A German court has reportedly ordered the city of Hamburg to compensate a Spanish vegetable grower falsely linked to a 2011 E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 4,000 people in 16 countries. Vegetable cooperative Frunet asserted that it suffered €2.3 million in damages as a result of its incorrect identification as the source of the outbreak, which was later traced to fenugreek sprouts. The amount of the award has not been confirmed. See Think Spain, October 25, 2015. Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s decision that the government does not owe tomato growers compensation after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publicly attributed a 2008 Salmonella outbreak to red tomatoes, then later traced it to jalapeno and serrano peppers. DiMare Fresh, Inc. v. U.S., No. 15-5006 (Fed. Cir., order entered October 28, 2015). “The problem with the Tomato Producers’ contention…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has announced a monograph evaluating the alleged link between red and processed meat consumption and cancer. According to an October 26, 2015, press release, 22 experts from 10 countries reviewed more than 800 epidemiological studies about this association, with the greatest weight given to “prospective cohort studies done in the general population.” Published in The Lancet Oncology with a detailed assessment to follow in volume 114 of the IARC Monographs, the initial summary concludes that red meat—which includes beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat—is “probably carcinogenic to humans” “based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat causes cancer in humans and strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect.” In addition, the meta-analysis purportedly found that meats “transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes” are “carcinogenic to humans” “based on sufficient evidence that the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has reportedly launched an investigation into the American Egg Board (AEB) following the release of emails that allegedly revealed a concerted campaign against Hampton Creek, the manufacturer of an egg-free mayonnaise-like spread called Just Mayo. According to The Guardian, the announcement comes after calls for a congressional investigation by Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick and others. “Recent news reports have brought to light a series of emails, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that contain compelling evidence that [American Egg Board] leadership, including the Egg Board’s President and CEO, may have violated the federal laws and administrative regulations governing checkoff programs,” stated U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in an October 20 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack about the emails. Additional details about the AEB emails and litigation against Hampton Creek appear in Issues 578 and 549 of this…
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel) has issued two scientific opinions deriving dietary reference values (DRVs) for iron and copper. After estimating whole-body iron losses and absorption values for men and women, the panel set the population reference intake (PRI) at 11 mg/ day for men and postmenopausal women; infants ages 7 to 11 months; children ages 7 to 11 years; and boys ages 12 to 17 years. It also established PRIs of 16 mg/day for premenopausal women; 13 mg/day for girls ages 12 to 17 years; and 7 mg/day in children ages 1 to 6 years. Due to the absence of biomarkers indicating copper status as well as limited data, the NDA Panel only defined adequate intakes (AIs) “based on mean observed intakes in several European Union (EU) countries, given that there is no evidence of overt copper deficiency in…
Public Health England (PHE) has issued an October 2015 evidence review urging the U.K. government to reduce sugar consumption. Building on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s (SACN’s) conclusion that free sugar intake should constitute less than 5 percent of dietary energy, the report discusses food and beverage marketing, sugar accessibility and product composition, educational efforts, and local initiatives. PHE also addresses taxation schemes, noting that price increases “can influence purchasing of sugar-sweetened drinks and other high sugar products at least in the short-term.” The findings target retail promotions and marketing to children as two key aspects of the food environment that allegedly promote sugar consumption. Among other things, the report specifically recommends (i) restricting the number and type of price promotions across all retail outlets; (ii) reducing food and beverage marketing to children as well as adults; (iii) defining high-sugar foods according to Ofcom’s nutrient profiling model; (iv) instituting…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a newly interactive iteration of its Foodborne Outbreak Online Database Tool. The resource allows users to search data by year, state, location of food preparation, food and ingredient, and implicated germ. The information captured in the database comes from CDC’s Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, which tracks data on outbreaks caused by enteric bacterial, viral, parasitic, and chemical agents reported by local, state and territorial health agencies. CDC estimates that one in six Americans becomes sick annually from consuming contaminated foods and beverages. See CDC News Release, October 20, 2015. Issue 582
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to compel the agency to act on the advocacy group’s 2005 citizen petition requesting regulations about the use of salt as a food additive. Ctr. for Sci. in Pub. Interest v. FDA, No. 15-1651 (D.D.C., filed October 8, 2015). The petition called for FDA to revoke salt’s status as generally recognized as safe, amend prior approvals of salt use, require food manufacturers to reduce sodium levels in processed foods, and mandate labeling messages about the health effects of salt in foods containing more than half an ounce of the substance. The complaint alleges that while “[n]early all Americans consume more sodium than is safe,” “[c]onsumers can exert relatively little control over their sodium intake by adjusting discretionary use of salt” because such use amounts to only 5 to 10…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a scientific opinion assessing any potential risks associated with the use of insect protein in food and animal feed. Concluding that chemical and biological risks depend on production method, the type of substrate used, and insect species, the expert panel specifically notes that “the occurrence of prions—abnormal proteins that can cause diseases such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans—is expected to be equal or lower if the substrate does not include protein derived from humans (manure) or ruminants.” The report also calls for more data about the possible accumulation of cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals in farm-raised insects. “EFSA concludes that when non-processed insects are fed with currently permitted feed materials, the potential occurrence of microbiological hazards is expected to be similar to that associated with other nonprocessed sources of protein,” states a…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a call for research exploring how the Internet of Things (IoT) could affect food safety. Working with The IT as a Utility Network Plus, FSA seeks short-term pilot studies “intended to test new ideas or create novel linkages between research areas.” In particular, the joint initiative seeks to focus on (i) “IoT data, data standards and sharing”; (ii) “IoT transport and food, particularly temperature control”; (iii) “organizing hackathon events to exploit, disseminate and excite opportunities of IoT from farm to table”; and (iv) “what happens to food in people’s homes.” FSA will accept submissions until November 2, 2015. Issue 581
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released a trio of decisions upholding complaints against two distilleries and a bread company over allegedly misleading advertisements. Ruling against Summerhall Distillery Ltd. in a complaint filed by a rival company, ASA took issue with advertisements for “hand crafted” Pickering’s Gin that touted Summerhall as Edinburgh’s first gin distillery in more than 150 years, a claim the authority found could not be substantiated. “We considered that linking the product to the heritage of the spirit trade in Edinburgh and to imply that it was related to a revival of this industry was likely to be of particular interest to some consumers, and that its provenance in this context was therefore material information,” states ASA’s decision, which notes the presence of distillery operations within Edinburgh since 1863. “Because the claims had not been substantiated, we concluded that the ads were misleading.” In addition, ASA sided…
