California has dismissed putative nationwide class claims against The Hain Celestial Group alleging that the company’s food and beverage product labels and website mislead consumers because they (i) list the ingredient “Evaporated Cane Juice” or “Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar Juice,” (ii) are falsely labeled “All Natural” or “Only Natural,” and (iii) falsely claim to have “No Trans Fat” or other nutrient content claims. Smedt v. The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., No. 12-3029 (N.D. Cal., San Jose Div., order entered August 16, 2013). The court dismissed the statutory warranty claims with prejudice on the grounds that the food products are consumables and not covered under the state and federal laws and because food and beverage labels “do not constitute express warranties against a product defect.” The court dismissed the fraud-related claims with leave to amend within 15 days, finding that the amended complaint failed to “unambiguously specify the…
A federal court in California has dismissed a putative statewide class action alleging that Tetley USA misleads consumers by making “antioxidant, nutrient content, and health claims” for certain of its tea products; the statutory warranty claims were dismissed with prejudice, and the remaining claims were dismissed with leave to amend the complaint to comply with the plausibility pleading standard. De Keczer v. Tetley USA, Inc., No. 12-2409 (N.D. Cal., order entered August 16, 2013). According to the court, while the plaintiff acknowledged that the products at issue were consumables under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, he “appears to argue that the product labels constitute express warranties and that the products in question therefore fall under the provisions of section 1793.35, which provides for the enforcement of express warranties on consumables. The Court rejects this argument because food labels, like the ones at issue, do not constitute express warranties against a…
A federal court in the District of Columbia will consider on August 27, 2013, whether to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program changes required by a 2011 World Trade Organization (WTO) determination that, as initially drafted, the rules gave less favorable treatment to cattle and hogs imported from Canada and Mexico. Am. Meat Inst. v. USDA, No. 13-1033 (filed July 8, 2013). Information about the revised COOL rule appears in Issue 485 of this Update. A number of meat-processing interests, including the American Meat Institute, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and National Pork Producers Council, challenged the new rule alleging that it violates First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution, exceeds USDA’s authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In early August, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA), National Farmers Union, American…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has published a table providing information on the status of chemicals considered for addition to the Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) list under the authoritative bodies mechanism. “The table lists the authoritative body, the document or documents providing the basis for the possible listing, the endpoint (toxic effect) relevant to the possible listing, and the next step in the listing process. OEHHA will update this table on a regular basis.” The chemicals subject to a notice of intent to list in 2014 if criteria are met include pulegone (a flavoring agent), emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil (used in animal feed and as a vegetable oil), nitrite in combination with amines or amides (present in foods), atrazine (a herbicide) and its metabolites, genistein (an isoflavone in soybean foods), and ethylene glycol (used in bottling). Styrene, which is used in food containers, may…
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