Mother Jones has published a March 5, 2014, interview with journalist Murray Carpenter about his forthcoming book, Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit HelpsUs, Hurts, and Hooks Us, which aims to “bring us the inside perspective at the additive that Salt Sugar Fat overlooked.” Speaking with Maddie Oatman about “how much caffeine is healthy, where the industry stands on labeling, and the most pretentious coffee preparation he’s observed,” Carpenter notes that current regulations do not require foods or supplements to disclose caffeine content on labeling. “There’s some voluntary labeling initiatives underway: The American Beverage Association has recommended bottlers do that, but you can still find energy drinks that don’t tell you how much caffeine is in them,” Carpenter is quoted as saying. “It’s not impossible for coffee and tea to start doing this. And for the products where caffeine is blended in very specific amounts, I don’t see any reason consumers…
Category Archives Issue 516
The nation’s two largest grocery stores, Kroger and Safeway, have pledged not to sell genetically engineered (GE) salmon, joining a growing group of stores, including Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, H-E-B, Meijer, Hy-Vee, Marsh, and Giant Eagle, that have already rejected the GE salmon currently under final review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nearly 2 million people, including scientists, fishermen, business owners, and consumers, have written to FDA opposing its approval of GE salmon, reportedly the first of some 30 other species of GE fish under development. If approved, the salmon would be the first GE animal in the U.S. food supply, and FDA has indicated that it will likely not be labeled as a product of genetic engineering. See Friends of the Earth News Release, March 3, 2014.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has followed up FoodBabe.com’s Vani Hari’s petition to Subway about using azodicarbonamide (ADA)—a “chemical used to make yoga mats, shoe soles and other rubbery objects”—in its U.S. food products, by launching its own petition directed to major brands purportedly using the chemical in some 500 food products. Details about Hari’s petition appear in Issue 512 of this Update. The EWG list of food products containing ADA, ranging from bread, croutons and pre-made sandwiches and snacks to pastries, rolls, pierogies, and bagels, was derived from the organization’s database of 80,000 food products. The synthetic ingredient is apparently listed on product labels, but, according to EWG “has been largely overlooked because it is not known to be toxic to people in the concentration approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration—45 parts per million.” EWG claims that commercial bakers switched to ADA in the early 1990s to…
A French organic winemaker has reportedly appeared in court to answer to charges that he defied an official order to spray his vineyard with a pesticide to prevent the spread of a leafhopper insect believed to be responsible for a devastating bacterial disease that has affected vines in Burgundy’s Côte-d’Or region, where Emmanuel Giboulot produces Côte de Beaune and Hautes-Côtes de Nuits organic wines. He claims that the pesticide does not work and is harmful to pollinating insects such as bees. He also apparently insists that more natural means can be used to fight the disease. According to a news source, Giboulot faces a six-month prison sentence and €30,000 (US$41,000) fine for failing to apply the insecticide treatment to his vineyard in July 2013. An online petition about his case has reportedly been signed by more than 40,000 supporters, and a large crowd gathered outside the Dijon court on March…
A former Chiptole Mexican Grill employee has brought a wage-and-hour complaint against the company, including claims of harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation, battery, and wrongful termination. Roberts v. Chipotle Mex. Grill, Inc., No. BC537487 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed February 26, 2014). Filing on behalf of herself and in a representative capacity on behalf of others, plaintiff Tedi Roberts claims that Chipotle (i) failed to pay legally required overtime or compensation for hours worked; (ii) failed to provide legally required meal periods and rest periods or accurate wage statements; (iii) failed to take action when she complained about sexual harassment and battery; (iv) refused to change her schedule or provide a transfer to help her avoid further harassment, battery, embarrassment, and humiliation; and (v) retaliated against her—terminated her employment—for complaining about the conditions of her employment including through the “protected activity” of social networking. Roberts avers that she has…
A California resident has filed a putative statewide class action against PepsiCo, Inc., alleging that the company “touts Pepsi One as follows—‘Full Flavor and One Calorie are now living in complete harmony inside Pepsi One—the drink that unites the taste of regular cola with all the things you like about diet cola’"—without disclosing that it contains the caramel-coloring chemical 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), identified by the state as a carcinogen under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Ree v. PepsiCo, Inc., No. 14-0328 (C.D. Cal., filed March 4, 2014). According to the complaint, the absence of the disclosure “was a material and substantial factor which influenced [the plaintiff’s] decision to purchase Pepsi One. In fact, Plaintiff would not have purchased the Product had she known that it contained 4-MEI well in excess of Proposition 65 guidelines.” The plaintiff includes information from a Consumer Reports article about…
According to a news source, counsel for POM Wonderful LLC has urged federal district court Judge Dean Pregerson to decertify the nationwide class action he certified in consolidated false advertising multidistrict litigation, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast v. Behrend and the plaintiffs’ failure to establish a valid damages model supported the company’s request. In re POM Wonderful LLC Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2199 (C.D. Cal., motion argued March 3, 2014). Additional information about the court’s decision to certify the class appears in Issue 457 of this Update. While the judge did not rule on the motion, he apparently expressed skepticism about whether the plaintiffs would be able to establish that class members purchased the juice for its various advertised health benefits only, rather than buying it for other reasons, such as taste, color or shelf location. He also reportedly asked whether the class certification…
A federal court in Washington, D.C., has reportedly refused to reconsider its denial of hundreds of claims by African-American farmers who alleged that they were owed a share of the $1.25-billion settlement fund established to compensate a class of farmers allegedly discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) loan application process. In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litig., No. 08-0511 (D.D.C., order entered March 5, 2014). Information about the lawsuit and a dispute over attorney’s fees appears in Issue 490 of this Update. According to a news source, the court determined that it lacked authority to alter the terms of the settlement agreement, which provided that claims determinations would be considered final and not subject to court review. “This may be cold comfort to claimants who feel that their claims were denied in error; but without the Settlement Agreement, the amount of relief attainable by members of the plaintiff…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the comment period on its notice of intent to list beta-myrcene as known to the state to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). OEHHA took the action at the request of several trade organizations, including the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, North America Juice Products Association, and Renewable Citrus Products Association. The new comment deadline is March 24, 2014. OEHHA has proposed adding beta-myrcene—a natural food-plant constituent used as a flavoring agent in food and beverages—to the Prop. 65 list under the authoritative bodies listing mechanism. According to the agency, the National Toxicology Program and several other institutions have concluded that the chemical causes kidney cancer in male rats and liver cancer in male mice. See OEHHA News Release, March 4, 2014. In other OEHHA action, the Developmental and Reproductive…
Saudi Arabia authorities have reportedly prohibited the sale of energy drinks at all government, education, sports, and health facilities and outlawed all forms of advertising, including the sponsorship of any sporting, social or cultural events by energy drink companies. Expected to significantly affect what industry experts cite as one of the world’s top 10 markets for energy drinks, the action follows a recent Interior Ministry study highlighting the purported “adverse effects of energy drinks.” The ban on advertisements and promotions includes all print, audio and visual media, and the new regulations will require companies to put health warning labels on energy drink products. See Alarabiya.net, March 5, 2014.
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