A recent study has claimed that rats fed a diet high in fructose had more difficulty navigating a maze than those that also consumed omega-3 fatty acids, thereby raising questions about the impact of sugar consumption on cognition. Rahul Agrawal and Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, “’Metabolic Syndrome’ in the brain: deficiency in omega-3 fatty acid exacerbates dysfunctions in insulin receptor signaling and cognition,” The Journal of Physiology, May 2012. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), researchers for six weeks supplied two groups of rats with a fructose solution instead of drinking water while supplementing one group’s rat chow with flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). According to the results, the rats in the fructose-only group were not only slower than their counterparts during the maze task, but their brain tissues exhibited an increased resistance to insulin. “The second group of rats navigated the maze much faster than the rats that did not receive omega-3…
An Ohio court has apparently released a 9-year-old boy from the supervision of Cuyahoga County Children & Family Services after he lost more than 50 pounds while in foster care and while living with an uncle in Columbus. Additional information about the case appears in Issue 421 of this Update. The boy, who came to the attention of authorities in March 2010 when he was taken to a hospital with breathing problems, was released to his mother’s custody under protective supervision in March 2012. He has gained a few pounds, but because he continues to work out regularly at a YMCA and has been monitored by a Big Brother, and because his mother will evidently be able to access agency assistance for 90 days, the court determined that the child’s interest had been sufficiently protected. During the most recent court proceedings, the prosecuting attorney reportedly recommended that the child’s mother…
A group calling itself “Supermoms Against Superbugs” reportedly gathered in Washington, D.C. recently to lobby for greater limits on antibiotics used in U.S. food production. Organized by the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the coalition included chefs, farmers, pediatricians, and consumers who participated in meetings with congressional staff, the Food and Drug Administration, and the White House Domestic Policy Council. See Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming Press Release, May 15, 2012.
Corporate Accountability International (CAI) has issued a May 2012 report that purportedly aims “to help parents, community residents, health professionals, activists, youth and others take action to safeguard their communities’ health against the abuses of global fast food corporations.” Outlining four policy approaches intended to reduce the “harmful influence of fast food corporations,” the report advocates (i) school policies that would curb fast food marketing to children, (ii) zoning laws that would reduce industry influence “in communities, hospitals and other institutions,” (iii) limits on “fast food promotions that target children,” and (iv) a reduction in public subsidies “for fast food corporations… as a means of leveling the playing field for businesses that sell healthier food.” To these ends, the report supplies 20 specific action items that call for, among other things, prohibiting toy giveaways in children’s meals and encouraging the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on…
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) recently issued a report questioning the ability of international governing bodies to adequately address the use of engineered nanoscale materials (ENMs) in food contact and packaging materials. Noting that the Codex Alimentarius Commission, operating under the auspices of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), “has yet to agree on any agri-nanotechnology standards, nor indeed, even to begin work on such standards to protect consumer health,” the IATP report calls for a renewed effort to assess and regulate ENMs as a whole before specific applications are released on the market. To this end, IATP policy analyst Steven Suppan provides an overview of Codex’s regulatory mechanisms in addition to outlining challenges unique to ENMs in food packaging, such as a dearth of scientific data and confusion over the definition of “nanomaterials.” In particular, Suppan urges Codex to avoid…
JibJab Media Inc., a digital media company known for its photo cut-out animated videos sometimes used as political satire, has filed a trademark infringement suit against White Castle, alleging that the fast-food chain has infringed its trademarks by launching a social media ad campaign called “Jib Jab Chicken Ring” to promote its “chicken rings” menu item. JibJab Media Inc. v. White Castle Mgmt. Co., No. 12 4178 (C.D. Cal., filed May 14, 2012). According to the complaint, JibJab allows paid subscribers “to personalize videos and images by uploading digital photos and inserting images of faces into JIBJAB® content.” White Castle allegedly named its promotion with the JIBJAB mark, and its online application “copies the look and feel of JibJab’s cut-out animation style and further mimics JibJab’s personalized content by offering users the ability to upload digital photos and insert faces into these video templates.” White Castle also allegedly “explicitly announced that…
A California resident has filed a putative class action against a company that sells Greek-style yogurt products labeled with the terms “evaporated cane juice,” “All Natural Ingredients” or “Only Natural Ingredients,” claiming that they are false and misleading. Kane v. Chobani, Inc., No. 12-2425 (N.D. Cal., filed May 14, 2012). According to plaintiff Katie Kane, the company includes on the ingredients list for some of its yogurt products the term “evaporated cane juice,” which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned other companies is false and misleading, and uses phrases containing the word “natural” despite making the yogurt with artificial ingredients, flavorings and colorings, such as “fruit or vegetable juice concentrate.” She contends that these product representations “mislead consumers into paying a premium price for inferior or undesirable ingredients” and “render products misbranded under federal and California law.” Seeking to certify a statewide class of consumer, the plaintiff alleges…
A federal court in Washington has dismissed franchisor Domino’s Pizza from litigation alleging that a franchisee’s use of automatic calls with a prerecorded message to numbers stored from previous orders violated state and federal laws prohibiting “robo-calls.” Anderson v. Domino’s Pizza, Inc., No. 11-902 (W.D. Wash., decided May 15, 2012). While the claims against the franchisee and the telemarketing company that placed the calls remains intact, the court refused to certify a class because the plaintiff’s motion was untimely, the statutory damages alone would be significant, and the “burden of any award [which would be grossly disproportionate given the actual damages] would fall on a small business.” According to the court, Domino’s requires franchisees to use a phone system that can store customer numbers and introduced its franchisees to the telemarketer during a national convention in 2009. Domino’s also requires its franchisees to participate in advertising and promotions campaigns. Still, the…
A federal court in California has dismissed several of the claims brought in a putative class action against General Mills, alleging that the company misleads consumers with the package labeling for its Fruit Roll-Ups® and Fruit by the Foot® products. Lam v. General Mills, Inc., No. 11-5056 (N.D. Cal., order entered May 10, 2012). Additional details about the litigation, in which the Center for Science in the Public Interest is representing the plaintiffs, appear in Issue 414 of this Update. The court agreed with General Mills that label statements about the products’ flavorings, i.e., “naturally flavored” and “fruit flavored,” conform to federal law, and thus state-law claims alleging that these statements are misleading or deceptive are preempted. In this regard, the court noted, “the regulation allows a producer to label a product as ‘natural strawberry flavored,’ even if that product contains no strawberries. While the regulation’s logic is troubling, the Court…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the comment deadline on its proposal to establish a maximum allowable dose level for methanol, a substance the forms naturally in fruits and vegetables when they are prepared for consumption by methods including slicing, chopping, pureeing, and juicing. At the request of the Technology Sciences Group, OEHHA has extended the deadline to June 25, 2012. OEHHA added methanol to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity (Prop. 65) in March. Additional details about the listing and proposed dose level appear in Issue 431 of this Update. See OEHHA News Release, May 17, 2012.
