According to Bloomberg reporters Robert Langreth and Duane Stanford, as researchers publish more studies suggesting that processed foods and sugary drinks have drug-like effects on the brain, “the science of addiction could become a game changer for the $1 trillion food and beverage industries.” In their November 2, 2011, article “Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine in Growing Body of Scientific Research,” the authors contend that if these types of foods and beverages “are proven to be addictive, food companies may face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago.” While industry executives and lobbyists apparently refute these claims, insisting that people do not rob banks “to get the money to buy a candy bar or ice cream or pop,” they are facing a growing body of studies suggesting that foods high in fat and sugar affect brain reward circuits in…
Category Archives Media Coverage
Wall Street Journal reporters Ashby Jones and Shirley Wang consider in “Obesity Fuels Custody Fights” how family courts have increasingly been asked to determine whether nutrition or obesity should be controlling factors in child-custody lawsuits. According to the article, the issue arises in several guises: sometimes the child is obese; other times a junk food diet is at issue; and in other cases, the parent who seeks custody alleges that the other parent is too overweight to properly care for the child. Noting that in most states the legal standard is the “best interest of the child,” the authors report that some states have recently adopted as criteria the child’s physical and emotional well-being. Family court practitioners reportedly suggest that the obesity issue is typically part of a larger picture and would have to be extreme to overcome rights to maintain close parent-child relationships and to raise a child as…
The Denver Post has published an October 30, 2011, investigative report that examines the record of private auditors hired by manufacturers to ensure food safety. According to the article, “Many of the most notorious food-illness outbreaks in the recent years were preceded by glowing private safety audits of the producers, prompting calls for oversight of auditors and forcing grocery store chains to tighten screening of cantaloupes and other foods.” Highlighting several high-profile food contamination cases that allegedly slipped past third-party audits, the article claims that the latest incident involving Listeria-tainted cantaloupe resulted in 28 fatalities even though the supplier received a “superior” safety rating from its private inspector. “I cannot think of one private audit that I’ve ever seen in 20 years that said, ‘These are bad things, fix them,’” confirmed plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Marler. “A private auditor is not going to list a farm’s flaws, tell it to shut…
Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, recently authored commentary for Time magazine’s online opinion section, advocating “a penny-per-ounce tax on any beverage with added sugar.” According to Brownell’s October 24, 2011, article, “Nearly 20 states or cities in the U.S. have considered or are considering the possibility of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs),” but their efforts have allegedly been thwarted by the beverage industry “in ways reminiscent of the tobacco industry when it came under attack in the 1950s.” Drawing parallels between the two products, Brownell dismisses claims that SSB taxes would be “discriminatory” and ineffective by pointing to successful government efforts to reduce smoking. He also calls out groups such as Americans Against Food Taxes for seeking to emulate grassroots movements and contribute to obesity-related research. In particular, Brownell criticizes the Foundation for a Healthy America for purportedly donating $10 million…
An October 15, 2011, New York Times article has covered the impending ban on foie gras sales in California, where several chefs are apparently staging swan-song dinners in honor of the fatty fare. According to the Times, a law signed eight years ago will in eight months make California the first state to criminalize foie gras, fining violators up to $1,000 per day for serving the delicacy to patrons. As a result, chefs like Ludo Lefebvre recently announced “You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Foie!” events for fans to overindulge on duck and goose livers one last time. “I want people to have the freedom to eat what they want. Animal rights people would turn everyone into a vegan if they could,” Lefebvre told the paper. “Foie gras is one of the greatest ingredients, a French delicacy. I was born and raised with foie gras. It’s like if you…
WSJ Reporter Ashby Jones provides an overview of the recent spate of lawsuits challenging food makers’ claims that their products are “All Natural” or “100% Natural.” Without an official Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition of the term, determining whether such product claims constitute fraud can be difficult, according to lawyers such as Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Stephen Gardner, who was quoted as saying, “We badly want them to provide some clarity on the issue, but they’ve repeatedly failed to do anything.” The article notes how FDA muddied the waters for products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) by announcing in 2008 that it is not “natural” and then later pronouncing that it actually depends on how synthetic ingredients are used to make the HFCS. Details about the FDA’s HFCS actions appear in Issues 255 and 266 of this Update. An FDA spokesperson acknowledged that the agency has…
The author of the 1971 bestseller Diet for a Small Planet has authored an essay that examines how global agriculture has changed since then. While Francis Moore Lappé notes that 1 billion people are hungry and agribusiness is concentrated in few hands—“in the United States, by 2000, just ten corporations—with boards totaling only 138 people—had come to account for half of US food and beverage sales”—a global grass-roots food movement “has been gaining energy and breadth for at least four decades.” Among other matters, Moore Lappé discusses growing popular opposition to genetically modified crops and increases in connectivity through community-supported agriculture programs and farmers’ markets. Included with the essay are responses authored by Vandana Shiva, “Resisting the Corporate Theft of Seeds”; Eric Schlosser, “It’s Not Just About Food”; Raj Patel, “Why Hunger Is Still With Us”; and Michael Pollan, “How Change Is Going to Come in the Food System.” Shiva…
According to documents obtained by Associated Press reporter Thomas Watkins, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is currently considering a Corn Refiners Association petition to allow high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to be called “corn sugar,” has written to the association indicating concern with the trade group using the terms interchangeably. In the July 12, 2011, letter, an FDA director reportedly stated, “We request that you re-examine your websites and modify statements that use the term ‘corn sugar’ as a synonym for (high fructose corn syrup).” On behalf of the association, Audrae Erickson reportedly stated, “We do not believe that anyone could be confused or believe that the statements regarding ‘corn sugar’ on the websites refer to anything other than high fructose corn syrup.” Watkins notes that FDA has no regulatory authority over the association’s advertising because it promotes an industry and not a product. The FDA letter apparently indicated…
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,” although investigators have not yet determined “whether the vinegar was put in the barrels out of ignorance, making it a problem of accidental contamination, or deliberately by an unscrupulous producer seeking to cut corners.” In either case, McKenna warns, the scandal closely follows allegations that “aged” vinegar from Shanxi province is “dosed with industrial acid in order to cut fermentation time and turn out batches faster.” It also adds to a growing roster of China’s food safety problems that purportedly include “the meat that glowed in the dark; the tainted buns; the exploding watermelons; the…
According to District of Columbia court reporter Zoe Tillman, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is currently considering a motion to certify a class in litigation filed by a California consumer in 2008 to challenge the merger of Whole Foods Market Inc. and Wild Oats. As Tillman notes, in March 2009 the Federal Trade Commission settled the anti-competition charges it filed against Whole Foods, which the company’s counsel argues could make it difficult for the plaintiffs to proceed on the merits. Named plaintiff Ekaterini Kottaras reportedly contends that the merger violated antitrust laws by forcing shoppers to pay higher prices in the “premium, natural, and organic” products market. This article discusses the FTC proceedings in some detail to provide a context for the putative class litigation. Whole Foods apparently contends that Kottaras’s expert testimony is insufficient to prove her case and that she may not be an appropriate class member due…
