A recent study has reportedly concluded that cereal and bread are major sources of dietary salt intake for children and adolescents in the United Kingdom. Naomi Marrero, et al., “Salt Intake of Children and Adolescents in South London: Consumption Levels and Dietary Sources,” Hypertension, March 2014. After analyzing the urinary sodium levels of 340 children ages 5 to 17, researchers reported that 70 percent of all participants consumed more salt than the maximum recommended amount for their age group. In particular, the results purportedly showed that “salt intake increased with age and was also higher in boys than in girls for the 5- to 6- and 13- to 17-year age groups.” With 66 percent of the 5- to 6-year-olds, 73 percent of the 8- to 9-year-olds, and 73 percent of the 13- to 17-year-olds exceeding daily salt recommendations, the researchers also noted that cereal and cereal products contributed 36 percent…
Category Archives Issue 517
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) has published a March 2014 report titled Schoolhouse Commercialism Leaves Policymakers Behind, which claims that the education system and its policymakers continue “to grant corporate marketers ‘widespread access to students’… through mechanisms that range from delivering marketing messages through appropriated school space and property to a variety of other strategies.” Authored by University of Colorado researchers, the 16th annual report seeks to map “the legislative landscape relative to school commercialism,” relying on legislative and non-legislative databases, interviews, media reports, and other sources to gather information on new forms of school marketing, the reactions of policymakers to school marketing arrangements, and the position of education policy organizations toward these arrangements. In particular, the report finds that little state or federal legislation related to school marketing was passed in 2012 or 2013. In previous years, notes the report, legislators have responded to school marketing by passing bills…
American Law Reports (A.L.R.) has published an annotation titled “Liability of Food Manufacturer Based on Statement in Product Labeling or Promotion Relating to, or Inconsistent with Presence of, Trans Fat in Product.” 92 A.L.R.6th 141 (2014). It “collects and analyzes all the federal and state cases discussing the liability, when not precluded by federal preemption, of a food manufacturer based on an allegedly untrue or misleading statement, in the labeling or promotion of a food product, relating to the presence or absence of trans fat in the product or a statement that, while not referring itself to trans fat, is allegedly inconsistent with the presence of trans fat in the product.” Most of the nearly 30 cases were filed in federal district courts in the Ninth Circuit. Issue 517
Wheat farmers who sued Monsanto Co. over losses they allegedly sustained after genetically modified (GM) wheat was discovered in an Oregon farmer’s field have reportedly decided to attempt to mediate the dispute. In re Monsanto Co. GE Wheat Litig., MDL No. 2473 (D. Kan.). Details about the consolidation of a number of related cases before a multidistrict litigation (MDL) court appear in Issue 500 of this Update. The GM wheat discovery prompted Japan and South Korea to suspend imports of soft white wheat from the United States, and the farmers contend that they lost money as a result. Monsanto denies any wrongdoing—it field tested GM wheat more than 10 years ago in Oregon—and calls the event an isolated incident. The MDL court had scheduled a March 10, 2014, status conference, but canceled the hearing and has stayed the litigation. See The National Law Journal, March 7, 2014. Issue 517
The company that makes Four Loko, a caffeinated malt liquor beverage allegedly responsible for the deaths of five consumers, has reached a settlement with two Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. units which had sought a declaration that a policy exclusion freed them from defending or indemnifying the beverage maker in the underlying lawsuits. The Netherlands Ins. Co. v. Phusion Projects, Inc., No. 12-7968 (N.D. Ill., stipulation of dismissal filed March 11, 2014). The settlement terms have not been disclosed. Details about a Seventh Circuit ruling on the insurance carriers’ duty to defend appear in Issue 508 of this Update. Issue 517
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Mercury Policy Project have sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking a declaration that the agency’s delay in responding to their citizen petition on labeling fish with high levels of mercury is unreasonable and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. CSPI v. FDA, No. 14-0375 (D.D.C., filed March 10, 2014). Further details about the petition, which seeks labeling on seafood packaging and point-of-purchase signage, appear in Issue 401 of this Update. The plaintiffs also seek an order compelling the agency to issue a final response by a court-imposed deadline. According to the complaint, the plaintiffs submitted the petition to FDA in July 2011 and received a tentative response from the agency beyond the 180-day limit required by FDA regulations. The plaintiffs claim that they have not received any communication from FDA since then…
A federal court in Georgia presiding over a criminal action against the owner and employees of the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, purportedly involved in a 2009 nationwide Salmonella outbreak, conducted a hearing on March 13, 2014, to determine whether the expert testimony proffered as to owner Stewart Parnell’s ability to form the intent to commit the alleged crimes is admissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). According to defense expert Joseph Conley, a clinical psychologist, Parnell has an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) condition. Defense counsel claims that Conley’s testimony will show that Parnell did not commit the alleged crimes because he did not factually acquire the knowledge necessary to form an intent about the actions the government has alleged. Conley would testify that Parnell’s ADHD is so severe that he likely never read, nor understood the significance of, many of the emails on…
Snack maker Snyder’s Lance, Inc. has filed a motion to dismiss an amended class complaint filed by representative plaintiffs alleging that the company misleads consumers by labeling its products as “natural” when they contain genetically modified ingredients. Barron v. Snyder’s Lance, Inc., No. 13-62496 (S.D. Fla., Miami Div., motion filed March 10, 2014). Among other matters, the company argues that the plaintiffs’ “premium price” theory of harm is not plausible, they lack standing to seek injunctive relief and their failure to address their understanding of the term “natural” is fatal to their claims. As to the price theory, Snyder’s-Lance contends that the plaintiffs’ claims require the court to assume that price differences between its products and those of “rival brands” are based solely on the “natural” labeling. According to the company, the alleged price differential could be due to any number of other factors, such as better taste, more appealing…
A federal court in California has determined that the tasks an employee performed only when working the closing shift for Starbucks Corp. consumed a de minimis amount of time and thus dismissed his claims that the company violated the state Labor Code by failing to pay him for that time. Troester v. Starbucks Corp., No. 12-7677 (C.D. Cal., order entered March 7, 2014). According to the court, the software Starbucks used during the relevant time period required an employee to clock out before initiating the store closing procedure, which involved setting the store alarm and locking the door, tasks that took no more than one to two minutes. Other tasks the employee undertook included walking employees to their cars or staying with them until they were picked up, placing forgotten patio furniture indoors, or even re-entering the store to retrieve an employee’s personal belongings. In the court’s view, “[e]ven assuming all…
A federal court in Florida has dismissed, without prejudice, a putative statewide class action filed against Amy’s Kitchen, alleging that the company misleads consumers by identifying the sugar in its products as “evaporated cane juice” (ECJ). Reilly v. Amy’s Kitchen, Inc., No. 13-21525 (S.D. Fla., order entered March 7, 2014). The court agreed with the company that, because the court had previously dismissed claims as to products the representative plaintiff had not purchased, the plaintiff could not, at the time she filed the complaint, meet the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA’s) jurisdictional threshold of $5 million. Information about the court’s earlier ruling appears in Issue 507 of this Update. While jurisdictional facts are assessed at the time of removal, and post-removal events do not deprive courts of subject matter jurisdiction under CAFA, “if a claim of the required jurisdictional amount is made in good faith, the claim controls unless it…
