Canada has begun publishing the names of companies in violation of the country’s food, animal and plant-supply regulations. Reportedly aimed at improving accountability and transparency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA’s) website initiative now publishes such information as the (i) “food imports that have been refused entry into Canada”; (ii) “federally registered food establishments whose licenses have been suspended, cancelled or reinstated”; and (iii) “notices of violations with warning and penalties, including identifying repeat offenders of animal transport regulations.” See CFIA Press Release, March 16, 2011.
Canada and the European Union (EU) have signed a memorandum of understanding that tentatively settles a long trade dispute over hormone-treated cattle. According to the March 17, 2011, memorandum, European nations will expand market access to Canadian beef while Canada will suspend trade sanctions on $11 million worth of EU imports. Effective since the early 1980s, EU’s “non-discriminatory” ban on hormone-treated beef was challenged by Canada and the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) starting in 1996, according to the European Commission (EC), the oversight body for EU legislation. In 1999, Canada and the United States were given WTO permission to impose retaliatory sanctions on a number of EU exports. Canada’s sanctions applied to a variety of meat products “in the form of 100% duties.” “The memorandum foresees that Canada suspends these sanctions and the EU would extend its duty-free tariff-rate quota of high quality beef by an…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced new and revised performance standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter incidence in young chickens and turkeys. Effective July 2011, the standards apparently draw on the FSIS Nationwide Microbiological Baseline Data Collection Programs and the recommendations of President Barack Obama’s (D) Food Safety Working Group. According to a March 21, 2011, Federal Register notice, “The standards will be applied to sample sets collected and analyzed by the Agency to evaluate establishment performance with respect to requirements of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Rule.” FSIS has estimated that, after two years, the combined Campylobacter and Salmonella standards will prevent approximately 25,000 illnesses annually. “While the industry has made significant strides in recent years, far too many Americans continue to fall victim to these foodborne illnesses,” said Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen in a March…
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is requesting nominations for members to the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture. Nominations for one- to two-year terms are requested by April 18, 2011. Members are selected to “achieve a balanced representation of viewpoints” to address USDA biotechnology policy issues. Issues of the most immediate concern involve providing practical suggestions “on ways to strengthen coexistence among different agricultural crop production methods.” See Federal Register, March 18, 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied requests to delay a final rule amending food additive regulations “to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for the control of Vibrio species and other foodborne pathogens in fresh or frozen molluscan shellfish.” According to FDA, it has reviewed opposition to the final rule and requests for a hearing, but concluded that objections filed by groups such as Public Citizen and the Center for Food Safety did not “justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the regulation.” In particular, the agency’s latest decision dismisses allegations that (i) FDA failed to consider evidence indicating “harmful effects from consumption of irradiated molluscan shellfish”; (ii) the final rule does not ensure a product “that is microbiologically safe”; (iii) there is no reasonable certainty of no harm; (iv) FDA failed to consider “several factors that could make irradiated molluscan shellfish unsafe”;…
The World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have continued to address public concerns about food produced in Japan, where a recent earthquake and tsunami compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. According to WHO, which has published a list of frequently asked questions about the disaster, “[f]ood safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency,” with some products likely to be deemed unsafe for human consumption. In areas where contamination has occurred, the organization has specifically urged citizens to avoid consuming milk or vegetables, slaughtering animals, hunting, harvesting aquatic animals and plants, or collecting other wild foods such as mushrooms. It has also asked producers to take numerous precautions to protect vegetables, livestock and rice harvests from fallout. “The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial…
The UK’s University of Cambridge has conducted an animal study suggesting that poor diet during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of offspring developing diabetes later in life. Ionel Sandovici, et al., “Maternal diet and aging alter the epigenetic control of a promoter enhancer interaction at the Hnf4a gene in rat pancreatic islets,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 8, 2011. Researchers exposed female rats to either a normal or low-protein diet during their pregnancies and then collected pancreatic cells from their offspring at ages 3 and 15 months. Researchers reportedly found that the offspring of rats fed a protein-deficient diet had a higher rate of type 2 diabetes, according to the study. But they also discovered that the offsprings’ Hnf4a gene—thought to play a role in pancreas development and insulin production—was apparently silenced as the rats aged, a factor that may cause diabetes. “This study has identified…
A group calling itself “The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd.” has sued Idaho in federal court, alleging that a state law allowing cities to “prohibit the sale of distilled spirits” violates members’ fundamental right to practice their religion. The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd. v. Idaho, No. 11-00097 (D. Idaho, E. Div., filed March 11, 2011). According to the complaint, the city of Preston in Franklin County has relied on the state law to forbid the sale of liquor by the drink. The plaintiff contends that this happened because more than 80 percent of local voters belong to The Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints, whose members allegedly “believe that drinking alcoholic beverages is a mortal sin.” The plaintiff alleges that these voters “are allowed to force their morality on those of us who don’t believe in their religion,” and that, in fact,…
Five Hispanic farmers have filed a putative class action in a D.C. district court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to seek “redress from Defendants’ unconstitutional treatment in the proposed settlement of discrimination claims by these Hispanic Plaintiffs . . . as compared to the manner in which Defendants have settled identical discrimination claims by similarly situated African-American and Native American claimants, . . . all of whom were undeniably discriminated against in like manner by [USDA] in the administration of its farm credit and non-credit farm benefit programs.” Cantu v. United States, No. 11-00541 (D.D.C., filed March 15, 2011). According to the complaint, the government has paid African-American farmers about $1 billion in settlement benefits, and legislation signed into law in December 2010 provides an additional $1.25 billion to settle African-American farmers’ claims. Native American farmers were purportedly offered $680 million in compensation and $80 million in debt…
A federal court in California recently dismissed with prejudice a claim against a school district and some of its personnel filed by the parents of a child with an allergy to nuts; they alleged that the defendants threatened harm to the child by refusing to keep him in a nut free environment, which threat was undertaken to discourage the parents from exercising a legal right, i.e., requesting accommodations for him, in violation of state law. McCue v. S. Fork Union Elementary Sch., No. 10-00233 (E.D. Cal., decided February 7, 2011). The parents also alleged harm from an unspecified person giving the child a peanut butter cookie. Because the third amended complaint did not allege all of the facts needed to state a claim under the law and because “[s]erving a child a peanut butter cookie is not an inherently violent act,” the court concluded that the complaint did not allege…
