A federal court in Ohio has determined that, for the most part, an “all-risk” insurance policy excludes from coverage the losses sustained by a meat processor whose products were contaminated with Listeria during processing. HoneyBaked Foods, Inc. v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., No. 08-01686 (N.D. Ohio, W. Div., decided December 2, 2010). Still, the court ordered the parties to prepare a question for certification to the Ohio Supreme Court as to whether, “notwithstanding the failure of the policy to cover the plaintiff’s loss, such loss might be covered” under a reasonable-expectations theory. According to the court, the meat processor was required to destroy about 1 million pounds of fully cooked ham and turkey products after it was discovered that the Listeria found in product samples matched sludge in a hollow roller that was part of the processing plant’s conveyor system. The company sought coverage for the disposed food products and additional losses…
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A recent study has reportedly identified “positive associations between redmeat intake and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.” Amanda Cross, et al., “Meat Consumption and Risk of Esophageal and Gastric Cancer in a Large Prospective Study,” American Journal of Gastroenterology, October 2010. Using a large cohort study of approximately 500,000 adults, researchers evidently concluded during a 10-year follow-up period that those in the top quintile for red meat consumption were 79 percent more likely to develop esophageal squamous cell carcinoma than those who consumed the least red meat. The study authors also found a “a positive association” between gastric cardia cancer and DiMeIQx, a form of heterocyclic acid created by high-temperature cooking. They cautioned, however, that neither finding supports a causal link between red meat and the two cancers. In addition, as the study abstract notes, “benzo[a]pyrene, nitrate, and nitrite were not associated with esophageal or gastric cancer.” In a related development,…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued draft guidelines for video monitoring at federally inspected meat and poultry plants. Although the guidelines do not require in-plant video monitoring, such practices can be used to help strengthen food safety and humane animal-handling practices, and to monitor product inventory and building security, according to an October 14, 2010, FSIS news release. “Records from video or other electronic monitoring or recording equipment may also be used to meet FSIS’ record-keeping requirements,” the agency stated. The guidelines stem from a 2008 USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendation that called for FSIS to “determine whether video monitoring would be beneficial in slaughterhouse establishments,” FSIS Administrator Al Almanza was quoted as saying. “In agreeing to that OIG recommendation, FSIS committed to issuing compliance guidelines for using video records and a directive clarifying FSIS’ authority to access establishment video…
A recent study has purportedly linked processed red meat consumption to metabolic syndrome (MetS), which includes health factors such as abdominal obesity and elevated triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, or fasting glucose, or reduced HDL cholesterol. N. Babio, et al., “Association between red meat consumption and metabolic syndrome in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk: Cross sectional and 1-year follow-up assessment,” Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, September 26, 2010. Researchers evidently conducted cross-sectional analyses on a Mediterranean population at a high risk for cardiovascular disease, evaluating “a 137-item validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and lipid profile” at baseline and after one year. The study authors reported that among these individuals, “higher [red meat] consumption is associated with a significantly higher prevalence and incidence of MetS and central obesity.” According to the researchers, the study is “the first that prospectively demonstrates a higher-incidence of…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has reportedly filed lawsuits in Colorado and Nebraska federal courts against a meatpacking company that allegedly “created a hostile work environment for its Somali and Muslim employees due to their race, national origin, and religion.” According to the EEOC, the workers’ supervisors and co-workers “threw blood, meat, and bones at the Muslim employees and called them offensive names,” placed offensive graffiti on restroom walls and made other offensive comments. The company also allegedly failed to accommodate the Muslim employees “by refusing to allow them to pray according to their religious tenets.” The complaints further apparently allege retaliation, claiming that the employees were fired when “they requested that their evening break be moved so that they could break their fast and pray at sundown during the month of Ramadan.” See EEOC Press Release, August 31, 2010.
