The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food Safety and Inspection Service, seeking a declaration that the agencies have unreasonably delayed taking action on its May 2011 petition requesting that certain strains of antibiotic-resistant (ABR) Salmonella in ground meat and poultry be declared adulterants. CSPI v. Vilsack, No. 14-895 (D.D.C., filed May 28, 2014). Details about CSPI’s petition appear in Issue 396 of this Update. According to the nutrition and health advocacy organization, if these pathogens are declared adulterants, affected meat and poultry products would be barred from entering commerce, and the action “would also confirm the agency’s authority to request without evidence of illness that a company recall products containing ABR Salmonella, or—in the absence of a company’s voluntary compliance—to detain and seize those products.” The complaint refers to a number of Salmonella outbreaks, some involving…
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According to a new Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) report titled “Label Confusion: How ‘Humane’ and ‘Sustainable’ Claims on Meat Packages Deceive Consumers,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fails to verify the accuracy of label claims on most meat and poultry products sold in the United States. The report suggests that food label claims used on millions of meat packages lack “any apparent verification, and AWI has asked USDA to require independent third-party certification. Noting that the use of animal welfare and sustainability claims has increased dramatically during the past decade as consumers become more aware of—and concerned about—the well-being of animals raised for food and the purported negative impacts of animal agriculture on the environment, AWI contends that the public’s interest in these claims makes them ripe for exploitation. During the past three years, AWI researched the USDA approval process for 25 animal welfare and environmental claims, such as…
Researchers at Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences have purportedly found that edible films made from pullulan—a transparent polymer produced by the fungus Aureobasidium pulluns, silver nanoparticles, zinc oxide, and oregano and rosemary essential oils—can inhibit foodborne pathogens on meat products. Mohamed K. Morsy, et al., “Incorporation of Essential Oils and Nanoparticles in Pullulan Films to Control Foodborne Pathogens on Meat and Poultry Products,” Journal of Food Science, April 2014. Observing that the films inhibited the growth of four pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, and E. coli O157:H7—to varying degrees, the researchers concluded that they could form “the basis of a useful packaging tool to improve the safety of meat products.” According to Penn State University Food Science Professor Catherine Cutter, who co-authored the study, the edible films are a “novel but effective way” to deliver antimicrobial agents to meats because the bacteria-killing action lasts longer than the liquid applications traditionally used. “The results from…
A new study has concluded that advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), which occur in heat-processed meat and animal products, can cause brain changes similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease or metabolic syndrome, a pre-diabetic state. Weijing Cai, et al., “Oral glycotoxins are a modifiable cause of dementia and the metabolic syndrome in mice and humans,” PNAS, February 2014. Led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the study reportedly used a mouse model to show that consuming AGE-rich foods “raised the body’s level of AGEs, which, among other effects, suppressed levels of sirtuin, or SIRT1, a key ‘host defense’ shown to protect against Alzheimer’s disease as well as metabolic syndrome.” The study’s authors noted that mice fed a high-AGE diet not only exhibited high levels of AGE in their brains and low levels of SIRT1 in their blood and brain tissue, but also developed cognitive and…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that Petaluma, California-based meat processor Rancho Feeding Corp. has recalled nearly 9 million pounds of beef products—all of the beef processed by the company from January 2013 through January 2014 and shipped to California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas. According to FSIS, “the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce”; the company purportedly processed “diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full benefit of federal inspections.” Although no reports of illness from consumption of these products have been submitted to FSIS, the recall was categorized as Class I, which means it presents “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” The company has…
Advocacy organizations including the Center for Food Safety and Food & Water Watch have filed an amicus brief to support an animal rights organization coalition’s challenge to a Utah law that criminalizes undercover investigations of meat and poultry processing facilities. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Herbert, No. 13-0679 (D. Utah, brief filed December 17, 2013). Contending that the government has failed to prevent illegal animal-handling practices that ultimately threaten consumer safety and that consumers have the right to know how food is produced, the brief calls for the court to decide the challenge to Utah’s “ag-gag” law, Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-112, on the merits. Among other matters, amici refer to the undercover investigation conducted by the Humane Society of the United States in 2007 of a Hallmark/Westland facility and its conclusion in a U.S. Department of Agriculture ground-beef recall over concerns that the meat “did not receive complete and proper inspection…
The European Commission (EC) has published a report titled “Origin labelling for meat used as an ingredient: consumers’ attitude, feasibility of possible scenarios and impacts” that provides an overview of the potential consequences of mandatory origin labeling of meat used as an ingredient in food. Based on an independent study completed in July 2013, the report explores three scenarios: (i) maintaining current voluntary origin labeling; (ii) introducing mandatory labeling for EU/non-EU or EU/specific third country indication; and (iii) introducing mandatory labeling indicating the specific EU member state or the specific third country. Among other things, the findings revealed that (i) overall there is “strong” consumer interest in origin labeling; (ii) a considerable difference exists among European Union (EU) member states on consumer preferences and understanding of origin information as well as on the levels of motivation and reasons for wishing to have such information; and (iii) consumer interest for origin…
Finding that individual issues predominate over common ones in a putative class action alleging that Chipotle Mexican Grill sold conventionally raised meats despite advertising its use of “naturally raised” meats, a federal court in California has denied the plaintiff’s motion for class certification. Hernandez v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. 12-5543 (C.D. Cal., order entered December 2, 2013). Additional details about the case appear in Issue 451 of this Update. According to the court, when and where a class member ate at Chipotle and which meat she ate can only be handled individually. The court deemed these issues significant because the allegations are based on the company’s in-store menu signboards and paper menus and because the dates on which “naturally raised” meats were unavailable to specific stores varied over the course of five years. The court also noted that when Chipotle experienced “naturally raised” meat shortages, it would instruct individual…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) has issued a final rule amending the meat and poultry products inspection regulations “to expand the circumstances in which FSIS will generically approve the labels of meat and poultry products.” Effective January 6, 2014, the final rule will also consolidate the regulations governing meat and poultry product label approvals under a new Code of Federal Regulations part. Under the new regulations, FSIS will still require establishments to submit for evaluation certain types of labeling, “e.g., labels for temporary approval, labels for products produced under religious exemption, labels for products for export with labeling deviations, and labels with claims and special statements.” In particular, FSIS will continue to review the following special statements and claims: (i) “[c]laims relating a product’s nutrient content to a health or a disease condition”; (ii) “statements that identify a product as ‘organic’ or containing organic…
A recent meta-analysis has allegedly found that “high consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, may increase all-cause mortality.” Susanna Larsson and Nicola Orsini, “Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Epidemiology, October 2013. Based on data from nine prospective studies, the meta-analysis focused on reported relative risks associated with the consumption of unprocessed red meat (“beef, pork, lamb, or game”) and processed meat (“any meat preserved by smoking, salting, curing, or by the addition of chemical preservatives”). “Overall,” states the study, “those in the highest category of processed meat and total red meat consumption had increased all-cause mortality of 23% and 29%, respectively, compared with those in the lowest category.” The authors also noted that unprocessed red meat “was not significantly associated with all-cause mortality,” hypothesizing that the added salt in processed meat “may increase all-cause mortality by increasing the risk of…
