According to Bay area journalist April Short, who apparently focuses on social justice reporting, public concerns about food health in the United States have compelled “the junk food industry” to use “disturbing deceptions . . . to keep Americans hooked on its junk.” In her June 18, 2013, AlterNet article titled “You Won’t Believe What the Food Industry Is Doing to Keep Americans Hooked on Junk,” Short claims that the deceptions include processing to make products look more “natural,” “marketing to children under the guise of charity,” and creating foods “manufactured to include just the right combination of the sugar, fat and salt our limbic brains love.” Citing Michael Moss’s book Salt Sugar Fat, Short discusses how food companies have made a science of producing foods that consumers cannot resist, including using just the right amounts of salt, sugar and fat, otherwise known as the “bliss point”; creating the “mouthfeel”…
Alcohol Concern, a U.K. charity “working on alcohol issues,” has issued a report titled “Stick to the Facts” that claims “[a]dvertisers exploit weak rules to develop content that appeals to both adults and young people. Audience thresholds limiting the percentage of minors insufficiently shield those underage. Children and young people in the UK aged 10-15 years are today exposed to significantly more alcohol adverts than adults than would be expected, given their viewership patterns.” The report also claims that self-regulation, particularly as to digital and online content, “is failing to adequately protect children and young people.” Among other matters, the charity calls on policymakers to prohibit alcohol company sponsorship of sporting, cultural and music events, including branded merchandise, restrict advertising at cinemas for all films without an 18 classification, and regulate alcohol promotion by statute, independent of the alcohol and advertising industries.
Nickelodeon and its parent company Viacom have purportedly declined to change their advertising policies after four senators penned a June 10, 2013, letter asking the network to further limit the food and beverage commercials shown during children’s TV programming. “As an entertainment company, Nickelodeon’s primary mission is to make the highest quality entertainment content in the world for kids,” the company reportedly said in its response to recent criticism. “That is our expertise. We believe strongly that we must leave the science of nutrition to the experts.” According to a recent article in The New York Times, which reported that food advertising accounts for approximately 18 percent of Nickelodeon’s annual sales, the network has also highlighted its voluntary efforts to reduce advertisements for foods and beverages with high sugar or fat content, its promotion of health and wellness messaging, and its licensing restrictions designed to prevent the use of popular…
Chipotle Mexican Grill has reportedly become the first fast-food chain to disclose the ingredients it uses that contain genetically modified (GM) organisms. The list of items containing GM ingredients is currently available only on the company’s website and includes barbacoa beef, chicken, fajita vegetables, brown and white rice, steak, and tortillas. According to its website, the company’s “goal is to eliminate [genetically modified organisms] GMOs from Chipotle’s ingredients, and we’re working hard to meet this challenge. For example, we recently switched our fryers from soybean oil to sunflower oil. Soybean oil is almost always made from genetically modified soybeans, while there is no commercially available GMO sunflower oil. Where our food contains currently unavoidable GM ingredients, it is only in the form of corn or soy.” See BloombergBusinessWeek.com, June 18, 2013; Chipotle.com.
The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates has formally adopted three new resolutions at its 2013 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, that aim to define obesity as a disease, prohibit the marketing of energy drinks to adolescents younger than age 18, and end the eligibility of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to news sources, delegates reached the decision to recognize obesity “as a disease state with multiple aspects requiring a range of interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention” after hours of debate raised questions about how physicians and policymakers will use the declaration to counter rising obesity rates in the United States. “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” said AMA board member Patrice Harris in a statement announcing the resolution. “The AMA is committed…
A California resident who worked at a TGI Fridays in Los Angeles has filed a putative class action on behalf of a statewide class of current and former nonexempt employees, alleging that the restaurant failed to pay them (i) when they showed up for their shifts but were told to go home due to light customer traffic, (ii) for the time they spent in mandatory meetings, and (iii) all the wages and other compensation due upon their discharge, termination or separation “either timely or fully.” Portillo v. TGI Fridays, Inc., No. BC12119 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed June 14, 2013). Alleging causes of action for failure to pay reporting time, waiting time damages, and unfair, unlawful or deceptive business practices, the plaintiff seeks compensatory and liquidated damages, interest, injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.
Women who worked at celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s Los Angeles restaurant, The Fat Cow, have filed a putative class action on behalf of all nonexempt employees against the restaurant and his company, alleging they were denied meal and rest breaks, were not compensated for the missed breaks, were not compensated for overtime, were not paid minimum wage, were not provided with timely and accurate wage-and-hour statements, did not promptly receive accrued wages when they left the job, and did not receive all of the gratuities contributed to a tip pool, which they claim the defendants improperly converted. Becerra v. The Fat Cow LLC, No. BC511953 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed June 13, 2013). The named plaintiffs include two former hostesses, a server and a barista. They seek economic damages, injunctive relief, restitution, the imposition of civil penalties, punitive damages, interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.
A salesman has reportedly filed a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer in a New York state court alleging that the employer, who had invited the salesman to return to his job in a frame shop, asked him to leave when he saw how much weight the salesman had gained since leaving the shop in 2008. Bogadanove v. Frame It In Brooklyn, No. ___ (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Kings Cty., filing date n/a). According to the complaint, former employer Jerry Greenberg took one look at Seth Bogadanove on his return and said “Oh my God, what happened to you, you got so fat!” When Bogadanove attempted to explain that medication he was taking caused the weight gain, Greenberg allegedly said, “Oh my God, I am so sorry, I can’t use you, there is no way you can work here at your size. You wouldn’t fit between the aisles.” Bogadanove then purportedly…
According to news sources, the companies that make 5-Hour Energy have filed a complaint in an Oregon state court seeking a declaration that the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) is not entitled to what the companies contend are trade secrets, that is, the amounts of ingredients used to make the energy shots. Oregon’s DOJ is apparently part of an executive committee leading a 33-state investigation into Innovation Ventures, LLC and Living Essentials, LLC and has demanded a list of ingredients, including their amounts, to decide whether the companies were justified in claiming that use of the product does not lead to a “crash.” While the companies reportedly provided the DOJ with copies of materials submitted to the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus to support their ad claims in 2007, they redacted the amounts, but not the ingredients, claiming that they are “highly confidential and proprietary…
Three putative class action lawsuits have been filed against Kellogg Co. in a California federal court alleging that the company misleads consumers by labeling its Super Mario Fruit Snacks® and Pop Tarts® as “Made with Real Fruit.” Spevak v. Kellogg Co., No. 13-2767, Barnes v. Kellogg Co., No. 13-2768, Ford v. Kellogg Co., No. 13-2770 (N.D. Cal., filed June 14, 2013). Each plaintiff is represented by Benjamin Lopatin in the Law Offices of Howard Rubinstein. Plaintiff Alicia Spevak alleges that the “real fruit” claim is misleading because the fruit snack product “merely contains de minimis real fruit and unhealthy, unnatural ingredients, chemicals and preservative additives, in addition to merely containing apple puree rather than real fruit, which a reasonable consumer would not expect from a product claiming to be ‘Made with Real Fruit.’” Spevak seeks to represent a class of California product purchasers and alleges unfair, fraudulent and unlawful business practices; false and…
