A recent article published in The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology has questioned current nutritional guidelines that permit the substitution of fruit juice for one daily fruit serving, arguing that some fruit juices contain as many calories as other sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Jason Gill and Naveed Sattar, “Fruit juice: just another sugary drink?,” The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology, February 2014. After surveying approximately 2,000 adults “to assess knowledge of sugar content of a range of SSBs, fruit juices, and smoothies,” researchers with the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences reported that participants underestimated the sugar content of fruit juices and smoothies by 48 percent on average while overestimating the sugar content of carbonated drinks by 12 percent on average. The article suggests that many people perceive fruit juices and smoothies to be “low-sugar alternatives” to soda, even though the micronutrient content of these beverages “might not be sufficient…
Category Archives Issue 513
A recent study has reported that although “mean caffeine intake has not increased among children and adolescents in recent years,” “coffee and energy drinks represent a greater proportion of caffeine intake as soda intake has declined.” Amy Branum, et al., “Trends in Caffeine Intake Among U.S. Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics, February 2014. Using 24-hour dietary recall data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999- 2010, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 73 percent of children consumed caffeine on a given day, with soda accounting for the majority of caffeine intake throughout the study period. “However, the proportion of intake attributable to soda declined from 62% in 1999-2000 to 38% in 2009-2010,” said the study’s authors. “Coffee accounted for only 10% of caffeine intake in 1999-2000, but increased significantly to nearly 24% of caffeine intake in 2009-2010… Energy drinks did not exist as…
Contributors to a recent New York Times “Room for Debate” column have urged CVS Caremark Corp. to stop selling soda, energy drinks and high-calorie snacks in the wake of its decision to discontinue the sale of tobacco products. Noting in her debate response that “food is not tobacco,” New York University Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle nevertheless encourages the retailer to increase its sales of fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks while decreasing the availability of items like soda, ice cream and chips. “If CVS wants to counter obesity,” she opines, “dropping soft drinks is a good place to start. They have scads of sugars, and kids who drink them regularly take in more calories, are fatter and have worse diets than kids who do not.” In addition, a senior scientist at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions calls on CVS pharmacies to prohibit the sale of caffeinated energy drinks…
According to Politico.com, an attorney who formerly represented cigarette manufacturers and served as in-house counsel for a major food company has written to the attorneys general (AGs) of 16 states seeking to interest them in bringing a lawsuit against “big food” to recover the financial Medicaid burdens associated with treating obesity-related diseases. Similar to AG efforts in the 1990s that culminated in a $246 billion tobacco industry settlement with 46 states, this initiative has its naysayers and supporters. A former AG, now directing Columbia Law School’s National State Attorneys General Program, claimed that the proposal will not gain traction because “[t]he food industry doesn’t deny that eating lots of food causes obesity.” On the other hand, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Kelly Brownell said, “I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all. It’s probably not something that will happen immediately, but I don’t think it’s that far off.”…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that Petaluma, California-based meat processor Rancho Feeding Corp. has recalled nearly 9 million pounds of beef products—all of the beef processed by the company from January 2013 through January 2014 and shipped to California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas. According to FSIS, “the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce”; the company purportedly processed “diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full benefit of federal inspections.” Although no reports of illness from consumption of these products have been submitted to FSIS, the recall was categorized as Class I, which means it presents “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” The company has…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report that summarizes its Food Forum and Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine that took place May 7-8, 2013. Titled “Sustainable Diets: Food for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet - Workshop Summary,” the report discusses current and emerging information on the food and nutrition policy implications of increasing environmental constraints on the food system as well as the relationship between human health and the environment. Issue 513
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last week published its World Cancer Report 2014, a collaborative effort providing “a professional, multidisciplinary assessment of all aspects of the geographical distribution, biology, etiology, prevention, and control of cancer.” In addition to a chapter on cancer etiology as it relates to diet, obesity and physical activity, the report’s third edition includes a section focusing on regulatory and legislative initiatives—such as the taxation of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)—designed to minimize behavior-related carcinogenic risk. It also features a “Perspectives” article by Harvard School of Public Health Professor Epidemiology and Nutrition Walter Willett that reviews “our current state of knowledge on diet, nutrition, and cancer.” Co-authored by Willett, the chapter on diet, obesity and physical activity warns that excess body fat “increases risk of cancers of the oesophagus, colon, pancreas, endometrium, and kidney, as well as post-menopausal breast cancer.” Singling…
Represented by animal rights organization Compassion over Killing, a California resident has filed a putative statewide class action against the Kroger Co., alleging that it misleads consumers by labeling its store-brand chicken products as “sourced from chickens raised ‘cage free in a humane environment,’” when the company’s “Simple Truth” chickens “are treated no differently than other mass-produced chickens on the market.” Ortega v. The Kroger Co., No. BC536034 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed February 11, 2014). Plaintiff Anna Ortega claims that she purchased the company’s chicken products, sourced from Perdue, relying on the package representations and paid a premium for them, averaging 41 percent more than comparable products. The complaint outlines the industry standards that Perdue and other chicken processors follow, detailing how they fail to prevent pain, disease and injury from birth to slaughter for a significant number of birds. According to the complaint, Kroger and Perdue…
A federal court in California has preliminarily approved a $3.375 million settlement of class-action claims that Trader Joe’s misled consumers throughout the United States by selling a number of food products with “All Natural” labels despite the presence of synthetic or artificial ingredients. Larsen v. Trader Joe’s Co., No. 11-5188 (N.D. Cal., order entered February 6, 2014). Additional details about the complaint appear in Issue 415 of this Update. According to a news source, the agreement would provide class members with proof of purchase the average price of the purchased items. Those without proof of purchase would receive between $2.70 and $39.99. The grocery chain has also apparently agreed to stop advertising the products as “all natural.” The final approval hearing has been scheduled for July 9, 2014. See Law360, February 7, 2014. Issue 513
TreeHouse Foods, Inc. has filed an antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. and Keurig, Inc., alleging that they have undertaken a series of unlawful practices that have allowed them to dominate the single-serve coffee market, despite the expiration of their “K-Cup” patents in 2012. TreeHouse Foods, Inc. v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., No. 14-0905 (S.D.N.Y., filed February 11, 2014). Among other matters, the plaintiffs claim that Green Mountain (i) eliminated potential competitors by acquiring them; (ii) systematically tied up vertical distribution channels for competitive cups by entering restrictive exclusive dealing contracts with companies at all levels of the compatible cup distribution system, including machinery sellers, compatible cup component sellers, competitor coffee roasters and coffee brands, and retailers selling compatible cups to end user consumers, businesses and institutions; (iii) filed an unsuccessful patent infringement lawsuit against the plaintiff—the Federal Circuit concluded that “Keurig is attempting to…
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