A California federal court has dismissed a putative class action alleging that Jim Beam Brands and Beam Suntory Import mislabel Jim Beam® bourbon bottles because the label calls the product “handcrafted” despite its machine-based manufacturing process. Welk v. Beam Suntory Imp. Co., No. 15-0328 (S.D. Cal., order entered August 21, 2015). The plaintiff had alleged that a reasonable consumer would be fooled by the bourbon label because the production process for the “handmade” product requires “little to no human supervision, assistance or involvement.” Details about the complaint appear in Issue 556 of this Update. The court first denied the distillery’s motion to dismiss under California’s safe harbor doctrine, finding that although Jim Beam could prove the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had approved the label, the evidence did not indicate whether the agency investigated and approved including decisions finding for Jim Beam and its sibling brand Maker’s Mark®,…
Category Archives Issue 577
A New Jersey federal court has dismissed putative class actions against Whole Foods Market Group Inc., Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and Acme Markets Inc. alleging that they misrepresented their bread products as “freshly baked” or “baked in-store” despite actually being frozen, processed or baked elsewhere. Mladenov v. Wegmans Food Mkts. Inc., No. 15-0373 (D.N.J., order entered August 26, 2015); Mladenov v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp. Inc., No. 15-0382 (D.N.J., order entered August 26, 2015); Mao v. Acme Markets Inc., No. 15-0618 (D.N.J., order entered August 26, 2015). Additional information about the three complaints appears in Issue 549 of this Update. The court found holes in each of the plaintiffs’ amended complaints, noting that they lacked “any detail as to what Plaintiffs purchased, the cost of these items, and the supposed value of what they received,” which are necessary to a price-premium claim. “Nowhere in their complaints or opposition do Plaintiffs…
Citing a “plethora of new data” published since issuing its toxicological profile for perfluoroalkyls in 2009, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has reissued the profile seeking additional information about the alleged health effects of exposure to the synthetic chemicals. PFOA and PFOS are the two perfluoroalkyls produced in the largest amounts in the United States and are used in coatings for paper and cardboard packaging to repel oil, grease and water. Comments are due by December 1, 2015. See Federal Register, September 2, 2015. Issue 577
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued five warning letters to the distributors of pure powdered caffeine, citing two fatalities linked to caffeine toxicity as evidence that the products “are dangerous and present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury to consumers.” Equating 1 teaspoon of pure caffeine to 25 cups of coffee, FDA also warns consumers not to purchase or use powdered caffeine as “it is nearly impossible to accurately measure pure powdered caffeine with common kitchen measuring tools and you can easily consume a lethal amount.” In particular, the agency plans to “aggressively monitor the marketplace” for pure powered caffeine being sold as a dietary supplement. The warning letters not only find the products adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, but argue that labeling directs consumers to use difficult measurements such as one-sixteenth of a teaspoon. “Consumers are unlikely to have…
