Health Canada recently issued “Guidance for the Food Industry on Reducing Sodium in Processed Foods” as part of its effort “to help Canadians achieve the average sodium intake goal of 2300 mg per day by 2016.” According to Health Canada, which developed the voluntary guidance after receiving “significant input” from stakeholders, the benchmark sodium levels aim to help food manufacturers gradually reformulate their products to meet the nation’s sodium-reduction goals. To that end, the agency calculated the Sales Weighted Average (SWA) sodium content in milligrams per 100 grams “using the sodium levels of the products within a category weighted by their Canadian volume market share in kilograms (kg).” The 2016 proposed SWA sodium levels were then established “by reducing the baseline SWA sodium content by approximately 25% to 30%.” “The phased levels typically represent, respectively, 1/3 and 2/3 of the reduction required to meet the 2016 guiding benchmark SWA levels…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) that it has accepted his petition seeking to prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in canned infant formula. If the agency is able to complete its scientific review, it will file his petition in the Federal Register within 90 days seeking public comment on whether the industry has actually abandoned this use of the chemical, the ground on which Markey sought the ban. As noted in Issue 433 of this Update, while FDA has confirmed the chemical’s safety for continued use in food-packaging materials, the American Chemistry Council has asked the agency to prohibit its use in polycarbonate bottles and sippy cups, contending that industry no longer uses BPA in these products. Markey’s petition echoed that rationale in relation to infant-formula packaging. According to a news source, the “abandonment” focus allows government to “sidestep the debate over…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has extended until June 14, 2012, the comment period for a proposed rule that would amend regulations governing the importation of live bovines and other animal products with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Under the proposed rule, APHIS would adopt World Organization for Animal Health criteria that identify a country’s BSE risks as negligible, controlled or undetermined, bringing U.S. import regulations in line with international health standards. APHIS has pushed back the deadline to allow “interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.” Additional details about the proposed rule appear in Issue 432 of this Update.
A recent study has reportedly claimed that children who are overweight or obese “are more likely to have a neurological disease known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension [IIH], a rare condition that can result in blindness.” Sonu Brara, et al., “Pediatric Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Extreme Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Pediatrics, May 2012. Researchers apparently analyzed data from 900,000 participants in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) Children’s Health Study, concluding that 57 (73.1 percent) of the 78 KSPC children and adolescents diagnosed with IIH were overweight or obese. These children were also more likely to be age 11 or older at diagnosis as well as white, non-Hispanic and female. “Consistent with two previous studies, we found that female sex and obesity first emerge as strong IIH risk factors in postpubertal age children,” reported the study’s authors. “Extremely obese adolescents were 16 times more likely than normal weight children to have…
Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have allegedly demonstrated that low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can turn adult stem cells and pre-fat cells into fat cells, raising questions about the obesogenic effect of a chemical commonly used in food packaging materials. Raquel Chamorro-García, et al., “Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether Induces Adipogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Stromal Stem Cells Through a Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma-independent Mechanism,” Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2012. The study’s authors evidently used multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) to evaluate BADGE’s effects on “adipogenesis, osteogenesis, gene expression and nuclear receptor activation.” Their results purportedly indicated that BADGE, a combination of BPA and epichlorohydrin, can induce adipogenic differentiation in both MSCs and preadipocytes at low concentrations “comparable to those that have been observed in limited human biomonitoring.” “There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying the predisposition to obesity and related disorders.…
The Food Chain Workers Alliance has issued a report claiming that most U.S. workers across the food sector—from production, processing, distribution, retail, and service—earn low wages with few health benefits, a situation that can pose safety risks to both employees and the public. Titled “The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along the Food Chain,” the 92-page report based its findings on nearly 700 surveys and interviews with employers and workers in the sector, which employs 20 million people and comprises one-sixth of the country’s workforce. Among the report’s findings of workers surveyed: (i) more than 86 percent reported earning low or poverty wages, (ii) 79 percent said they either do not have a single paid sick day or do not know if they do, (iii) 83 percent do not receive health insurance from their employers, (iv) 53 percent admitted to working while sick, (v) 57 percent…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the Roskam Baking Co. did not infringe a trademark by using the term “Texas Toast” in selling its packaged croutons. T. Marzetti Co. v. Roskam Baking Co., No. 10-3784 (6th Cir., decided May 25, 2012). Marzetti apparently began using the Texas Toast mark for its frozen garlic bread in 1995 and then adopted the term for use with a crouton product sold in 2007. The company attempted to register the mark in 2009, but the applications were initially denied “because of the potential likelihood of confusion with the mark Texas toast for bakery goods.” Thereafter, they were approved for publication as, “at a minimum, suggestive.” The defendant filed an opposition to the trademarks in 2010, and Marzetti, learning about the company’s Texas Toast croutons, filed this trademark infringement action. The Sixth Circuit agreed with the district court that the mark is not…
A California resident has filed a putative class action against Starbucks Corp. alleging that the company deceived consumers by failing to disclose that some of its products were made with cochineal extract, a common food-coloring ingredient made from crushed insects. Anderson v. Starbucks Corp., No. BC485438 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed May 25, 2012). Seeking to represent a nationwide class and statewide subclass of consumers, the plaintiff claims that she and the class members, had they known about the company’s use of the ingredient, would not have purchased the products for a number of reasons, including objections to consuming animal products, allergic responses to the ingredient or “sheer disgust.” Alleging violations of the California Unfair Business Practices Act and False Advertising Act, unjust enrichment, fraud by omission/concealment, and violation of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the plaintiff seeks disgorgement, restitution, compensatory and punitive damages, payment to a cy pres fund,…
A Florida resident has filed a complaint on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers against Frito-Lay, alleging that it sells the company’s snack foods, such as Tostitos® chips, Sunchips® and bean dip, as “All Natural” without disclosing that they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Foust v. Frito-Lay N. Am., Inc., No. 12-21975 (S.D. Fla., filed May 25, 2012). According to the complaint, “The Product poses a potential threat to consumers because medical research and scientific studies have yet to determine the long-term health effects of genetically engineered foods. Recent studies suggest that GMOs may in fact be harmful to a consumer’s health.” Still, the plaintiff does not allege personal injury, claiming instead that he would not have purchased the product “if he had known that the Defendant could not support their [sic] claim that the Product is all natural because it contains GMOs.” In this regard, the plaintiff notes that…
A federal court in New York has determined that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) arbitrarily denied petitions filed by advocacy organizations in 1999 and 2005 requesting the initiation of proceedings to withdraw approval from certain uses of antibiotic drugs in livestock. Nat. Res. Defense Council v. FDA, No. 11-3562, (S.D.N.Y., decided June 1, 2012). The ruling follows the court’s March 2012 grant of summary judgment to the plaintiffs on their first claim for relief. Additional information about that ruling appears in Issue 432 of this Update. The most recent ruling relates to the third claim for relief, that is, whether FDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it denied the two petitions “requesting that the FDA withdraw approval of certain uses of certain classes of antibiotics in food-producing animals.” The court first determined that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the claim, disagreeing with FDA’s assertion that its November 2011 decision…
