France's agriculture minister has reportedly announced that the country will prohibit the mass culling of male chicks shortly after they hatch and ban the castration of piglets without anesthesia in an effort to support animal welfare. The minister indicated his intention to have the regulations take effect by the end of 2021. Germany previously banned the practice, but a court invalidated the law until a method for determining the sex of an embryo in the egg can be developed.
Tag Archives Germany
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that all online and mail-order sellers of organic products—including small producers and sellers that would otherwise be exempt from the requirements—must obtain sales permits to avoid fraud and mislabeling and maintain “consumer confidence” in products labeled as organic. Kamin und Grill Shop GmbH v. Zentrale zur Bekampfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs eV, No. C-289/16 (ECJ, entered October 12, 2017). Kamin, a mail-order and internet business, began marketing spice mixes in 2012 that it labeled as organic. A German consumer advocacy group challenged the sales, and the German Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) referred the case to ECJ. The court found that in the case of online or mail-order retail sales, product storage and delivery by intermediaries created a risk of re-labeling, exchange or contamination so the “direct” sales exemption for small, face-to-face sellers should not be construed broadly.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that plant-based products cannot use milk- or dairy-related terms for product names or in marketing because the terms are “exclusively” reserved for animal-milk products under EU law. Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb eV v. Tofu Town.com GmbH, Case C 422/16 (order entered June 14, 2017). Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb eV, a German trade group, asked a regional German court for an injunction against Tofu Town, a producer of vegetarian and vegan products marketed with names such as “veggie cheese,” “Soyatoo tofu butter” and “rice spray cream.” The regional court referred the dispute to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. The court found that EU Regulation 1308/2013 reserves the term “milk” for animal-derived products such as cheese, cream, butter, yogurt and kefir, and further, non-bovine products must specify the animal species from which the milk originates because the regulation defines milk as the product…
A German court has reportedly ordered the city of Hamburg to compensate a Spanish vegetable grower falsely linked to a 2011 E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 4,000 people in 16 countries. Vegetable cooperative Frunet asserted that it suffered €2.3 million in damages as a result of its incorrect identification as the source of the outbreak, which was later traced to fenugreek sprouts. The amount of the award has not been confirmed. See Think Spain, October 25, 2015. Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s decision that the government does not owe tomato growers compensation after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publicly attributed a 2008 Salmonella outbreak to red tomatoes, then later traced it to jalapeno and serrano peppers. DiMare Fresh, Inc. v. U.S., No. 15-5006 (Fed. Cir., order entered October 28, 2015). “The problem with the Tomato Producers’ contention…
Health Canada’s Bureau of Chemical Safety has released a survey of bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods that finds low rates of exposure and no risk to public health. Researchers apparently examined samples from 78 domestic and imported canned food products, including pastas, soups, tomato paste, tuna and vegetables. The results indicated that canned tuna products and condensed soups had “the highest BPA levels, in general,” while tomato paste had levels that were “considerably lower.” According to Health Canada, these findings “are consistent with those of past surveys and are not considered to represent a human health concern.” The agency, however, reiterated its commitment to working with the food packaging industry “to better identify the factors which may influence BPA migration to food, with a goal to limit human exposure to BPA to the greatest extent possible.” In a related development, Germany’s environmental agency, Umweltbundesamt (UBA), has advised manufacturers, importers and…
