An organization that promotes family-scale farming and organic foods has called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Dean Foods, which purportedly claims that its Horizon “milk with Omega-3 DHA” products support brain and eye development in children and benefit pregnant and nursing women. In its April 21, 2011, letter, the Cornucopia Institute details the company’s allegedly false and misleading claims “targeted to pregnant women and children” and urges the agency to enjoin the company, if appropriate, to prevent further false and misleading marketing claims. According to the institute, the company is also promoting its Horizon milk as “natural nourishment . . . without the additives you’d rather avoid,” despite using a DHA oil that is “an extract from mutated and fermented algae that have never been part of the human diet.” The letter notes that in 2004 FTC questioned whether the company that makes the DHA supplements added…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
A bill (S. 831) spearheaded by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) would require country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter. Franken was quoted as saying that the legislation “isn’t a silver bullet, but it does give family farms another tool that will help them compete in a crowded marketplace. And it gives consumers the option to purchase milk and cheese from our own family farms.” See Product Liability Law 360, April 15, 2011.
The U.S. Senate has approved a bill (S. 216) designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” according to the legislation’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The proposal would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the ability to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years. See Press Release of Senator Patrick Leahy, April 15, 2011.
According to the Department of Justice, a Massachusetts-based fish packer has been convicted of several criminal charges for falsely labeling packages of frozen fish fillets. A federal jury in Boston found Stephen Delaney guilty of a felony violation of the Lacey Act for falsely labeling $8,000 worth of frozen pollock, a product of China, as more expensive cod loins, a product of Canada. The jury also convicted Delaney of one misdemeanor violation for misbranding food under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; he allegedly placed into interstate commerce $203,000 worth of Chinese frozen fish fillets falsely labeled as products of Canada, Holland, Namibia, and the United States. Evidence at trial apparently indicated that he also changed 4 oz. labels on some packages to 5 oz. labels. Delaney will be sentenced on June 8, 2011; he faces up to six years in jail and up to $350,000 in fines. See Department of…
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D) has issued an order that will require all city departments to take steps to stop “the sale, advertising, and promotion of sugary beverages on City-owned property.” The mayor is apparently concerned about setting an example in a community with high obesity rates that he attributes in part to the consumption of sweetened beverages. Under the executive order, only certain types of beverages will be sold in city cafeterias and vending machines and at city concession stands, or served during meetings, city-run programs and events catered with city funds. After a six-month grace period, city buildings and departments must phase out the sale of “red” beverages, that is, “those loaded with sugar, such as non-diet sodas, pre-sweetened ice teas, refrigerated coffee drinks, energy drinks, juice drinks with added sugar and sports drinks.” The promotion of such beverages will be prohibited. “Green” beverages can continue to be…
The Illinois House of Representatives has approved a bill (H.B. 1600) that would prohibit “food facilities” from selling food containing artificial trans fats. Effective January 1, 2013, the law would apply to any “entity that prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption at the retail level,” including public and private school vending machines. Starting January 1, 2016, the bill would broaden to eliminate the use of artificial trans fats from cafeterias operated by state or local governments or by public or private schools. Most prepackaged foods would be exempt. If approved by the Illinois Senate and signed by the governor, the law would make Illinois and California the only states to enact trans fat bans. According to the bill’s sponsor, Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), Illinois has the 10th highest percent of obese and overweight children in the country. “Health problems cost our state so much…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has answered criticism of a July 21, 2000, final rule allowing “the safe use of ionizing radiation for the reduction of Salmonella in fresh shell eggs,” and denied requests for a hearing on the ground that the objections “do not raise issues of material fact or otherwise provide a basis for revoking or modifying . . . the regulation.” FDA evidently received 26 submissions contesting the final rule, which permits the irradiation of fresh shell eggs at doses not to exceed 3.0 kiloGray (kGy), but only one letter from Public Citizen raised specific issues within the rule’s scope. The April 13, 2011, Federal Register notice responds to Public Citizen’s claims that FDA misrepresented irradiation’s efficacy and its effect on vitamin A loss and egg yolk carotenoids; that FDA raised the dose allowance to 3.0 kGY without properly updating its analyses; and that FDA failed…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced an April 20, 2011, public meeting to discuss a Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandate to implement “comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply.” FSMA requires human, pet and animal food and feed facilities registered under section 415 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350d) “to take certain preventive actions, including to evaluate the hazards that could affect food manufactured, processed, packed, or held by the facility, and to identify and implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent the occurrence of such hazards.” The meeting will help FDA establish these controls as well as industry guidance “for conducting a hazard analysis, documenting hazards, implementing preventive controls, and documenting their implementation.” In particular, the agency has requested information on “preventive controls used by facilities to identify and address hazards associated with specific types of food and specific processes.”…
In preparation for the 34th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Office of the Under Secretary of Food Safety has scheduled a June 16, 2011, meeting to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the Codex meeting. Written comments may be submitted to U.S. Codex Manager Karen Stuck at [email protected]. The Codex session will be held July 4-9 in Geneva, and topics on the agenda include the consideration of draft standards at varying stages of development. Among other matters, Codex participants will consider standards and guidelines relating to risk analysis of foodborne antimicrobial resistance, nutrition labeling, the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat, food additives, maximum levels for melamine in food and for arsenic in rice, fish oils, and hygienic practice for mineral waters, fresh fruits and vegetables. The World Health Organization and the…
Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that would “establish a regulatory framework . . . under the aegis of the Federal Trade Commission [FTC]” to protect personal data online. According to an April 12, 2011, press release, the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights aims to protect consumers from “unscrupulous actors in the market” by creating “a baseline code of conduct for how personally identifiable information and information that can uniquely identify an individual or networked device are used, stored, and distributed.” To this end, the legislation would require collectors of information, such as online advertisers and vendors, to (i) “implement security measures to protect the information they collect and maintain”; (ii) “provide clear notice to individuals on the collection practices and the purpose for such collection”; and (iii) “collect only as much information as necessary to process or enforce a transaction or deliver a…
