Seeking to certify a nationwide settlement class, excluding California consumers, in litigation against the company that makes the hazelnut spread Nutella®, two named plaintiffs alleging deceptive product marketing have filed their brief in support of preliminary approval of a class settlement. In re: Nutella Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., No. 11-1086 (D.N.J., brief filed January 10, 2012). According to the plaintiffs, the company has agreed to cease the advertising at issue, begin a revised and corrective labeling and advertising campaign, change its website, and establish a $2.5 million settlement fund. Under the proposed agreement, settlement class members could submit claims for $4 per jar purchased during the class period and recover up to a maximum of $20. Nutella would also apparently agree not to oppose class counsel fees less than $3 million. According to the plaintiffs’ brief, similar litigation pending in California is also being settled. Twelve named plaintiffs in four…
According to news sources, the Center for Food Safety, which lost its challenge to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) decision to deregulate without restriction genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa, plans to appeal the matter to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A federal court in California determined on January 5, 2012, that the law does not require the agency to “account for the effects of cross-pollination on other commercial crops” in assessing whether a new crop poses risks. U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti also reportedly said that USDA lacks the authority to require a buffer zone between GE crops and conventional or organic crops. Noting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the use of glyphosate on Roundup Ready® alfalfa, Conti further observed, “If plaintiffs’ allegations are true, then it is disturbing that EPA has yet to assess the effects of glyphosate on most of the species found near…
The New York City Health Department has launched a “hard-hitting” ad campaign encouraging subway riders to cut their portions of food and sugary drinks to reduce the health risks associated with obesity. One poster, for example, depicts a diabetic man with an amputated leg with the tagline, “Cut Your Portions, Cut Your Risk.” “The portion sizes that are marketed are often much more than humans need,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said. “We are warning people about the risks of super-size portions so they can make more informed choices about what they eat. Consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain, which greatly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.” The American Beverage Association (ABA) has reportedly criticized the campaign, claiming that it inaccurately depicts the health impacts of soft drink consumption. “Instead of utilizing scare tactics, the beverage industry is offering real solutions like smaller portioned containers and new…
The Constitutional Council of France recently approved a tax on sweetened soft drinks to combat the healthcare-related costs of obesity. Effective January 1, 2012, the tax adds 1 euro cent per can and is expected to generate €120 million ($156 million) in state revenue to fund lower Social Security contributions by farm workers. “Obesity is rising as swiftly in France as it is in other EU countries and action must be taken before it gets any more serious,” a French health ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying. See France 24, December 28, 2011; Daily Mail, December 29, 2011.
A petition reportedly signed by more than one million citizens has urged the European Union (EU) to impose stricter rules on the transportation of livestock intended for slaughter. Initiated by World Horse Welfare, the petition challenged current EU regulations allowing transportation times to exceed 24 hours and instead requested an eight-hour maximum on all such journeys. With more than one million signatures needed to trigger a legislative review under the Lisbon Treaty, the long-running campaign evidently gained traction after a November 2011 European Commission (EC) report highlighted alleged failings in the enforcement of livestock welfare regulations. Meanwhile, Danish Socialist Member of Parliament (MEP) Dan Jørgensen has already collected pledges from 119 MEPs in an effort to acquire 378 signatures by March 15, 2012, at which point the European Parliament says it will officially back the measure. “I definitely expect the commission to act on this,” said Jørgensen. “The commission always…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Inspector General (IG) has issued a report critical of how effectively the agency “is managing the human health and environmental risks of nanomaterials.” Noting that EPA has the statutory authority to regulate nanomaterials, the IG found that it “currently lacks the environmental and human health exposure and toxicological data to do so effectively.” The IG also found that lack of coordination between program offices, EPA’s failure to communicate with stakeholders on nanomaterial risk issues and limitations in existing statutes that regulate chemicals “present significant barriers to effective nanomaterial management when combined with existing resource challenges.” The agency has responded to the report by agreeing with the IG’s recommendation to “develop a process to assure effective dissemination and coordination of nanomaterial information across relevant program offices” and has established a corrective action plan with milestone dates.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule prohibiting the extra-label use of cephalosporin antimicrobial drugs in livestock. Citing “evidence that certain extralabel uses… will likely cause an adverse event in humans,” the agency has specifically barred using cephalosporins (i) “at unapproved dose levels, frequencies, durations, or routes of administration”; (ii) “in cattle, swine, chickens, or turkeys that are not approved for use in that species (e.g., cephalosporin intended for humans or companion animals)”; and (iii) “for disease prevention.” The final rule, however, still permits the use of an older drug, cephapirin, while allowing veterinarians to oversee limited extra-label cephalosporin use “in cattle, swine, chicken, or turkeys as long as they follow the dose, frequency, duration, and route of administration that is on the label.” “We believe this is an imperative step in preserving the effectiveness of this class of important antimicrobials that takes into account…
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s report on the 2011 Listeria outbreak that was traced to cantaloupes grown and processed at Jensen Farms in Colorado has identified a number of problems that led to the “deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in over 25 years.” The bipartisan investigation found that a third-party auditing company (i) gave the farm high food-safety marks despite identifying major and minor deficiencies, (ii) did not hold the farm to anything other than baseline industry standards, and (iii) had no procedures in place to require corrective actions. One of the problems that led to the outbreak was the farm’s failure to use an anti-microbial solution in the cantaloupe wash water. Jensen Farms apparently stopped using the solution after consulting with the third-party auditing company in 2010 about ways to enhance its food-safety efforts. In 2011, the farm had adopted an alternative to the hydrocooler it previously used to process…
A recent study has allegedly concurred with theories suggesting that newborn mice exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) exhibit signs of behavioral changes as adults. Henrik Viberg, et al., “Dose-dependent behavioral disturbances after a single neonatal Bisphenol A dose,” Toxicology, December 2011. After administering a single dose of BPA to three groups of 10-day-old male mice, researchers reportedly found that the two groups exposed to the highest BPA concentrations behaved differently than normal mice when placed in new environments at 2 and 5 months of age. According to the study abstract, these findings suggest that “a single neonatal exposure to [BPA] causes adult disturbances in spontaneous behavior in a novel home environment” that are both dose-related and long-lasting. In particular, the authors noted that the apparent effects of neonatal BPA exposure on the cholinergic system are similar to those seen “after a single postnatal exposure to other [persistent organic pollutants], such as…
According to a December 7, 2011, New York Times book review, a new tome by freelance writer Tom Mueller has claimed that 50 percent of the olive oil sold in America “is, to some degree, fraudulent.” Based on an August 13, 2007, New Yorker article, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil apparently aims “to demonstrate the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and to teach readers how to sniff out the good stuff.” To this end, Mueller reportedly explains how unscrupulous suppliers “frequently adulterate olive oil with low-grade vegetable oils and add artificial coloring,” resulting in “a urine-colored and musty butter substitute.” But aside from such “alarming” statistics, Times critic Dwight Garner ultimately found the prose too “unctuous” for his taste. “The Food and Drug Administration considers this adulteration a low priority. Grody olive oil is not killing anyone. We’re talking about a first-world problem here,” Garner…
