A lawsuit has been filed in an Oregon federal court on behalf of a 10-month-old girl who allegedly became ill and was hospitalized after eating a meatball made with ground turkey contaminated with Salmonella. Lee v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., No. 11-993 (D. Ore., filed August 16, 2011). Represented by an attorney with food plaintiffs’ firm Marler Clark, the plaintiffs allege that the baby spent seven days in the hospital after her parents were advised that “Salmonella Heidelberg bacteria she had ingested from the defendants’ ground turkey product had gotten into her bloodstream, and she needed urgent care.” Seeking damages in excess of $75,000, the plaintiffs allege strict liability, breach of warranty, negligence, and negligence per se. They claim damages for “general pain and suffering; damages for loss of enjoyment of life, both past and future; medical and medically-related expenses, both past and future; travel and travel-related expenses, past and future;…
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a request to transfer three actions pending in two federal district courts alleging that Ferrero U.S.A., Inc. misrepresented its Nutella® spread as a healthy and nutritious food. In re: Nutella Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2248 (JPML, decided August 16, 2011). While the parties agreed to centralize the cases for purposes of conducting pre-trial proceedings, they could not agree on whether California or New Jersey would be the appropriate transferee court. Denying the request to transfer, the JPML stated, “The actions may share some factual questions regarding the common defendant’s marketing practices, but these questions do not appear complicated. Indeed, the parties have not convinced us that any common factual questions are sufficiently complex or numerous to justify Section 1407 transfer at this time.” The JPML opined that “[c]ooperation among the parties and deference among the courts should minimize…
In an unpublished opinion, a divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has determined that a district court erred in awarding Latino farm workers less than statutory damages for growers’ violations of Washington’s Farm Labor Contractors Act (FLCA). Perez-Farias v. Global Horizons, Inc., No. 10-35397 (9th Cir., decided August 17, 2011). The court remanded the case with directions to enter a damages award of nearly $2 million. The class claims were reportedly filed on behalf of more than 600 workers who accused two state growers and a farm labor contractor of violating federal labor laws. The plaintiffs claimed that they were illegally and intentionally displaced in 2004 by temporary agricultural workers from Thailand. The federal guest worker program allows labor contractors to bring foreign workers into the United States only if it can prove that workers cannot be found locally. While the lower court agreed that the defendants had violated…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued an August 16, 2011, notice soliciting information about “the sale and consumption of whole insects and other animals, such as worms,” which may eventually require novel food assessment under the European Union’s (EU’s) food safety laws. Directed at insect suppliers, the Natural History Museum, and various consumer, manufacturer and retailer associations, the request seeks feedback about U.K. insect consumption, including the extent and duration of sales, with the aim of generating “as comprehensive a list as possible of insects and other animals” likely to come under the auspices of EU Novel Food Regulation (EC) 258/97 when it is revisited in 2012. The current food safety regulation apparently omits insects and other whole animals, “largely due to an apparent oversight in the wording of the existing text.” According to FSA, the responses will contribute to “a broader EU-wide investigation into the marketing of edible…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a staff advisory opinion informing the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) that staff does not have any “present intention” to recommend that FTC bring an enforcement action against a CBBB plan to hold companies “engaged in online behavioral advertising” (OBA) accountable for compliance with self-regulatory principles issued in July 2009 and administered by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). CBBB sought FTC staff’s assurance that the accountability program, if implemented, would not be subject to restraint of trade prosecution. According to the August 15, 2011, letter, “the proposed accountability program is intended to increase transparency and consumer control of OBA, which has the potential to increase consumer welfare, and there appears to be little or no potential for competitive harm associated with the proposed accountability program.” The principles require companies that engage in OBA to notify consumers they are doing so and…
A recent Harvard School of Public Health study has allegedly identified a “strong association” between red meat consumption, especially processed red meat consumption, and Type 2 diabetes. An Pan, et al., “Red meat consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: 3 cohorts of US adults and an updated meta-analysis,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2011. Researchers apparently analyzed data from three cohort studies: 37,083 men followed for 20 years in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study; 79,570 women followed for 28 years in the Nurses’ Health Study I; and 87,504 women followed for 14 years in the Nurses’ Health Study II. The study’s authors also apparently conducted “an updated meta-analysis, combining data from their new study with data from existing studies that included a total of 442,101 participants, 28,228 of whom developed type 2 diabetes during the study.” According to an August 10, 2011, Harvard School of Public Health press…
“Insects—part delicacy, part gag—are chic again,” contends New Yorker staff writer Dana Goodyear in an August 15, 2011, article examining the rise of entomophagy, or insect-eating, among U.S. gourmands, sustainability proponents and more adventurous diners. According to Goodyear, “The current vogue reflects not only the American obsession with novelty and the upper-middle-class hunger for authenticity but also deep anxiety about the meat we already eat—which is its own kind of fashion.” She traces the efforts of enthusiasts like Montana State University entomologist Florence Dunkel and James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef Award winner José Andrés, both of whom want to acclimate local palates to the insects enjoyed by 80 percent of the world’s population. “We need to feed humanity in a sustainable way,” Andrés tells Goodyear. “Those who know how to produce protein will have an edge over everyone else. World War Three will be over control of food and water,…
The Consumer Federation of America will hold its 34th Annual National Food Policy Conference on October 3-4, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Topics will include imported food safety, federal legislative priorities, food marketing and social media, and the global food system.
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity has announced its fall 2011 Seminar Series featuring the interdisciplinary work of public policy and health advocates, as well as legal and industry insights. Speakers in the series will include (i) Legacy President and CEO Cheryl Healton (Lessons Learned from the Tobacco Wars for Products Which Adversely Impact Health); (ii) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Assistant Professor Lainie Rutkow (Can the Food Industry Legally Choose to Do No Harm?); (iii) Columbia Mailman School of Public Health Assistant Professor Y. Claire Wang (Excess Intake and Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Potential Implications on Healthcare Costs); (iv) Center for Science in the Public Interest Director Michael Jacobson (Nutrition and the Politics of Food); and (v) American University School of Communication Professor Kathryn Montgomery (Emerging Issues in Digital Food Marketing). Hosted at the Rudd Center in New Haven, Connecticut, the seminars are open to the public…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently issued a summary of an October 21, 2010, workshop titled “Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention,” where public policy experts and stakeholders discussed national, state and local health initiatives that employ legal strategies “to bring about change as well as the challenges in implementing these changes.” The workshop summary reflects attendees’ views on various topics, including (i) the potential of legal strategies to address childhood obesity; (ii) how legal strategies have been used in other public health areas, such as firearm injury prevention; (iii) actions by the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal agencies; (iv) food industry perspectives; (v) whether regulations and taxes can prevent obesity; (vi) legal approaches to increase physical activity in communities; (vii) the use of litigation to effect policy changes; and (viii) the role of attorneys general and local public health agencies. More specifically, workshop…
