The Center for Food Safety and the Seikatsu Club Consumers Cooperative have joined to jointly decry the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recent determination that genetically engineered (GE) salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. is as safe to eat as conventional salmon and will have little effect on the environment. At the time of FDA’s announcement, the Center for Food Safety vowed to file a lawsuit against the agency. “FDA’s decision to approve this GE salmon was irresponsible and unlawful and it will have global repercussions,” said George Kimbrell, a Center for Food Safety attorney. “We are honored to join with our colleagues in Japan in opposing GE fish and the Aquabounty salmon. Together, we will work to stop its expansion in order to preserve our native fisheries and protect the markets so many depend on around the world.” According to the consumer groups, Japan imported $2 billion worth…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) can sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its Food Safety and Inspection Service’s denial of a petition for rulemaking on prohibiting force-fed foie gras. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., No. 13-55868 (9th Cir., order entered December 7, 2015). The district court had dismissed the action sua sponte after determining the denial was equivalent to a non-enforcement decision and thus not reviewable by the court. The appeals court described two exceptions that limit when an individual can challenge a final agency decision in court under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), finding the district court had erred in determining the foie gras denial fell into one of the exceptions. The court distinguished “agency decisions not to take enforcement actions,” which cannot be subjected to judicial review and involve past breaches of existing…
A new report issued by the European Commission advocates that the European Parliament take action on trans fat levels in foods by introducing (i) a mandatory label for foods with trans fat, (ii) legislation setting a limit on allowable trans fat content, (iii) voluntary agreements to reduce trans fat content, or (iv) guidance for national legal limits on trans fats in food. The report analyzes each option, noting possible benefits and drawbacks. “Mandatory [trans fat] labeling would serve two purposes: (i) to provide incentives to the industry towards reducing [trans fat] from food products and (ii) to enable consumers to make informed food choices,” the report explains, noting the labels would have a limited impact if consumer awareness of the negative effects associated with trans fat is low. The report further finds that a legal limit on allowable trans fat content would provide the highest public health benefits, but an…
Lorrie Faith Cranor will reportedly succeed Askan Soltani as Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as of January 2016. The role focuses on advising FTC Chair Edith Ramirez and the Commission on technology and policy issues. “Technology is playing an ever more important role in consumers’ lives, whether through mobile devices, personal fitness trackers or the increasing array of Internet-connected devices we find in homes and elsewhere,” Ramirez said in announcing Cranor’s appointment. Cranor currently directs the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is a professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Public Policy. She has authored more than 150 papers about online privacy and usable security. See FTC News Release, December 3, 2015. Issue 587
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich uses the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recent determination that genetically engineered salmon is safe for human consumption and requires no labeling as such to rally consumers into action against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in a December 1, 2015, opinion piece in Time. “The biotech industry and the FDA have hijacked not only our basic rights as consumers, but also our fundamental human rights in the face of corporate monopolization of our food supply,” Brockovich said. “They are jeopardizing our health and the environment more than ever before. When will the government agencies put in place to protect us stop servicing the bottom line of corporations?” Brockovich briefly reviews the findings of various agencies and organizations worldwide, ultimately imploring readers to “help spark a larger conversation about the food we are eating in this country” by voicing their GMO-related concerns to federal lawmakers. Issue 586
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has reportedly voted to repeal an ordinance prohibiting advertisements for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on city property in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., that struck down a comparable initiative restricting advertising on public property. The ordinance was one of three passed by the municipal lawmakers in June 2015. The others (i) mandate health warnings on most billboards and ads for SSBs with 25 or more calories and (ii) prevent city departments and contractors from using city funds to purchase SSBs. “We may have lost this particular battle, but the war rages on,” Supervisor Malia Cohen was quoted as saying. “We didn’t take down Big Tobacco overnight—we’re not going to take down Big Soda overnight either.” The American Beverage Association filed suit against both advertising ordinances on First Amendment grounds, and its challenge of the mandated health…
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has launched a Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies. The new program will reportedly coordinate research and intervention studies across the agency for this “high-risk worker population.” See NIOSH eNews, December 2015. Issue 586
Kind LLC has filed a citizen petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) challenging regulations governing the use of “healthy” on food labeling, arguing that specific nutrient levels in a product do not dictate whether it is “healthy.” The petition asks FDA to reevaluate its nutrient content claim regulations for consistency with current federal dietary recommendations and issue rules accordingly. Kind filed the petition months after FDA issued the company a warning letter—and the company was targeted by a consumer class action on the same subject—about the use of “healthy” on Kind snack bars, which contain more than 1 gram of saturated fat due to their nut content. Additional details about the letter and subsequent lawsuits appear in Issues 562 and 575 of this Update. Issue 586
The National Advertising Division (NAD), an investigative unit of the U.S. advertising industry’s system of self-regulation, has referred to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) an ad campaign for Danisa “Traditional Butter Cookies,” which are manufactured by the Mayora Group in Indonesia and distributed by Takari International, Inc. NAD evaluated the campaign in April 2015 after Campbell Soup Co. challenged several aspects of the product’s marketing, including the claim that the cookies are “produced and packed in Denmark” and “baked following the original recipe from Denmark,” as well as the use of Scandinavian imagery. Further, Campbell argued that FDA requires any product labeled as “Butter Cookies” to use only butter as a shortening ingredient, but multiple independent studies have shown the presence of a non-butter fat ingredient in the Danisa product. Takari International argued it could not be liable for packaging claims or discrepancies…
After a review by the National Advertising Division (NAD), the advertising industry’s self-regulation investigative arm, Gobble, Inc. has agreed to discontinue claims that packaging for its meal-delivery services is “eco-friendly.” NAD requested substantiation for several claims appearing on Gobble’s website, including the company’s use of “insulated liners that are biodegradable so that you can dispose of them in your trash with minimal impact on the environment.” In response to the inquiry, Gobble stated it would permanently and voluntarily withdraw its packaging claims of biodegradability and eco-friendliness, but noted it had a good-faith belief that the claims were true when first publishing them. Issue 585
