Three plaintiffs have filed a projected class action alleging Trader Joe’s Co.’s “100%” Manuka Honey contains about 60 percent manuka honey. Moore v. Trader Joe’s Co., No 18-4418 (N.D. Cal., Oakland Div., filed July 20, 2018). The consumers allege that they paid a premium for the honey, which purportedly provides antibacterial benefits, because the jars were labeled as containing “100%” manuka honey and listing manuka honey as the sole ingredient. The complaint asserts that the plaintiffs’ testing found that the product “only contains between 57.3% to 62.6% manuka honey,” with other types of honey allegedly filling the remainder. The plaintiffs seek damages, class certification and attorney’s fees for alleged violations of California’s, North Carolina’s and New York’s consumer-protection statutes.
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From the rise in food allergies to the changing economics of agriculture and animal husbandry, documentary series “Rotten” examines a range of factors that affect the food and beverage industry. Episodes include "Lawyers, Guns & Honey," which explores how foreign honey enters the U.S. market; "Big Bird," which documents the effects of JBS' purchase of Pilgrim's Pride on U.S. poultry farmers; and "Milk Money," which examines the benefits and risks linked to the sale of raw milk. The final episode, "Cod is Dead," details the effects of catch limits on commercial fisheries and reviews the case of Carlos Rafael, the "Codfather." Since the release of "Rotten," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reportedly sought to prevent Rafael and his businesses from reentering the fishing industry after he is released from prison.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have reportedly confiscated since October 2014 about 450,000 pounds of honey produced in China but falsely declared to be from Latvia on import documents. Chinese honey has been subject to a high import tax—currently 221 percent—since 2001, when the U.S. Department of Commerce found that Chinese producers were dumping honey on the market by selling it for lower than production costs. An assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Houston reportedly identified the city as a “key point of entry” into the United States; in November 2013, agents there seized Chinese honey worth $4.2 million that was falsely labeled as Malaysian and Indian. Chinese honey was also the subject of a 2002 U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning after concerns that it was adulterated with the antibiotic chloramphenicol, which is…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance concerning the proper labeling of honey and honey products to ensure that such products “are not adulterated or misbranded.” In light of its earlier refusal to create a new standard of identity for honey, the agency developed the guidance to respond to labeling issues raised by a March 8, 2006, petition submitted by the American Beekeeping Federation and other honey-related associations. According to FDA, the draft guidance (i) “summarizes FDA’s legal authority over honey and honey products”; (ii) “provides a commonly used definition of honey”; (iii) “offers advice on labeling issues such as the floral source of honey, blends of honey and other sweeteners, and blends of honey and other ingredients, such as flavors”; and (iv) “describes some of the measures FDA takes to guard against honey adulterated with cane sugar, corn syrup, or residues of chloramphenicol or fluoroquinolones.”…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency has reportedly issued a nationwide warning about misleading and illegal claims for manuka honey, a product derived from the manuka tree in southeastern Australia and New Zealand and endorsed by many celebrities who claim that it contains unique anti-bacterial and medicinal properties. According to news sources, manuka honey commands prices 10 to 20 times higher than other types of honey. Tests by the U.K. Food Environment Research Agency (Fera), New Zealand’s Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association (UMFHA) and others, however, suggest that many of the products labeled “manuka honey” contain none of its unique active properties, prompting industry leaders to demand a crackdown on a “potentially huge fraud.” Industry data have apparently revealed that New Zealand—the main source of manuka honey—produces only 1,700 tons of the honey each year, while consumption data show that an estimated 10,000 tons is sold worldwide annually, with 1,800 tons…
According to news sources, several U.S. beekeeping companies have filed lawsuits under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), alleging that the defendant companies illegally imported honey from China thus evading millions of dollars in anti-dumping duties and depressing the price for domestic honey. Moore v. Groeb, No. 13-2905 (N.D. Ill., filed April 17, 2013); Adee Honey Farms v. Groeb Farms, Inc., No. 13-2922 (N.D. Ill., filed April 18, 2013). Among other things, the complaint alleges that some of the imported honey contained adulterated antibiotics, was not actually honey and was falsely represented to government authorities as honey from countries other than China. The plaintiffs reportedly cite a February 2013 agreement between defendant Groeb Farms and the federal government indicating that the company’s “unlawful actions ‘caused losses to the United States of no less than $78,866,216’ in the form of unpaid antidumping duties” during a four-year period. As part…
A federal court in California has dismissed as preempted putative class claims filed against Target Corp. and Honeytree, Inc., alleging that they retail and manufacture honey products falsely advertised as “honey” or “pure honey” despite the absence of all pollen, an allegedly “defining characteristic of honey under applicable law.” Cardona v. Target Corp., No. 12-1148 (C.D. Cal., decided March 20, 2013). The court rejected the defendants’ challenge to the plaintiff’s standing, finding that she had sufficiently alleged an injury under Kwikset Corp. v. Superior Court, 51 Cal. 4th 310 (2011). But the court determined that the claims were preempted under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, agreeing with the defendants that the plaintiff “cannot plausibly allege that ‘pollen’ is a ‘characterizing ingredient’ of ‘honey,’ and that the ‘common and usual name’ of honey is honey, irrespective of pollen content.” According to the court, “the requirement that pollen-less honey be labeled as…
A U.S. attorney in Illinois has announced charges filed against two companies and five individuals in a five-year investigation of imports that allegedly circumvented $180 million in anti-dumping duties on honey from China and involved purportedly “adulterated” honey containing the antibiotics chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Groeb Farms, Inc., described as the largest industrial honey supplier in the United States, knowingly avoided more than $78.8 million in antidumping duties by buying mislabeled honey imported from China and has agreed to pay a $2 million fine and “to dispose of any illegally-entered Chinese-origin honey in its possession.” It will also institute a corporate compliance program to ensure supply chain integrity and conduct “reasonable inquiries to safeguard against any illegal activity.” Jun Yang, Urbain Tran and Hung Yi Lin were all charged with brokering or transporting illegal Chinese-origin honey in the United States. Yang will plead guilty and has agreed to a fine of $250,000…
A federal court in Wisconsin has dismissed as preempted a putative class action alleging that the company which makes Sue Bee Clover Honey® violates a state honey-labeling standard by failing to disclose that the product does not contain bee pollen. Regan v. Sioux Honey Ass’n Coop., No. 12-758 (E.D. Wis., decided January 31, 2013). The court also dismissed an unjust enrichment claim and a cause of action based on an alleged violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). According to the court, the Wisconsin honey standard is based on a Codex Alimentarius provision that prohibits the removal of pollen from honey “except where this is unavoidable in the removal of foreign inorganic or organic matter.” Because federal law has no standard of identity for honey, under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), the label must therefore bear the “common or usual name” of a food contained therein. The…
A federal court in California has dismissed statutory and common law claims filed in a putative class action against Sioux Honey Association Cooperative, alleging that the company falsely labels its Sue Bee Clover Honey® product as “honey,” despite removing the pollen from the product. Ross v. Sioux Honey Ass’n Coop., No. 12-1645 (N.D. Cal., decided January 14, 2013). The court found the claims preempted or insufficiently pleaded in the plaintiff’s third amended complaint and, concluding that any further amendment would be futile, granted the motion to dismiss with prejudice. So ruling, the court declined to rule that the plaintiff lacked standing to bring the suit, finding that her pleadings satisfied the requirements of Kwikset Corp. v. Superior Court, 51 Cal. 4th 310 (2011), in which the California Supreme Court recognized that allegations of economic injury arising from reliance on a product manufacturer’s alleged misrepresentations satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement for standing under…
