Thumb Oilseed Producers’ Cooperative has reportedly recalled nearly 400 tons of soybean flour and soy meal used in human food and animal feed due to possible Salmonella contamination. According to a press release posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website, “[t]he recalled soybean flour and meal was distributed to a limited group of wholesale customers” in Canada, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin between November 2010 and September 2011. While no illnesses have apparently been linked to the potentially contaminated products, “[t]he recall resulted from routine sampling conducted by the company and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which revealed the bacteria in finished product and the manufacturing environment.” See Thumb Oilseed Press Release, October 4, 2011.
According to a Citizens for Health alert, certain food companies are engaging in what the advocacy organization characterizes as “pinkwashing,” that is, supporting breast cancer action and initiatives while making and selling products purportedly posing cancer risks. The alert is based on an article recently appearing in Marie Claire. Titled “The Big Business of Breast Cancer,” the article contends, “Breast cancer has made a lot of people very wealthy.” While the article focuses on charities that may spend more on overhead and salaries than for breast cancer research or support for patients, it also suggests avoiding “pink-ribbon merchandise.” Among the questions the article proposes asking before contributing to or purchasing a “pink” branded product is whether the product itself is “contributing to the breast cancer epidemic.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has filed a legal petition on behalf of the “Just Label It” campaign with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “demanding that the agency require the labeling of all food produced using genetic engineering [GE].” Representing health-care, consumer, agricultural, and environmental organizations, the campaign has urged the public to submit comments on the petition to FDA and to question why GE foods are patented for novelty but remain unlabeled. The petition specifically calls on FDA to rescind its 1992 Statement of Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties, which evidently determined that GE foods do not require special labeling because they “are substantially equivalent to foods produced through conventional methods.” Instead, the petitioners want FDA to issue “a new policy declaring that a production process is ‘material’ under FFDCA [the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act] section 201(n) if it results in a change…
An environmental and public-health advocacy organization has filed a Proposition 65 lawsuit against numerous food and beverage producers in a California state court, alleging failure to warn the public that their baby and toddler foods and fruit juices contain lead, a chemical known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity or cancer. Envtl. Law Found. v. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., No. 11597384 (Cal. Super. Ct., Alameda Cty., filed September 28, 2011). Alleging one count of violating Proposition 65, the plaintiff seeks injunctive relief and civil penalties of $2,500 per day for each violation of the law, as well as attorney’s fees and costs. According to the complaint, the plaintiff notified the companies about the alleged violation in 2010 and provided the required notice to the state attorney general, who is not apparently prosecuting an action involving this claim.
Arch Specialty Insurance Co. has filed a declaratory judgment action in a New York state court against a company identified as a distributor of food product ingredients, including the butter-flavoring chemical diacetyl. Arch Specialty Ins. Co. v. Citrus & Allied Essences, Ltd., No. 652670/2011 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. County, filed September 29, 2011). The insurance company contends that it has no obligation to defend or indemnify the defendant in the personal injury actions “asserted by numerous claimants against Citrus & Allied in several jurisdictions around the country.” Among other matters, the insurer claims that the events giving rise to the underlying claims did not occur during the policy period; the claims involve “damages or injuries which were expected, intended or non-fortuitous from the standpoint of Citrus & Allied”; the claims fall within a pollution exclusion clause or arise from a recall as defined by the policy; and the insured failed…
Dole Food Co. has reportedly signed a definitive settlement agreement that could conclude five U.S. lawsuits and 33 lawsuits filed in Nicaragua by banana plantation workers purportedly exposed to the agricultural chemical DBCP (1,2-Dibromo3-chloropropane). At stake are potential alleged damages in excess of $9 billion. According to Dole’s October 3, 2011, news release, the company “will not fund the settlement by making any payments until specific conditions are satisfied, including receiving a signed release from each plaintiff, dismissals of cases and judgments, and a good faith settlement determination by the Los Angeles Superior Court that is presiding over four of the U.S. cases.”
A woman who allegedly created a design for Knee Deep Brewing Co. to use on its beer tap handles has sued the company for breach of contract and copyright infringement after they could not apparently come to terms over a price for her design and the company began using a similar design on its product labels. Sylvers v. Knee Deep Brewing Co., LLC, No. 11-714 (D. Nev., filed October 4, 2011). The disputed design is purportedly being used on the company’s “Beautiful Blonde” Ale; it features a woman posing before a panorama of downtown Reno, Nevada, with mountains in the background. The plaintiff, who allegedly registered the “Girl Over Reno” design with the U.S. Copyright Office, seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, compensatory damages and restitution, interest, costs, and attorney’s fees.
Fage Dairy Processing Industry, S.A. has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s refusal to register the yogurt maker’s “Fage Total” trademark and a declaration that its use of the mark does not infringe any claimed right of General Mills, which makes Total® breakfast cereals. Fage Dairy Processing Indus., S.A. v. General Mills, Inc., No. 11-1174 (N.D.N.Y., filed September 30, 2011). According to the complaint, the board’s ruling is replete with factual errors. The complaint also asserts that Total® cereal and Fage Total yogurt co-existed in U.S. markets for 13 years “without a single instance of actual confusion arising from the parties’ use of their respective marks.” Fage alleges that the defendants, “suddenly and without warning” brought a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against it in mid-September, “seeking draconian damages.” That suit was apparently filed two days after the board refused to register Fage’s marks.
Alleging that a government contractor sprayed an herbicide on their property as part of transmission-line maintenance, the owners of a state-certified organic beef farm in Skagit County, Washington, have sued the U.S. government and the contractor for damages incurred by the contamination of their property. Benson v. United States, No. 11-1619 (W.D. Wash., filed September 28, 2011). According to the complaint, the plaintiffs have a contract with the government “with regards to all maintenance on the power lines and providing recovery of any resulting damages.” In 2008, the plaintiffs were allegedly notified that spraying would take place, and they spoke with a government representative explaining that their property could not be sprayed. They were allegedly assured that this would be noted in the paperwork and that no herbicide would be sprayed on their property. Despite the assurances and despite a “no spray” sign on the access gate to the plaintiffs’ property,…
California residents have filed a putative class action against Nonni’s Foods, LLC, alleging that the company falsely represents its “All Natural” biscotti products by failing to disclose that ingredients, such as cocoa processed with alkali, glycerin, monocalcium phosphate, and diglycerides, are synthetic. Larsen v. Nonni’s Foods, LLC, No. 11-4758 (N.D. Cal., filed September 23, 2011). Seeking to certify a nationwide class and statewide subclass, the plaintiffs allege common law fraud; unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices; false advertising; and violation of the state’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act. They request restitution; compensatory, statutory and punitive damages; declaratory and injunctive relief; attorney’s fees; costs; interest; and an accounting and imposition of a constructive trust on money the company received as a result of its conduct. The plaintiffs essentially contend that they did not receive the benefit of their bargain when purchasing the product and “lost money as a result in the form…
