A recent audit of food allergen labeling practices has reportedly concluded that “deficiencies and ambiguities are prevalent,” calling on federal agencies to back the “strict enforcement of labeling laws as well as additional regulation.” M.M. Pieretti, et al., “Audit of manufactured products: use of allergen advisory labels and identification of labeling ambiguities,” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, August 2009. In their review of 20,241 products, researchers identified 25 different allergen advisory terms including “may contain,” “shared equipment” and “within plant.” They also noted that “nonspecific terms, such as ‘natural flavors’ and ‘spices,’ appeared on 65 percent of products and were not linked to a specific ingredient for 83 percent of them.” The study specifically raised questions about the labeling of soy-derived lecithin and refined oils containing soy. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) requires manufacturers to list “soy” as an ingredient in lecithin-containing products, but does…
Chinese researchers studying seven women purportedly exposed to nanoparticles in the workplace for 5-13 months sought to determine if their shortness of breath and pleural effusions could be linked to their exposure. Y. Song, et al., “Exposure to nanoparticles is related to pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis and granuloma,” European Respiratory Journal, August 20, 2009. According to the abstract of their article, “polyacrylate, consisting of nanoparticles, was confirmed in the workplace,” and electron microscopy revealed nanoparticles in “the cytoplasm and caryoplasm of pulmonary epithelial and mesothelial cells,” as well as in the chest fluid of the subjects. The researchers have concluded that the cases “arouse concern that long-term exposure to some nanoparticles without protective measures may be related to serious damage to human lungs.” The research has generated debate among nanotech researchers and scientists. Two of the women studied have reportedly died. Working in an unidentified Chinese printing factory, they were apparently…
The American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) has submitted a report to Congress that challenges the 2008 findings of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which supports legislation (H.R. 1549 and S. 619) seeking to prohibit or limit the use of low-level antibiotics in agriculture. Signed by 20 food producer organizations, an introductory letter states that the Pew Commission and other supporters of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) “offer no new information or data to make their case, but rather echo inaccurate messages.” The signatories have called on the Obama administration to honor its pledge to base its regulatory decisions on “the best available science,” not the opinions of “PhD issue advocates or animal rights activists.” AVMA specifically faults the Pew Commission for failing to “incorporate the findings and suggestions of a significant number of participating academicians.” Focusing on the areas of antimicrobial resistance, the environment…
Describing an Iowa pig’s miserable, short life as “the state of your bacon–circa 2009,” this author recaps the “horror stories about the food industry” and how he believes things have gotten worse. “The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices,” Walsh writes. “But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans. Those hidden prices are the creeping erosion of our fertile farmland, cages for egg-laying chickens so packed that the birds can’t even raise their wings and the scary rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among farm animals. Add to the price tag the acceleration of global warming–our energy-intensive food system uses 19 percent of U.S. fossil fuels, more than any other sector of the economy. And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous.” Some Americans are working to transform the way…
“After responding to a radio commercial seeking former banana-plantation workers for a lawsuit against Dole Food Co., Marcos Sergio Medrano thought he might be entitled to some money,” begins this article exploring fraud allegations against lawyers and plaintiffs in banana-pesticide litigation. “He says an American law firm convinced him that a pesticide used on the Dole-operated banana plantation where he had worked years ago had made him sterile. Lawyers for the 49-year-old peasant produced tests that purported to prove it. But DNA testing by Dole revealed that he had fathered three children—something Mr. Medrano says was news to him.” Stecklow writes that Medrano, of Chinandega, Nicaragua, is part of the “sorry fallout from a group of U.S. personal-injury and other lawyers who descended on this small, impoverished city, seeking to recruit thousands of clients and earn up to 40 percent of any awards. Emboldened by a developing-world legal system that…
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed lawsuits against companies that make, market or supply açai berry products, touted as weight loss dietary supplements, charging that they are scamming consumers with aggressive marketing campaigns, prematurely billing their credit cards, not always supplying the product ordered, and making it nearly impossible to cancel once a “free trial” has been implemented. The product ads purportedly feature images of celebrities such as Rachel Ray, Oprah Winfrey, Mehmet Oz, M.D., Gwyeth Paltrow or Courtney Love, despite their alleged lack of a promotional contract with the companies. The complaints seek injunctive relief, restitution and civil penalties.
A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tribunal has reportedly awarded $58 million in damages to Corn Products International’s Mexican affiliate after finding that Mexico imposed discriminatory taxes on beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The tribunal determined in January 2008 that Mexico had breached its NAFTA obligations to favor its domestic sugar industry by requiring a 20 percent tax on HFCS-sweetened beverages. According to a news source, the tax was also imposed in retaliation for U.S. curbs on surplus Mexican sugar imports in the 1990s, an anti-dumping practice declared illegal by the World Trade Organization. See FoodNavigator-USA.com, August 29, 2009.
In the wake of lawsuits filed by the manufacturer of a pomegranate-juice based product line, consumers have now begun seeking damages against the same defendants for alleged deception and fraud in the sale of pomegranate juice purportedly containing “little or no pomegranate juice.” Burcham v. Welch Foods, Inc., No. 09-05946 (C.D. Cal., filed August 14, 2009). Additional information about the lawsuits filed by POM Wonderful LLC against Welch Foods, Inc. and Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. appears in issues 290 and 313 of this Update. According to plaintiff Maryam Burcham, seeking damages for herself and a class of “All persons residing in California who purchased Welch’s ‘White Grape Pomegranate Juice,”’ the defendant’s product “purports to combine white grape and pomegranate into a single juice product. However, the truth is that the main ingredients in Defendant’s White Grape Pomegranate Juice are actually cheap white grape and apple juice, instead of pomegranate juice,…
A federal court in New York has decided to allow most parts of a new state bottle-deposit law to take effect, lifting a injunction that would have delayed implementation until April 2010. Int’l Bottled Water Ass’n v. Paterson, No. 09-4672 (S.D.N.Y., decided August 13, 2009). Additional details about the litigation challenging the law’s constitutionality appear in issue 305 of this Update. The court’s decision overturns an order entered in late May 2009 granting injunctive relief. According to a news source, the ruling means that soft drink and beer makers must now give the state 80 percent of the unclaimed 5-cent deposits, and store and redemption handling fees will increase from 2 cents to 3.5 cents per container. Water companies making products containing flavored water, vitamin water and artificial sweeteners have apparently been given until October 22 to comply with the law, unless they can prove compliance is impossible. They did…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture and Office of the Acting Secretary for Food Safety have announced a public meeting to address an upcoming session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the international food standards body established by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization. Slated for October 8, 2009, the meeting will consider U.S. draft positions pertaining to the 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) to be held November 2-6 in Dusseldorf, Germany. CCNFSDU studies nutritional problems and advises the Codex on general nutritional issues; drafts general provisions concerning the nutritional aspects of all foods; develops standards, guidelines and related texts pertaining to foods for special dietary uses; and considers provisions on nutritional aspects proposed for inclusion in Codex standards. The U.S. agencies will also hold a working group on October…
