A federal court in California has issued an order preliminarily certifying a nationwide class for settlement purposes and approved the class settlement in a case alleging that Barbara’s Bakery misled consumers by labeling its products as “all natural” with “no artificial additives,” “no artificial preservatives,” or “no artificial flavors,” when they contained genetically modified (GM), artificial or synthetic ingredients. Trammell v. Barbara’s Bakery, Inc., No. 12-2664 (N.D. Cal., order filed June 26, 2013). Under the proposed terms, the company would create a $4 million non-revertible fund to pay class member claims, an incentive award for the named plaintiff, attorney’s fees, and costs of notice and administration. Class members would able to recover up to $100 for the purchase of products including cereals, cereal bars, cheese puffs, fig bars, granola bars, Snackanimal® animal cookies, organic mini-cookies, snack mixes, and crackers. The settlement would also require the company to modify the labeling and…
Tag Archives GMO
Chipotle Mexican Grill has reportedly become the first fast-food chain to disclose the ingredients it uses that contain genetically modified (GM) organisms. The list of items containing GM ingredients is currently available only on the company’s website and includes barbacoa beef, chicken, fajita vegetables, brown and white rice, steak, and tortillas. According to its website, the company’s “goal is to eliminate [genetically modified organisms] GMOs from Chipotle’s ingredients, and we’re working hard to meet this challenge. For example, we recently switched our fryers from soybean oil to sunflower oil. Soybean oil is almost always made from genetically modified soybeans, while there is no commercially available GMO sunflower oil. Where our food contains currently unavoidable GM ingredients, it is only in the form of corn or soy.” See BloombergBusinessWeek.com, June 18, 2013; Chipotle.com.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service has reportedly approved a Non-GMO Project certification seal and “Non-GMO” statement on labels for products from animals that did not consume feed containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients, such as corn, soy and alfalfa. The certification will attest that the meat, poultry and liquid egg products meet the third-party certifying organization’s standards, which USDA vetted before approving the label. The agency action followed a petition filed by the owner of Mindful Meats, which makes and sells organic grass-fed beef to Northern California restaurants and retailers, and two other companies, Hidden Villa Ranch and Pitman Farms. According to Mindful Meats’ statement, “this is the first time that a U.S. government agency has approved a non-GMO label for beef.” See The New York Times, June 20, 2013; Mindful Meats Blog, June 21, 2013.
A California resident has filed a putative statewide class action alleging that Pepperidge Farm falsely advertised and labeled its Goldfish® crackers as “Natural” despite using genetically modified (GM), synthetic or artificial ingredients to make them. Koehler v. Pepperidge Farm, Inc., No. 13-2644 (N.D. Cal., filed June 10, 2013). Among other matters, the plaintiff alleges that the company changed the product’s packaging and labeling to remove the “Natural” statement and characterizes this as “an implied admission that the Products were not natural at all material times hereto when the Plaintiff and putative Class Members purchased the Products that claimed to be ‘Natural’ and no longer make said claim.” According to the complaint, the company’s cheddar-flavored products “contain genetically modified soy in the form of soybean oil, as well as the following ingredients, which, upon information and belief, were each synthetically produced: thiamine mononitrate (‘vitamin B1’), riboflavin (‘vitamin B2’), folic acid and…
Two additional putative class actions have been filed against Monsanto Co., alleging that the recent discovery of genetically modified (GM) wheat on a farm in Oregon has harmed wheat farmers throughout the United States due to diminished prices “resulting from loss of export and domestic markets” and “increased grower costs resulting from the need to, inter alia, maintain the integrity of the soft white wheat supply and/or to keep genetically engineered wheat from further entering the general wheat supply and export channels.” Dreger Enters. v. Monsanto Co., No. 12-211 (E.D. Wash., Spokane, filed June 5, 2013); Ctr. for Food Safety v. Monsanto Co., No. 13-213 (E.D. Wash., filed June 6, 2013). Like the suit filed by a Kansas farmer, the plaintiffs allege nuisance, negligence and strict liability as to Monsanto’s conduct of field tests of GM wheat throughout the country from 1998 to 2005. Information about the other lawsuit appears…
