The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with Dean Foods Co. over antitrust concerns about its acquisition of the Foremost Farms USA Coop. Under the agreement, which will be published in the Federal Register for comment and must undergo court approval, Dean will “divest a significant milk processing plant in Waukesha, Wis., and related assets . . . including the Golden Guernsey brand name.” The agreement also apparently requires Dean to “notify the department before it makes any future acquisition of milk processing plants for which the purchase price is more than $3 million.” According to DOJ, the divestiture will “restore competition in the sale of milk to schools, grocery stores, convenience stores and other retailers in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.” See Department of Justice Press Release, March 29, 2011.
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a joint March 30, 2011, statement confirming traces of radiation in domestic cow’s milk, which the agencies have been monitoring since an earthquake and tsunami in Japan compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant. A screening sample taken near Spokane, Washington, apparently contained 0.8 pCi/L of iodine-131, an amount “more than 5,000 times lower than the Derived Intervention Level set by FDA.” Based “on very conservative assumptions,” this level defines the threshold at which “protective measures would be recommended to ensure that no one receives a significant dose.” “Iodine-131 has a short half-life of approximately eight days,” said the agencies. “These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children.” See FDA’s Radiation Safety: New and Updated Information, March 29,…
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Advisory Committee has reportedly rejected a proposal to require warning labels for artificial food dyes, thereby confirming its earlier position that “a causal relationship between exposure to color additives and hyperactivity in children in the general population has not been established.” The committee addressed the issue at a March 30-31, 2011, meeting, where it heard testimony from experts, consumers and advocacy groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which has long urged FDA to follow Europe’s example in encouraging companies to switch to non-synthetic alternatives. “It is to the great shame of many U.S.-based food companies that they are marketing safer, naturally colored products in Europe but not the United States,” opined CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson in a March 30, 2011, statement. See The New York Times, March 29, 2011; NPR, March 30, 2011. In particular, the advisory…
The Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice and a number of other public interest groups have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging its decision to deregulate genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 11-1310 (N.D. Cal., filed March 18, 2011). Other plaintiffs include the Cornucopia Institute, Geertson Seed Farms, which successfully challenged a previous agency decision to deregulate GE alfalfa, the Sierra Club, and organizations representing the interests of organic and family farmers. The complaint alleges that the environmental impact statement (EIS) that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) prepared to support its deregulation decision violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Plant Protection Act (PPA) and Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs note that the court-ordered EIS “is the first (and only) EIS APHIS has ever completed for any GE crop, in over fifteen years of approving GE crops for commercial use.” Seeking…
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is requesting nominations for members to the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture. Nominations for one- to two-year terms are requested by April 18, 2011. Members are selected to “achieve a balanced representation of viewpoints” to address USDA biotechnology policy issues. Issues of the most immediate concern involve providing practical suggestions “on ways to strengthen coexistence among different agricultural crop production methods.” See Federal Register, March 18, 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied requests to delay a final rule amending food additive regulations “to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for the control of Vibrio species and other foodborne pathogens in fresh or frozen molluscan shellfish.” According to FDA, it has reviewed opposition to the final rule and requests for a hearing, but concluded that objections filed by groups such as Public Citizen and the Center for Food Safety did not “justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the regulation.” In particular, the agency’s latest decision dismisses allegations that (i) FDA failed to consider evidence indicating “harmful effects from consumption of irradiated molluscan shellfish”; (ii) the final rule does not ensure a product “that is microbiologically safe”; (iii) there is no reasonable certainty of no harm; (iv) FDA failed to consider “several factors that could make irradiated molluscan shellfish unsafe”;…
The World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have continued to address public concerns about food produced in Japan, where a recent earthquake and tsunami compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. According to WHO, which has published a list of frequently asked questions about the disaster, “[f]ood safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency,” with some products likely to be deemed unsafe for human consumption. In areas where contamination has occurred, the organization has specifically urged citizens to avoid consuming milk or vegetables, slaughtering animals, hunting, harvesting aquatic animals and plants, or collecting other wild foods such as mushrooms. It has also asked producers to take numerous precautions to protect vegetables, livestock and rice harvests from fallout. “The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial…
Five Hispanic farmers have filed a putative class action in a D.C. district court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to seek “redress from Defendants’ unconstitutional treatment in the proposed settlement of discrimination claims by these Hispanic Plaintiffs . . . as compared to the manner in which Defendants have settled identical discrimination claims by similarly situated African-American and Native American claimants, . . . all of whom were undeniably discriminated against in like manner by [USDA] in the administration of its farm credit and non-credit farm benefit programs.” Cantu v. United States, No. 11-00541 (D.D.C., filed March 15, 2011). According to the complaint, the government has paid African-American farmers about $1 billion in settlement benefits, and legislation signed into law in December 2010 provides an additional $1.25 billion to settle African-American farmers’ claims. Native American farmers were purportedly offered $680 million in compensation and $80 million in debt…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued a final rule extending the use of methionine in organic poultry production until October 1, 2012. Effective March 15, 2011, the rule amends the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances according to the recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which governs the use of synthetic and non-synthetic substances in organic processing and production. A dietary supplement, methionine “is classified as an essential amino acid because it cannot be biologically produced by poultry and is necessary to maintain vitality.” In 2009, the Methionine Task Force filed a petition requesting a five-year extension on the allowance for synthetic methionine, partly because wholly natural sources of the supplement are not available. NOSB ultimately recommended that, at first, “the amount of synthetic methionine per ton of feed be limited to 4 pounds for laying chickens, 5 pounds for broiler chickens,…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its first public meeting to discuss implementation of import safety provisions recently enacted by the Food Safety Modernization Act. Titled “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: Title III—A New Paradigm for Importers,” the March 29, 2011, meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, seeks stakeholder input to develop regulations and guidance “on importer verification, the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, import certifications for food, and third-party accreditation.” FDA requests comments by April 29, 2011. See Federal Register, March 14, 2011. In a related matter, FDA has also announced a public hearing on the agency’s new initiatives for ensuring the safety of imported foods and animal feed to reduce food borne illness. The March 30-31 hearing in College Park, Maryland, will “provide stakeholders the opportunity to discuss FDA’s use of international comparability assessments as a mechanism to enhance the safety of imported foods and animal feed and lessons…