A recent study has purportedly linked an increased risk of bladder cancer to “meatrelated compounds,” including nitrate and nitrite. Leah Ferrucci, et al., “Meat and components of meat and the risk of bladder cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,” Cancer, August 2010. Researchers apparently identified 854 transitional cell bladder-cancer cases among the 300,933 men and women enrolled in the 1995 National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Using validated food-frequency questionnaires completed by subjects and quantitative databases of measured values, the study authors estimated “intake of nitrate and nitrite from processed meat and HCAs [heterocyclic amines] and PAHs [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons] from cooked meat.” Their results reportedly showed that when compared to participants who ate the least amount of processed red meat, the top one-fifth had a 30 percent greater risk of contracting bladder cancer. As the study authors concluded, these findings provide “modest support for an…
Lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for financial fraud discovered in connection with a kosher meatpacking plant in the aftermath of a 2008 raid to find illegal immigrants, have alleged trial-court improprieties in their request for a new trial. U.S. v. Rubashkin, No. 08-1324 (N.D. Iowa, filed August 5, 2010). According to Rubashkin’s motion, the federal district court occupied temporary space near the plant so that the 300-plus undocumented workers arrested in the raid could be processed the following day. This raised the issue of Judge Linda Reade’s prior involvement with prosecutors. “Indeed, Chief District Judge Linda Reade stated in September 2008 in a written opinion that she engaged in purportedly limited ‘logistical cooperation’ with law-enforcement authorities in order to provide attorneys and interpreters for the arrested aliens and to conduct their trials in Waterloo.” To the contrary, Rubashkin claims, eight months after…
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has introduced a bill (H.R. 6024) that would require stricter testing procedures designed to eradicate “the dangerous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria” from meat and meat-processing facilities. The E. coli Traceability and Eradication Act would also establish a tracking procedure to enable the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement faster recalls. According to a DeLauro press statement, the proposal would require meat, slaughterhouse and grinding facilities to have ground beef and “beef trim” tested multiple times throughout the manufacturing process by an independent USDA-certified testing facility. In the event E. coli were detected, the bill would require the slaughter facility to immediately report contamination to USDA. The agency would then test the facility’s products for 15 consecutive days following the positive test and establish a “traceback procedure” to the original source of contamination for quicker product recalls and illness prevention. “By the end of this year, an estimated…
A website that specializes in geek gear has reportedly drawn the ire of the National Pork Board (NPB), which apparently sent the company a cease-and-desist letter for marketing unicorn pâté as “the other white meat.” ThinkGeek.com offered the fake product as an April Fool’s prank, but later received a 12-page legal missive claiming that advertisements for “Radiant Farms Canned Unicorn Meat” infringed and diluted the board’s trademark rights. “Laughs aside, the attorneys were doing their work that they do to protect the trademark,” an NPB spokesperson was quoted as saying. Rather than oppose the cease-and-desist warning, ThinkGeek.com has since issued a public apology to NPB on the company blog. “It was never our intention to cause a national crisis and misguide American citizens regarding the differences between the pig and the unicorn,” stated Geeknet, Inc., CEO Scott Kaufman in a June 21, 2010, press release. “In fact, ThinkGeek’s canned unicorn…
The former manager of an Iowa-based kosher meatpacking plant that was raided by immigration authorities in 2008 has reportedly been sentenced to 27 years for financial fraud and ordered to pay $27 million in restitution. While the initial case against Sholom Rubashkin involved the hiring of hundreds of illegal immigrant workers, prosecutors apparently changed their focus to his alleged mishandling of loans that led to bank losses of $26 million. The presiding federal judge reportedly released a 52-page memorandum in advance of the sentencing hearing to explain her decision. The sentence, two years longer than requested by prosecutors, has generated controversy given the relatively lighter sentences meted out to corporate officials responsible for greater frauds in recent years. Six former U.S. attorneys general submitted a letter to the judge supporting a lighter prison term. Rubashkin’s lawyers have indicated that they will appeal the sentence. See The New York Times, June…
