The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered 48 food companies “to file a special report” on their youth marketing practices in an effort “to measure the effect that self-regulation has had over the last three years,” according to FTC spokesperson Carol Jennings. The companies have 90 days to respond to the subpoenas, which will assist FTC in compiling a follow-up to its 2008 report titled “Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation.” Additional information about this ongoing process appears in Issue 320 of this Update. See Advertising Age, September 1, 2010. “We are supportive of industry voluntary efforts to limit their marketing to kids and this will see whether more is needed,” stated Jennings, who noted that the commission is “not proposing any regulation” at this time. See Advertising Age, September 1, 2010.
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
Responding to media reports that workers at the egg facilities linked to a recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak complained about food safety problems, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has written to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking whether these complaints were investigated and whether the agency has a process for reporting safety violations. Grassley acknowledges that USDA places only non-food safety personnel at egg farms to grade the eggs. Still, he asks whether “there is an established process for USDA employees to report food safety concerns to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration, which has the responsibility for food safety] when they fall outside of USDA’s jurisdiction?” According to press reports, two former Wright County Egg facility employees said they told USDA employees that they had observed problems such as leaking manure, rodents and dead chickens at the facilities. They also apparently claimed that USDA employees “would just turn…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued an interim final rule that extends until October 1, 2012, the allowance for methionine in organic poultry production. Effective October 1, 2010, the interim rule allows organic operations to use synthetic methionine at the following maximum limits per ton of poultry feed: (i) four pounds for laying chickens; (ii) five pounds for broiler chickens; and (iii) six pounds for turkeys and all other poultry. According to an August 24, 2010, press release, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) in April 2010 called for amending the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances to permit the continued use of synthetic methionine, an amino acid essential for poultry health and development, because its prohibition would “cause substantial economic hardship” for producers. In addition, NOSB has recommended extending the allowance beyond October 1, 2012, to October 1, 2015, while decreasing “the maximum…
Linking a Salmonella Typhi outbreak to frozen mamey fruit pulp, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has urged consumers to discard La Nuestra® or Goya® fruit products in their possession and find out what brand is in use by street vendors before purchasing the mamey fruit-based juices and fruit shakes they sell. At least nine consumers in California and Nevada have apparently developed typhoid fever from the outbreak. FDA has also indicated that it will increase its border sampling to prevent contaminated product from entering the United States. See Product Liability Law 360, August 20, 2010.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released draft and final guidance to assist restaurateurs and vending machine operators in implementing the labeling provisions set out in section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The Act requires food retail establishments with 20 or more locations to post the calorie content for standard items on menus and menu boards; provide additional nutrition information in writing; and post calorie information for self-serve items and foods on display. The draft document offers proposed guidance on the execution of these standards, while the final explains the impact of the federal measure on state and local laws. According to an August 24, 2010, FDA press release, the agency “realizes that industry may need additional information and time to comply with the new provisions, and that the agency expects to refrain from enforcement action for a time period that will be provided…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced two public meetings to consider the labeling of food derived from genetically engineered (GE) salmon. During the first meeting slated for September 19-20, 2010, the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee will address general scientific issues surrounding GE animals, statutory and regulatory constraints, and “a new animal drug application (NADA) concerning AquAdvantage salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.,” which has inserted Chinook and ocean pout genes into Atlantic salmon to accelerate maturation. In addition, FDA has called a September 21, 2010, public hearing to explain “the relevant legal principles for food labeling and to solicit information and views from interested persons on the application of these principles to food derived from AquAdvantage Salmon.” FDA has specifically invited participants to consider the following: (i) “Which facts about the AquAdvantage Salmon seem most pertinent for FDA’s consideration of whether there are any ‘material’ differences between foods…
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) appropriations subcommittee, is seeking information from the agencies about the unfolding Salmonella outbreak linked to two Iowa egg producers. Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) have also stepped into the massive egg recall, requesting information from the same agencies and demanding documents and information from the egg company owners. Stupak’s oversight subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has scheduled a September 14, 2010, hearing into the matter and has apparently invited Wright County Egg owner Austin “Jack” DeCoster and Hillandale Farms owner Orland Bethel to testify. More than a half-billion eggs, representing less than 1 percent of the U.S. egg supply, have been recalled after an upswing in Salmonella cases came to the attention of state regulators and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beginning in May.…
President Barack Obama (D) recently announced his intention to “recess appoint” Elisabeth Hagen as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) under secretary for food safety. According to a White House press release, Hagen is among four key administrative nominees who have waited an average of 303 days for Senate confirmation. Obama said he chose to appoint all the nominees while Congress was away on its August recess in accordance with his “authority to do what is best for the American people. At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent.” Hagen is currently the USDA’s chief medical officer and senior executive within USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack was quoted as saying that Hagen’s background “will enable her to successfully lead…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against companies that sell açai berry supplements, “colon cleansers” and other products online by featuring false Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray endorsements and illegally billing customer credit cards. According to an agency press release, a U.S. district court has temporarily ordered a halt to “an internet sales scheme that allegedly scammed consumers out of $30 million or more in 2009 alone through deceptive advertising and unfair billing practices.” The court order also imposes an asset freeze and appoints a temporary receiver over several companies “while the FTC moves forward with its case to stop the company’s bogus health claims and other deceptive and unfair conduct.” The companies purportedly made “free” trial offers for an açai berry supplement pitched as a rapid weight-loss product and a colon cleanser said to prevent cancer. The companies purportedly claimed that they would provide full refunds to…
A federal court in California has decided to stop all new planting of genetically modified (GM) sugar beets in light of its September 2009 ruling that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) violated environmental law when it deregulated the crop without conducting an appropriate environmental assessment. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 08-00484 (N.D. Cal., decided August 13, 2010). Additional information about the court’s prior ruling appears in Issue 320 of this Update. While the court granted the plaintiffs’ request to vacate APHIS’s deregulation decision, it denied their motion for a permanent injunction. The court determined that vacatur was justified because APHIS’s errors were serious. “Moreover,” the court observed, “APHIS’s apparent position that it is merely a matter of time before they reinstate the same deregulation decision, or a modified version of this decision, and thus apparent perception that conducting the requisite comprehensive…
