Several major food companies have sent a letter to four U.S. senators and representatives urging Congress to direct Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to suspend revised country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules on muscle cuts of meat because they discriminate against Canada and Mexico. The letter argues that if the WTO determines that the rule violates U.S. trade obligations, it could authorize retaliation from Mexico and Canada, which “has already issued a preliminary retaliation list targeting a broad spectrum of commodities and manufactured products that will affect every state in the country.” The new rules dictate that meat producers must disclose where their livestock was born, raised and slaughtered and can no longer commingle livestock from differing origins to ensure COOL accuracy. The food company coalition has also challenged the new U.S. Department of Agriculture rules in federal court, and the case is pending after an en banc rehearing in the D.C.…
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The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has submitted a letter to U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg requesting that FDA require that “all beverages consumed in a soda-like manner, including energy drinks, comply with the same regulations that limit caffeine in ‘cola-type beverages’” and that energy drinks carry warning labels that alert consumers of possible adverse reactions like convulsions or heart attacks. The letter details information obtained from FDA about adverse events related to energy drinks from 2004 to 2014, including heart failure, disability and miscarriage. CSPI also warns that energy drinks are heavily marketed to children and teens, and rates of usage among those groups are high—the letter cites a study finding that approximately 30 to 50 percent of children, adolescents and young adults reported consuming more than one energy drink per month. The consumer group further presses FDA to issue a public…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released a June 2014 report claiming that the fortification of foods with large amounts of vitamins and minerals could pose a health risk to children. Citing a study by the National Institutes of Health and California Polytechnic State University, EWG alleges that children younger than age 8 “are at risk of consuming vitamin A, zinc and niacin at levels above the Institute of Medicine’s Upper Intake Level.” According to the report, excessive intake of these nutrients could lead to liver and skeletal issues and immune system dysfunction, as well as short-term effects such as rash, nausea and vomiting. Targeting “two food categories that are frequently fortified and heavily marketed to children,” EWG’s analysis of 1,556 cereals and 1,025 snack bars allegedly identifies (i) “114 cereals fortified with 30 percent or more of the adult Daily Value for vitamin A, zinc and/or niacin,” and (ii)…
A consortium of more than 400 food manufacturers and retailers, the Consumer Goods Forum, has built on a 2011 pledge to clarify nutrition labeling and to advertise only those products fulfilling specific nutritional criteria to children younger than 12. The new pledge further defined the goals by setting deadlines; both reforms are to be completed by 2018, and by 2016, each member company will make its internal policies on nutrition and product formulation available to the public. The forum’s board of directors also established an independent scientific advisory council that will conduct a comprehensive survey of members’ progress toward the forum’s goals. See Consumer Goods Forum, June 18, 2014.
The sale of hot dogs described as “Kosher Style” by Five Guys Enterprises LLC may violate a Washington state law that describes what food products may be labeled kosher, according to a blogger for George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley’s blog. Darren Smith, a former deputy sheriff in Washington, writes that Five Guys advertises one of its products as a “Kosher Style” hot dog because, according to the company’s website, “the dogs are cooked on the same grill as our burgers,” even though “the way we cook them and serve them is not [kosher].” This label may violate Washington’s RCW 69.90.020(1), which states, “No person may knowingly sell or offer for sale any food product represented as ‘kosher’ or ‘kosher style’ when that person knows that the food product is not kosher and when the representation is likely to cause a prospective purchaser to believe that it is kosher,” with…
Public Health attorney and author Michele Simon has issued a report titled “Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods.” According to Simon, dairy foods have gotten “a pass” as the public health community focuses on “obvious culprits such as soft drinks and fast food” to address the nation’s “public health epidemic due to poor diet.” The report explains how plain liquid milk consumption has fallen in the United States and been replaced by its consumption as flavored milk, with cereal or in a drink. Simon claims that today half of the milk supply makes 9 billion pounds of cheese and 1.5 billion gallons of frozen desserts, such as ice cream, and 11 percent of all sugar is used in dairy product production. She refers to these products as “dairy junk foods” loaded with saturated fat, sugar and salt. The report focuses on the government’s collection of industry fees…
During the second National Soda Summit held in Washington, D.C., in early June 2014, ChangeLab Solutions, which has been active in tobacco control, presented a “Sugar-Sweetened Beverages [SSB] Playbook” calling for a public information campaign that would include telling consumers “you’re drinking 16 packs of sugar in that cola.” Other “playbook strategies” include a progression of activities: limiting SSBs on government property and in workplaces and schools, prohibiting SSBs in childcare and afterschool programs, restricting SSB marketing in schools, eliminating SSBs from children’s meals, licensing SSB retailers, taxing SSBs, and limiting SSB portion sizes. Each recommended action is accompanied by examples and model policies and ordinances. Issue 527
Monthly magazine Consumer Reports has started a campaign to rid food labels of the word “natural” following a survey that found significant confusion over the term’s meaning. The Consumer Reports National Research Center, which conducts the research published in the magazine, conducted a phone survey of 1,000 people and asked them about their understanding of the use of “natural” on a food label and what they think it should mean. The center reportedly found that “[a]bout two-thirds believe [“natural”] means a processed food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides, or genetically modified organisms, and more than 80 percent believe that it should mean those things.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines suggest that manufacturers can use the term if nothing artificial or synthetic has been added to their products, but the definitions are vague and flexible, Consumer Reports argues. “We want to clean up the green noise in the food label marketplace…
Camel’s milk and its associated products may be the next “super food” category, according to USA Today. Several U.S. farms with breeding camels have reportedly adopted camel-milking programs in seven states, with new programs set to open soon in seven more. Scientific studies show that camel milk has higher levels of several nutrients—including protein, potassium, magnesium, B vitamins, iron, copper, manganese, vitamin C, and zinc—as well as lower cholesterol than cow’s milk. The process of milking the camels is apparently easier than milking cows, as dromedary (single-humped) and Bactrian (double-humped) camels are taller and do not require seating or crouching while milking them, but they produce less milk than cows. One camel farmer uses a 15-second flash pasteurization process that reportedly retains nutrients more efficiently, but the pasteurization for camel milk has yet to be standardized. See USA Today, June 8, 2014. Issue 526
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. is investigating a potential data breach that may have exposed thousands of customers’ credit and debit card data. After contacting banks to determine commonly visited locations, a cybersecurity blogger reported that the data of customers who visited P.F. Chang’s between March 2014 and May 19, 2014, has been offered for sale on an underground Website known for selling data resulting from the Target breach in late 2013. While the source of the potential breach remains unknown, experts suggest that thieves planted malware onto the point-of-sale systems that employees use to run customer’s credit cards because similar malware was used to steal credit and debit card information from other retailers. See USA Today, June 11, 2014. Issue 526
