A coalition of animal rights organizations has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in federal court, alleging that the agency has violated the Poultry Products Inspection Act by allowing foie gras to be sold to consumers. Animal Legal Defense Fund v. USDA, No. __ (C.D. Cal., filed May 9, 2012). According to the plaintiffs, “the USDA is responsible for condemning all poultry products that come from diseased birds. Foie gras consists of the pathologically diseased livers of ducks who are force-fed massive amounts of grain, inducing the disease of hepatic lipidosis, which causes their livers to swell to ten times their normal size.” The organizations have petitioned the agency in the past to require warning labels that would state “NOTICE: Foie gras products are derived from diseased birds.” And they now cite a recent study that purportedly linked the consumption of foie gras to secondary…
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has proposed new traceback measures to better control and prevent pathogens from triggering foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. Particularly concerned with meat contaminated with Escherichia coli (E. coli), FSIS plans to “move quickly to identify the supplier of the product and any processors who received contaminated product from the supplier, once confirmation is received.” FSIS, which has provided industry guidelines on the matter, requests comments by July 6, 2012. See FSIS Press Release, May 2, 2012; Federal Register, May 7, 2012. FSIS has also issued a proposed rule that would remove the food preservatives sodium benzoate, sodium propionate and benzoic acid from a list of substances prohibited for use in meat or poultry products. Under the proposal, the Food and Drug Administration would continue to approve new safety uses of these substances in meat or poultry products while FSIS would approve them for…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that it will neither conduct a hearing nor make any changes to its final rule on the use of irradiation in processing and handling food. According to the agency, “the objections do not justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the regulation,” issued in October 2000 in response to a petition filed by Caudill Seed Co. which sought a regulatory amendment allowing “the safe use of ionizing radiation to control microbial pathogens in seeds for sprouting.” So ruling, FDA rejected Public Citizen’s concerns that the agency failed to apply a 100-fold safety factor, the petitioner submitted no conventional animal toxicity studies on sprouts from irradiated seeds, the review memorandum contained unsubstantiated statements, and the nutritional adequacy of irradiated seeds is questionable, among other matters. See Federal Register, May 11, 2012.
The National Consumers League (NCL) has filed a formal complaint with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), alleging that NuVal LLC’s point of purchase nutrition rating system is “inconsistent with FDA guidance statements and enforcement correspondence, federal nutrition programs, and recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).” Used by more than 1,600 grocery stores in 31 states, the NuVal system apparently scores products out of 100 total points, with more nutritious options garnering a higher rating. NCL has argued, however, that NuVal relies on “a proprietary, non-public algorithm that can lead to inconsistent scores that may confuse and mislead consumers,” and has asked FDA to issue a warning letter to the retail industry about its continued use. Citing an IOM report on nutrition rating systems that criticized NuVal’s formula, the NCL complaint contends that NuVal “runs afoul” of FDA Guidance on Point of Purchase Labeling, which stipulates that all such…
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) and several other organizations have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “investigate PepsiCo’s current ‘Win from Within’ commercial television advertisement and commercial website for its Gatorade sports drink product featuring Michael Jordan’s performance during game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals.” According to the letter, joined by groups such as the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Center for Science in the Public Interest and Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, the ad “encourages teens to engage in dangerous behavior; sequences historical events to falsely enhance the role of Gatorade in Mr. Jordan’s game-winning athletic performance; and contains deceptive product imagery.” The letter claims that the ad targets teens by airing on cable networks appealing to teens, such as “Adult Swim, Teen Nick, ABC Family, and MTV.” The organizations claim that the ad promotes vigorous physical activity during illness, including a…
California Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) has sent a May 3, 2012, letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service, asking the agency to investigate the restaurant industry’s use of transglutaminase or “meat glue” to allegedly bind together “disparate parts of meat products to form a larger piece of meat.” Citing unnamed media reports, Lieu claims that caterers and other facilities sometimes use transglutaminase to combine meat scraps into whole steaks, which are then sold as more expensive cuts like filet mignon. According to the letter, this practice not only deceives customers who believe they have purchased a higher quality product, but purportedly poses a health risk insofar as “reformed” steak may contain contaminated meat that is not thoroughly cooked or served rare. “I respectfully request the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to thoroughly investigate the industry’s use of meat glue, the possible dangers posed…
A federal grand jury in Illinois has brought criminal indictments against four individuals who allegedly distributed more than 110,000 pounds of Mexican cheese in the United States in 2007 despite Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “hold” orders and also allegedly “washed” cheese returned by dissatisfied customers by scraping off mold and fungus so it could be resold. United States v. Zurita, No. __ (N.D. Ill., indictment returned April 18, 2012). No illnesses or other public health issues were attributed to the adulterated cheese distribution in the six-count indictment. The charges involve three separate shipments of cheese from Mexico that FDA ordered to be held and then later ordered either “detained” or “refused” after testing revealed the presence of Salmonella, E. coli, alkaline phosphate (found in unpasteurized products), and Staphylococcus. The defendants allegedly conspired to distribute the shipments despite FDA orders not to do so. They also allegedly distributed cheese before inspection, failed…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a report describing its efforts to ensure the safety of imported food, drugs, medical devices, and other regulated products. Titled “Global Engagement,” the report asserts that FDA-regulated products originate from more than 150 countries, 130,000 importers and 300,000 foreign facilities. According to FDA, food imports have grown each year from 2005 to 2011 by an average of 10 percent, with Americans consuming approximately half of their fresh fruits, 20 percent of fresh vegetables and 80 percent of seafood from imports. “As the volume of imported food increases, so too does the risk that some products will fail to meet FDA standards,” the report states. “The realities of the global marketplace add substantial challenges to FDA’s ability to protect U.S. consumers.” Among its strategies to ensure imported product safety, FDA said it uses portable instruments to screen products, collaborates with coalitions of regulators…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published its second annual Reportable Food Registry (RFR) report summarizing information submitted by manufacturers, processors, packers and holders through the online Food Safety Portal from September 8, 2010, to September 7, 2011. Covering all human and animal food/feed regulated by FDA “except infant formula and dietary supplements,” RFR tracks “patterns of food and feed adulteration” to help FDA administer inspection resources more effectively. According to the report, FDA received 1,153 total entries in RFR’s second year compared with 2,600 in its first year, a difference which the agency ascribes to three major events in 2009-2010 that generated 1,284 subsequent records related to sulfites in prepared side dishes, Listeria monocytogenes in cheese spreads and Salmonella in hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Without these entries, FDA stated, the tallies for the first and second years would have differed by only 74 records. In particular, the second annual…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a statement confirming that its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service identified a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow from central California. According to the April 24, 2012, news release, the cow presented with an atypical type of BSE “not generally associated with an animal consuming infected feed” and was never destined for human consumption. “The United States has had longstanding interlocking safeguards to protect human and animal health against BSE,” said USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford, adding that milk does not transmit BSE. “For public health, these measures include the USDA ban on specified risk materials, or SRMs, from the food supply. SRMs are parts of the animals that are most likely to contain the BSE agent if it is present in the animal. USDA also bans all nonambulatory (sometimes called ‘downer’) cattle from entering the…
