The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a municipal ordinance charging a $0.20 "waste reduction fee" for paper grocery bags and prohibiting disposable plastic bags, ruling the charge is part of a regulatory program of waste management and not a tax. Colo. Union of Taxpayers Found. v. City of Aspen, No. 16SC377 (Colo., entered May 21, 2018). After two members of the plaintiff advocacy group paid the bag charge in Aspen, the group sued the city and members of the city council alleging the charge was a tax subject to voter approval under the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The trial court and the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in the city’s favor. The court noted that grocers are permitted to retain a portion of the $0.20 charge to provide information to customers, train staff and improve collection and administration, while the remainder is submitted to the city on a form separate…
A group of advocacy organizations has sent a letter asking the leaders of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry to "fully support organic agriculture in the Farm Bill and to oppose any changes that would undermine the organic standards and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)." The organizations urge the committee to refrain from changing the board's authority or composition, which could "harm the integrity of the organic program, undermine consumer trust in the organic label, and severely damage the reputation of the industry as a whole." The letter also includes a number of requests to fund various organic-farming programs.
A New York Times opinion piece has detailed the efforts of Sandy Lewis, an organic cattle farmer, to persuade fellow ranchers and others in the agriculture industry not to administer antibiotics for growth in cattle. Lewis, a former arbitrageur, has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban and criminalize the use of antibiotics before cattle are sick, a prophylactic use acceptable under the agency's regulation banning antibiotics for growth promotion. The piece echoes a March 2018 report from the New York Times on the effects of antibiotic use in cattle feed on antibiotic resistance and gut microbes.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that a pizzeria that fired an employee who criticized a manager did not violate the National Labor Relations Act. Bud’s Woodfire Oven LLC, No. 05-194577 (N.L.R.B., issued May 18, 2018). The determination focused on whether the employee acted on his own behalf or engaged in protected concerted activity by criticizing his manager using profanity during a staff meeting. The board found no corroboration for the employee’s testimony that other coworkers had complained about the manager’s conduct; further, the employee's criticism did not "lay the foundation for meaningful dialogue about employees' terms and conditions of employment.” Instead, the employee’s remark was intended as an insult and “calculated to undermine [the manager’s] authority,” the board held.
Spangler Candy Co. has filed a lawsuit alleging that the packaging for Tootsie Roll Industries LLC's Charms Mini Pops infringes its Dum Dums trade dress. Spangler Candy Co. v. Tootsie Roll Indus., LLC, No. 18-1146 (N.D. Ohio, filed May 18, 2018). Spangler asserts that for decades it has sold its lollipops in red bags with the brand name in white letters above a display window, a red border at the bottom and a yellow circle or oval with blue numerals in the center. The complaint alleges that Tootsie Roll has changed its Charms Mini Pops packaging from a yellow bag to a bag that resembles the Dum Dums bag. Further, pallet displays of the products at some retailers show bags inside similar yellow boxes, the complaint asserts, making the “overall visual impression” of the two products “deceptively and confusingly similar.” Claiming trade dress infringement and unfair competition, Spangler seeks damages, injunctive relief,…
A woman has filed a lawsuit alleging she was hospitalized after eating Salmonella-contaminated eggs from Rose Acre Farms Inc. Roberts v. Rose Acre Farms, Inc., No. 18-61082 (S.D. Fla., filed May 14, 2018). The plaintiff alleges that she purchased eggs packaged by Coburn Farms, a Sav-A-Lot Food Stores brand, and became ill enough to require two hospitalizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked Rose Acre Farms eggs to a nine-state outbreak of Salmonella infections. Claiming strict product liability, breach of warranty, negligence and negligence per se, the plaintiff seeks damages and attorney’s fees.
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a challenge to a bus poster sponsored by Viva, a vegan-advocacy group, that claimed the hormones in cow's milk have been "linked to cancer." Viva asserted that consumers interpret the words “linked to” as a phrase “commonly used to express an association between two factors when there was a potential or likely relationship but not an absolute causative relationship." The group submitted several research papers in support of the ad claim, but ASA was unconvinced by each study, citing unrelated or overly broad subject matters as well as the inclusion of self-reported data. ASA concluded that "the claim 'milk contains 35 hormones, including oestrogen … some of these are linked to cancer', as it would be understood by consumers to mean that due to the presence of hormones, drinking cow’s milk could increase a person’s risk of developing cancer, had not been substantiated and…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed its 2015 decision removing partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) from generally recognized as safe status by denying a food additive petition seeking approval for the use of PHOs in some foods. The agency also extended the June 2018 compliance date for removing PHOs from food, citing trade associations that "informed us that, due to shelf lives ranging from 3 to 24 months, a variety of products containing non-petitioned uses of PHOs will be in distribution on, and for some time after, the compliance date in the final order," according to the Federal Register announcement. For products manufactured before June 18, 2018, the enforcement date will be January 1, 2020. FDA has also extended the compliance date for the uses of PHOs in the food additive petition, including (i) use as a solvent or carrier for flavoring or coloring agents; (ii) use as a processing aid;…
The Missouri legislature has passed an agriculture bill that would prohibit companies from labeling lab-grown and plant-based products as "meat." The bill bans "misleading or deceptive practices" in the sale of meat, including "misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry." Missouri Governor Eric Greitens must sign the bill by July 15, 2018. Similar measures have been debated at the federal level, and the U.S. Cattlemen's Association filed a petition in February 2018 urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish beef labeling that would limit the use of "beef" and "meat" on products not derived from animals.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has announced a program that "provides organic businesses with a risk-based approach for developing and implementing a written strategic plan to assure the authenticity of organic products." Each of the pilot program's participants "will concentrate on one product or ingredient" or "a specific location" then seek feedback from other stakeholders in the supply chain, according to OTA's press release. The plan will focus on (i) "identifying and assessing specific weaknesses or vulnerabilities in their business that pose the most risk of fraud"; (ii) "identifying and taking measures to reduce those vulnerabilities to deter fraud"; (iii) "establishing a monitoring program to ensure the fraud prevention measures are in place"; and (iv) "developing a complaint system to be used when fraud is suspected or detected."
