The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council, representing some 100,000 producers, are reportedly calling on their government to bring legal challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement and WTO rules to the new country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law that took effect in the United States on October 1, 2008. According to the beef and pork producers, the law has begun shutting their livestock out of U.S. markets, where domestic and foreign animals must now be segregated in feedlots and packing plants. Origination documentation and disease-free tags are also apparently adding to producer costs. The Canadian producers claim that some companies are refusing to import Canadian cattle altogether and others will slaughter them only on certain days, a situation that threatens to cost the Canadian producers some $800 million annually. In a letter to Canada’s prime minister, the Cattlemen’s president reportedly said, “Our preliminary estimate is that COOL is reducing…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative has issued a request for comments about potential alternative products imported from the European Union (EU) that are under consideration for the imposition of increased duties. The action arises from an ongoing dispute with the EU over its refusal to allow imports of U.S. meat and meat products produced from animals treated with artificial growth hormones. According to the U.S. Trade Representative, “The [World Trade Organization] found over 10 years ago that the EU’s ban on U.S. beef was not supported by science and was thus inconsistent with WTO rules. When the EU failed to bring its measures into compliance with its WTO obligations, the United States imposed tariffs on certain imports from the EU, as authorized by the WTO. Since that time, we have been trying to resolve this dispute with the EU without changing the composition of tariffs. It is now time…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has scheduled a workshop for December 12, 2008, to discuss possible regulatory language that would apply to foods or crops with added nutrients that exceed levels considered safe under Proposition 65. According to OEHHA’s notice, “this set of regulations, if adopted, will only apply to chemicals that are already on the Proposition 65 list, or that are added to the list in the future. The exposure level established in these potential regulations for a listed chemical would not limit the amount of the chemical that can be added to any particular product and would not restrict the sale or availability of any food product or supplement. Instead, these levels could be used by businesses subject to the [Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement] Act to determine when a warning is required for an exposure to the listed chemicals in question in a food…
The USDA has issued a proposed rule that will amend the livestock provisions of the National Organic Program by providing greater detail about pasture and ruminant animals and “clarify the replacement animal provision for dairy animals.” Comments must be submitted on or before December 23, 2008. The Federal Register notice provides a history of the rule’s development and summarizes the content of the thousands of comments the agency received on an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking published in 2006. According to the agency, “[s]upport for strict standards and greater detail on the role of pasture in organic livestock production was nearly unanimous with just 28 of the over 80,500 comments opposing changes to the pasture requirements.” Among the changes are (i) defining “crop” to include pastures, sod and cover crops; (ii) defining “livestock” as “Any bee, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, equine animals used for food or in the production…
Whole Foods Market, Inc., which is currently litigating the FTC’s challenge to its merger with Wild Oats Markets, has submitted comments on the commission’s proposed merger rule changes and is urging others to join its “Ad Hoc Committee for FTC Fair Play” to do so as well. Apparently, the FTC will allow comments for only 30 days, which Whole Foods characterizes as “unusually short,” and has proposed (i) setting evidentiary hearings five months from the date of the complaint in merger cases, regardless of complexity, (ii) giving the commission the authority to decide “all dispositive pre-hearing motions,” (iii) giving the commission or an individual commissioner the authority to preside over discovery, and (iv) providing that “the norm should be that the Part 3 case can proceed even if a [federal] court denies preliminary relief.” Whole Foods contends, “The proposed regulatory changes collectively will create an antitrust double standard by exacerbating…
According to a news source, the Chinese press is reporting that melamine is commonly used in animal feed “to reduce product costs while maintaining protein count for quality inspections.” The Nanfang Daily apparently calls the practice an “open secret” in the industry. Unnamed industry analysts reportedly said that such news reports constitute “an unusual departure for Chinese officials” and amount to a tacit admission that the scandal, which has affected a range of food products in recent months from milk to eggs, could affect even more parts of the food supply chain. U.S. food safety officials reportedly indicated some months ago that melamine detected in livestock feed did not pose a threat to human health. Details about their conclusions appear in issue 213 of this Update. See BBC News, October 31, 2008.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) recently released a Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative in response to “community concerns about food and beverage advertising during children’s television programs.” AFGC developed the initiative after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) published its draft Children’s Television Standards 2008, which did not recommend further government regulation of food and beverage advertising. In agreement with these preliminary findings, AFGC nevertheless stated that industry “is still keen to address community concerns regarding advertising to children.” The initiative covers advertising on free-to-air television, pay television and the Internet; the use of licensed characters; and promotions in children’s publications. Companies that publicly commit to the program must institute an action plan focused on six core areas: (i) advertising messaging; (ii) the use of popular personalities and licensed characters; (iii) product placement; (iv) the use of products in interactive games; (v) advertising in schools; and (vi) the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have announced a November 4, 2008, public meeting to consider agenda items coming before the 17th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS). Slated for November 24-28 in Cebu, Philippines, the Codex session will address (i) the proposed draft “Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Foreign On-Site Audits and Inspections;” (ii) the proposed draft “General Model Health Certificate;” and (iii) the annex to the “Guidelines for Design, Production, Insurance and Use of Generic Official Certificates.” In addition, the committee will discuss “the need for guidance for national food inspection systems, the need for further guidance on traceability and product tracing, and the development of guidance on the prevention of international contamination of food,” according to USDA. Codex was formed in 1963 by the United Nations, the Food and…
A subcommittee of FDA’s Science Board has released its peer review of the agency’s draft assessment of bisphenol A (or BPA) for use in food contact applications. The FDA’s draft assessment concluded, on the basis of industry-funded studies, that “an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA at current levels of exposure from food contact uses.” Further information about the draft assessment appears in issue 272 of this Update. According to the peer review, scheduled to be reviewed by FDA’s Science Board on October 31, 2008, the FDA properly focused on dietary exposures to children, “because they are likely to have both greater exposures and susceptibility than adults as a function of food consumption patterns, metabolism, vulnerability of developing systems and other factors.” The peer review then criticizes the agency’s assessment for its lack of “an adequate number of infant formula samples” and reliance “on mean values rather than accounting…
According to news sources, the United Nations released a report October 22, 2008, calling on China to overhaul its system of food-safety regulation. The World Health Organization’s top food-safety official claimed that the country’s recent tainted-milk scandal was a result of individuals who “exploited weaknesses” in the regulatory system, which is “dispersed” among too many agencies and governmental levels. The U.N. urged the government to streamline its laws, make them tougher and regulate food products from farm to fork. A local spokesperson said that the U.N. stood ready to work closely with Chinese officials on reforming the law. The report apparently urges the Chinese government to shift more responsibility to food companies by requiring them to institute risk-management programs that can be audited by government inspectors. Released just as the standing committee of the National People’s Congress was preparing to discuss the draft of a new food-safety law that will,…
