The U.K. Department of Health (DOH) has announced a voluntary front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labeling scheme designed to “clearly” display the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar, and calories contained in food products. According to an October 24, 2012, press release, the proposed system will use color coding, guideline daily amounts and “high/medium/low” text to help consumers “make quick, informed decisions about the food they eat.” The announcement apparently followed a three-month consultation with retailers, manufacturers and other stakeholders about the future of FOP labeling. Although DOH will continue to meet with industry about the system’s final design, it evidently plans to launch the initiative as early as summer 2013. “The U.K. already has the largest number of products with front-of-pack labels in Europe but research has shown that consumers get confused by the wide variety of labels used,” said Public Health Minister Anna Soubry. “By having a consistent system…
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Dietary and Chemical Monitoring Unit has issued an updated report finding little change in the amount of acrylamide produced during food processing since the last data set was released in 2008. Covering 2007-2010, the report used approximately 13,000 data points to monitor the substance, which “typically forms in starchy food products such as potato crisps, French fries, bread, biscuits and coffee, during high-temperature processing, including frying, baking and roasting.” Although EFSA apparently received less input from member states in 2010 than in previous years, it did not find “any considerable change” in acrylamide levels between 2007 and 2010 “for the majority of the food categories assessed.” “In terms of the results, there were downward trends in acrylamide levels in the category ‘processed cereal-based foods for infants and young children’ and the sub-categories ‘non-potato based savory snacks’ and ‘biscuits and rusks for infants and young…
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has posted to its website documents relating to the use of antimicrobial drugs in livestock feed received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a Freedom of Information Act request. According to PEER, internal memos show that FDA is not, as the agency has claimed, working successfully with industry to phase out this use of antimicrobials, estimated at 30 million pounds in feed troughs annually. PEER claims that “70,000 Americans die each year from drug-resistant infections” and that the “rise of drug-resistant ‘super diseases’ is driven by overuse and misuse of antimicrobial drugs in livestock feed primarily to promote livestock growth.” In litigation, FDA defended its failure to timely follow through on proceedings to withdraw from use two antimicrobials by claiming that it had abandoned formal rulemaking in favor of more effective voluntary measures. Details about a court order requiring that FDA initiate…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a staff report outlining best practices for the use of facial-recognition technology in online social networks, mobile apps, digital signs, and other products and services. According to an October 22, 2012, FTC press release, facial recognition technology has “a number of potential uses, such as determining an individual’s age range and gender in order to deliver targeted advertising; assessing viewers’ emotions to see if they are engaged in a video game or a movie; or matching faces and identifying anonymous individuals in images.” But the agency has also expressed concern that these advances could contravene consumers’ expectations of privacy because they hold “the prospect of identifying anonymous individuals in public, and because the data collected may be susceptible to security breaches and hacking.” FTC is urging companies that use facial-recognition technology to (i) “design their services with consumer privacy in mind”; (ii) “develop reasonable…
U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) have sent letters to eight companies requesting information about arsenic levels in rice products. Waxman and DeGette have asked Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., Carolina Rice, Della Rice, Earth’s Best, Nestlé Nutrition’s Gerber Rice, Jazzmen Rice, Martin Farms, and Whole Foods Market to respond by November 8, 2012, with details about their practices for monitoring and limiting the amount of arsenic in their rice products. In requesting this information, Waxman and DeGette pointed to studies authored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Consumer Reports purportedly showing “worrisome” levels of inorganic arsenic “in popular brands of rice and rice products like rice cereal, breakfast cereal, and rice cakes.” The lawmakers have requested all company documents related to arsenic testing as well as those describing any health risk assessments undertaken on each company’s behalf. “FDA is currently in the process of analyzing 1,000 more rice…
A federal court in California has given final approval to the $2.6 million settlement of a class action alleging that Diamond Foods falsely represented that the omega-3 in its walnuts provides health benefits. Zeisel v. Diamond Foods, Inc., No. 10-01192 (N.D. Cal., decided October 16, 2012). Additional information about the case appears in Issue 436 of this Update. While additional claims may be filed by class members until October 26, as of September 7, more than 23,000 class members had submitted claims, and they have been submitted at a rate of about 1,000 each week. The court issued its ruling after the parties provided supplemental briefing on the cy pres issue. Under the unpublished final disposition, the court indicated that any residual funds will be provided to the American Heart Association, which “provides education on issues relating to heart healthy food, including education about how to read food labels.” The court…
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a motion to centralize, for pre-trial purposes, 10 lawsuits pending in five districts against Gerber Products Co. and Nestlé USA, Inc. alleging that the companies “misleadingly advertise and market infant formulas and cereals as promoting immunity, digestive health, and visual and cognitive function because they contain probiotic cultures” and other ingredients. In re Gerber Probiotic Prods. Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2397 (JPML, decided October 16, 2012). According to the court, five of the 10 lawsuits are already consolidated in the District of New Jersey where Gerber is headquartered. One of these cases was filed in California, “thus one transferor court already has concluded that under Section 1404 the District of New Jersey is the proper venue for this litigation.” Because the defendants filed section 1404 change of venue motions in the remainder of the cases, and if all…
French MEP Francoise Castex has reportedly condemned California’s statewide ban on the production and sale of any product that is “the result of force-feeding a bird for the purpose of enlarging its liver beyond normal size,” calling the prohibition on foie gras “a battle for Europe.” After a recent attempt by producers to enjoin the 2004 law failed in federal court, Castex convened a news conference in European Parliament where she eviscerated the legislation as “very negative” and a violation of international trade rules. “There are five member states where foie gras is produced, not just France,” she said, referring to Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Spain. According to Castex, the foie gras sector comprises 30 percent of the local economy in her own region of France, which has already hired an attorney to represent the country in a legal challenge to the United States. Her remarks also drew support from…
The Statens Serum Institut and National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark recently released a report charting a decline in overall antibiotic use in the country’s food animals. Funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Ministry of the Health, the Danish Integrated Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring and Research Program (DANMAP) monitors “the consumption of antimicrobial agents for food animals and humans” and “the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria isolated from food animals, food of animal origin and humans.” It also studies the association between antimicrobial consumption and antimicrobial resistance, seeking to identify “routes of transmission and areas for further research studies.” Data from DANMAP 2011 apparently showed a 15 percent decrease in total veterinary consumption of antimicrobial agents since 2010, “mainly attributed to a decreased consumption in pigs.” In particular, DANMAP 2011 reported a 30 percent…
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action to address seafood fraud. In her October 15, 2012, letter, Boxer defines seafood fraud as “the mislabeling of one species of fish for another fish that is often cheaper and more readily available.” Boxer cites studies purportedly showing that the practice may be “pervasive” throughout the United States and contends that it not only constitutes “deceptive marketing, but it can also pose serious health concerns, particularly for pregnant women seeking to limit exposure to heavy metals or individuals with serious allergies to certain types of fish.” Among the studies cited are those finding mislabeled 20 percent of 88 samples tested in Boston, 55 percent of 119 samples tested in California and 31 percent of 96 samples tested in Florida. The senator expresses her concern with the low number of inspections FDA conducts on both imported…
