A bill (S. 831) spearheaded by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) would require country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter. Franken was quoted as saying that the legislation “isn’t a silver bullet, but it does give family farms another tool that will help them compete in a crowded marketplace. And it gives consumers the option to purchase milk and cheese from our own family farms.” See Product Liability Law 360, April 15, 2011.
The U.S. Senate has approved a bill (S. 216) designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” according to the legislation’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The proposal would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the ability to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years. See Press Release of Senator Patrick Leahy, April 15, 2011.
A forthcoming study has allegedly identified “high levels” of arsenic in rice-based baby foods, as well as elevated levels of iron, molybdenum and manganese in infant formula. Karin Ljung, et al., “High concentrations of essential and toxic elements in infant formula and infant foods – A matter of concern,” Journal of Food Chemistry, August 2011. According to media sources, researchers from the Unit of Metals and Health at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm tested leading baby food brands for toxic and essential elements, finding that the samples contained more micrograms of arsenic and other toxins than occurs in breast milk. “These elements have to be kept at an absolute minimum in food products intended for infant consumption,” warned the study authors, who also noted that “[d]rinking water used to mix powdered formula may add significantly to the concentrations in the readymade products.” Meanwhile, the British Specialist Nutrition Association has publicly refuted the…
“When Aubert de Villaine received an anonymous note, in January 2010, threatening the destruction of his priceless heritage unless he paid a one-million-euro ransom, he thought it was a sick joke,” writes Maximillian Potter in this May 2011 Vanity Fair article chronicling “an unprecedented and decidedly un-French” plan to poison the world’s most famous vineyard, La Romanée-Conti. Considered the Holy Grail of Burgundy, the eponymous wines produced by this 4.46-acre, centuries-old vineyard currently sell for $6,455 per bottle, with 1945 vintages fetching upward of $38,000 per bottle. According to Potter, it was only a few months before a record-setting auction of Romanée-Conti that “word of the attack began seeping into the world beyond Burgundy,” which has since sought to keep the affair quiet. Potter traces the remarkable crime from early 2010, when vineyard owner de Villaine began receiving anonymous ransom demands in the mail, to the arrest of a career…
A Chicago public school that six years ago prohibited most homemade lunches has recently found itself in the media spotlight, with some parents publicly questioning the policy that Little Village Academy Principal Elsa Carmona has defended as more nutritious for children. The Chicago Tribune has reported that Carmona instituted the ban after watching students bring “bottles of soda and flaming hot chips” on field trips. “While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments,” confirmed a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson. “In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom.” But some parents have faulted the school for providing unappetizing fare while bringing in more money from students forced to purchase lunch. Their complaints have since received national attention from groups like the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), which called the…
Researchers presenting at the 2011 Experimental Biology conference in Washington, D.C., have reportedly claimed that stearidonic acid-enriched (SDA) soybean oil is “an effective source of long-chain polyunsaturated fat in foods,” and that soy genetically engineered to produce these omega-3 fats, commonly found in fish, could be on tables as early as 2012. The panel on SDA-enriched soy was evidently part of the meeting’s omega-3 symposium led by Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition and Public Health Dean Eileen Kennedy, who noted that the American diet is typically lacking two long-chain omega-3s, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in part because consumers are wary of methyl mercury warnings for seafood. “Against this backdrop, SDA-enriched soybean oil is very attractive,” Kennedy apparently told Science News. “Moreover, if and when SDA-enriched oil becomes available, it should cost less than fish-oil capsules (some of which have allegedly been found contaminated with pesticides, dioxins and…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has launched a mobile application of its “Chemical Cuisine” glossary of food additives to bring safety ratings directly to consumers’ smart phones. The CSPI app provides a list of safe additives and flags those “that everybody should avoid, as well as a number of additives most people would do well to cut back on,” according to CSPI. “Shopping for groceries was a lot easier when more food came from farms, and not factories,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson. “And the tens of thousands of packaged foods on supermarket shelves have a bewildering array of chemical food additives, designed to variously enhance the taste, texture, color, or shelf life of the product.” See CSPI Press Release, April 22, 2011.
Seeking a declaration about respective indemnity obligations, National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. has filed a complaint in a California federal court against several other insurance companies in a dispute stemming from a neurological injury allegedly caused by the mahi-mahi fish served in a fish burrito at a Rubio’s Restaurant. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 11-00755 (S.D. Cal., filed April 11, 2011). The injured consumer apparently seeks damages in excess of $7 million. The insurance defendants are allegedly defending the fish supplier and restaurant in the personal-injury action, and National Union claims that its policy provides excess insurance only and that the other carriers have a duty to indemnify the insureds first.
According to the Department of Justice, a Massachusetts-based fish packer has been convicted of several criminal charges for falsely labeling packages of frozen fish fillets. A federal jury in Boston found Stephen Delaney guilty of a felony violation of the Lacey Act for falsely labeling $8,000 worth of frozen pollock, a product of China, as more expensive cod loins, a product of Canada. The jury also convicted Delaney of one misdemeanor violation for misbranding food under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; he allegedly placed into interstate commerce $203,000 worth of Chinese frozen fish fillets falsely labeled as products of Canada, Holland, Namibia, and the United States. Evidence at trial apparently indicated that he also changed 4 oz. labels on some packages to 5 oz. labels. Delaney will be sentenced on June 8, 2011; he faces up to six years in jail and up to $350,000 in fines. See Department of…
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a request that five false advertising lawsuits pending in two federal district courts against The Quaker Oats Co. be consolidated for pretrial proceedings in Illinois. In re: Quaker Oats Trans-Fat Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2230 (J.P.M.L., decided April 8, 2011). The putative class actions involve claims that the company advertises its Chewy Bars® as containing “0 grams trans fat” when they purportedly contain “dangerous amounts of artificial trans fat, a toxic product that causes cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and is banned in an increasing number of United States and foreign jurisdictions.” The JPML apparently determined that centralization would not “serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses or further the just and efficient conduct of this litigation.” The panel noted that four of the pending actions were filed in one district court in California and were already underway.…