A federal judge in California has notified the parties to a consumer-fraud action against the company that makes Mission® tortilla chips of her inclination to stay the litigation for six months and refer to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the question “whether products containing GMO [genetically modified organisms] or bioengineered ingredients may properly be labeled ‘Natural’ or ‘All Natural.’” Cox v. Gruma Corp., No. 12-6502 (N.D. Cal., notice filed June 7, 2013). The plaintiffs have opposed the tentative stay order, arguing that a prompt regulatory determination is unlikely given FDA’s past inaction on the matter. They reportedly cited a recent Florida decision denying a soup company’s motion to dismiss similar litigation on preemption grounds because FDA does not regulate “Natural” or “All Natural” food labeling claims. The court, however, cited a Ninth Circuit ruling deferring to FDA’s regulatory authority so that the agency’s “considered judgments” would not be undermined…
A federal court in Arkansas has ruled that it has jurisdiction, pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal standing decision under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles, 133 S. Ct. 1345 (2013), to adjudicate the putative class claims filed by a woman who alleges that Frito-Lay deceives consumers by labeling its Tostitos® and SunChips® products as “All Natural” because they contain genetically modified corn and hexane-extracted soybean oil. Deaton v. Frito-Lay N. Am., Inc., No. 12-1029 (W.D. Ark., order entered June 5, 2013). At issue was whether the defendants had submitted sufficient evidence to show that the amount in controversy exceeded CAFA’s $5 million jurisdictional minimum. The plaintiff had stipulated that she would not seek more than $5 million to keep the lawsuit in state court, but conceded that her stipulation could not prevent removal under the Knowles decision. The court ruled that the…
Connecticut lawmakers have passed a bipartisan bill (H.B. 6527) that will require labeling on foods that contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, making it the first state in the nation to enact such legislation. Designated as “An Act Concerning Genetically-Engineered Food,” the bill was unanimously passed in the Senate and by a 134-3 vote in the House. Governor Dan Malloy (D) has reportedly indicated that the final step in its passage, his signature, will “not be an issue.” “This is important stuff. . . and I think the rest of the world is starting to understand that.” The bill’s passage came after House and Senate conferees reached a compromise following debate over a different version of the proposal. At issue was whether to allow the law to take effect automatically or to attach a “trigger” that would require neighboring states to pass similar legislation before Connecticut’s law would be implemented and enforced. The final…
A new mobile application that allows consumers to learn more about the company and manufacturing process behind a specific product has attracted nationwide media attention, with ABC News “Technology Review” recently naming it “App of the Week.” Created by Los Angeles based developer Ivan Pardo, the “Buycott” app encourages consumers to scan product barcodes to determine whether the purchase conflicts with any causes identified by the user, who can decide to join preexisting Buycott campaigns or create new ones based on individual concerns. For example, as a May 14 Forbes article explains, the “Demand GMO Labeling” campaign will tell consumers if a box of cereal “was made by one of the 36 corporations that donated more than $150,000 to oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food.” In addition to helping consumers source products, Buycott reportedly supplies company information ranging from “phone numbers, emails, social media accounts, and headquarters location……
A federal court in Florida has determined that a putative statewide class is not preempted under federal law from claiming that the presence of genetically modified (GM) corn in Campbell Soup Co. vegetable soups renders its “100% Natural” labeling representations false. Krzykwa v. Campbell Soup Co., No. 12-62058 (S.D. Fla., order entered May 24, 2013). The court also refused to dismiss the claims under the primary jurisdiction doctrine. In the original complaint, the plaintiff alleged that he purchased two soup products with GM corn. Their labels had been pre-approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) because they also contained chicken and the agency has pre-approval authority as to these products. Campbell argued that USDA’s seal of approval preempted state law-based labeling-related claims. Later complaint amendments changed the products at issue to vegetarian soups whose labels are under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) regulatory purview and do not require pre-approval.…
