The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a website and blog “dedicated to its work on bee health.” Dubbed the #EFSA- 4Bees campaign, the new site is part of the agency’s MUST-B project, a collaborative venture among researchers, data analysts and regulators “with the ultimate goal of developing a software tool that can assess the combined threat posed to bee colonies in their natural environment by parasites, infectious agents, pesticides and other stressors.” To start, the MUST-B project will hold a roundtable at an upcoming scientific workshop to identify research topics that could receive funding under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. “Round the table will be representatives of the European Commission’s directorategenerals for Agriculture, Health and Food Safety, and Research and Innovation; members of bee research projects funded by the European Commission, such as Smartbees, Swarmonitor and Alarm; and colleagues from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Animal…
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The Canadian Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has issued a “groundbreaking” report on obesity that calls for a tax on sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages as well as a ban on advertising food and drink to children. Titled Obesity in Canada: A Whole-of-Society Approach for a Healthier Canada, the March 2016 report also recommends, among other things, (i) “a National Campaign to Combat Obesity,” (ii) “a complete revision of Canada’s food guide to better reflect scientific evidence,” (iii) “a review of nutrition food labelling to make it easier to understand,” and (iv) “a plan for making healthy food more affordable.” “Canada’s dated food guide is no longer effective in providing nutritional guidance to Canadians. Fruit juice, for instance, is presented as a healthy item when it is little more than a soft drink without the bubbles,” notes the report, which summarizes expert testimony given before the committee…
A California federal court has rejected a May 2015 settlement agreement reached by StarKist Co. and a class of consumers who alleged the company underfilled its cans of tuna. Hendricks v. StarKist Co., No. 13-0729 (N.D. Cal., order entered February 19, 2016). The court identified two issues with the settlement: (i) the notice sent to class members did not notify the class of the amended release of future claims, so the settlement notice was inadequate; and (ii) the scope of the original and amended releases violates the identical factual predicate rule. Specifically, the release was too broad because it released StarKist from claims relating to any purchase of StarKist products rather than limiting it to a release from claims related to the purchase of underfilled StarKist tuna products. Details about the settlement agreement appear in Issue 566 of this Update. Issue 595
A Maine federal court has granted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) a permanent injunction against Mill Stream Corp., a seafood company that allegedly failed to take measures preventing the formation and growth of Clostridium botulinum, the cause of botulism, or Listeria monocytogenes, the cause of listeriosis. U.S. v. Mill Stream Corp., No. 16-0080 (D. Me., order entered February 12, 2016). The injunction prevents the company and its employees from processing or distributing food produced at Mill Stream’s facilities or by its owner until several conditions have been satisfied, including: (i) retention of an independent laboratory to test for Listeria, (ii) development of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans by an independent expert, (iii) implementation of such plans, (iv) completion of additional employee training, and (v) approval to reopen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “The failure to plan for and control the presence of bacteria and neurotoxins…
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s decision that California cannot enforce its statute regulating the empty space between a product and its packaging against producers of meat and poultry products, finding that the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) preempt the statute. Del Real v. Harris, No. 13-16893 (9th Cir., order entered February 12, 2016). California Attorney General Kamala Harris appealed a district court’s permanent injunction barring enforcement of the slack-fill law against Del Real, which produces heat-and-serve meat and poultry products. The appeals court’s opinion cites precedent interpreting the FMIA and PPIA as creating a uniform national labeling standard. “When the FMIA and PPIA’s express preemption clauses are read in light of Congress’s concern for uniformity and a lesser level of regulation, it is unlikely that Congress intended for the states to be allowed to develop and apply…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service has completed the 2016 sunset process for five synthetic and two non-synthetic (natural) substances on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances that governs the use of synthetic and nonsynthetic substances in organic production, processing and handling. Per the National Organic Standards Board’s recommendations, AMS has renewed approvals for the following synthetic substances used in organic crop production: (i) ferric phosphate for use as slug bait; and (ii) hydrogen chloride for delinting cotton seed for planting. It has also renewed approvals for the following non-agricultural ingredients used in or on organic products: (i) L-malic acid; (ii) any food grade bacteria, fungi, and other microorganism; (iii) activated charcoal from vegetative sources, for use only as a filtering aid; (iv) peracetic acid/peroxyacetic acid when used in wash and/or rinse water according to Food and Drug Administration limitations, for use as a sanitizer…
Refuting earlier claims that California wines allegedly contain “dangerously high” levels of arsenic, a new study has concluded that inorganic arsenic in blush, white and red California wines “does not represent a health risk for consumers.” Dennis Paustenbach, et al., “Analysis of Total Arsenic Content in California Wines and Comparison to Various Health Risk Criteria,” American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, January 2016. Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to characterize the arsenic content of 101 wines produced or bottled in California, the authors evidently found that blush wines contained the greatest total arsenic concentration, followed by white and then red wines. In particular, the study tested 28 wines singled out in media reports as exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water of 10 μg/L. But even though these wines contained more total arsenic than randomly selected products, “no more than 0.3% of…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the latest statistics on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in 23 states and the District of Columbia, concluding that, in 2013, approximately 30 percent of surveyed adults reported drinking at least one SSB per day. Sohyun Park, et al., “Prevalence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Adults—23 States and the District of Columbia, 2013,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Feb. 26, 2016. Relying on data gathered via Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) telephone survey, the study refined previous questionnaires to solicit information about the consumption of sweet tea and energy drinks in addition to regular soda and sweetened fruit beverages. The results evidently indicate that “at least once daily SSB intake was most common among persons aged 18–24 years (43.3%), men (34.1%), blacks (39.9%), persons who reported being unemployed (34.4%), and persons with less than a high school education (42.4%).” Across…
Citing environmental concerns, the German city of Hamburg has reportedly banned the use of coffee pods in government buildings. Hamburg’s Guide to Green Procurement reportedly states that coffee pods cause “unnecessary resource consumption and waste generation, and often contain polluting aluminum.” “It’s 6 grams of coffee in 3 grams of packaging,” a Hamburg Department of the Environment and Energy official said. “We in Hamburg thought that these shouldn’t be bought with taxpayers’ money.” See VICE.com, February 24, 2016; The Telegraph, February 25, 2016. Issue 595
A consumer has filed a putative class action against The Wendy’s Co. alleging a failure to sufficiently secure customer payment card data. Torres v. Wendy’s Co., No. 16-0210 (M.D. Fla., filed February 8, 2016). Wendy’s announced in late January 2016 that it had discovered in its processing systems a software program designed to steal credit and debit card information, several weeks after the plaintiff discovered that his debit card had been used in fraudulent purchases totaling almost $600. “Wendy’s could have prevented this Data Breach,” the complaint asserts. “The malicious software used in the Data Breach was more than likely a variant of ‘BlackPOS,’ the identical malware strain that hackers used in last year’s data breach at many other retail establishments. While many retailers, banks and card companies responded to recent breaches by adopting technology that helps make transactions more secure, Wendy’s has acknowledged that it has retained a security consultant to…
