A Florida resident has filed a complaint on behalf of a putative class against Anheuser-Busch Cos. (AB), claiming that since the company began producing Beck’s Beer in the United States in 2012, it has misled consumers into believing that the product is still imported from Germany where it was made with quality ingredients for more than 225 years. Marty v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., LLC, No. 13-23656 (S.D. Fla., filed October 9, 2013). According to the complaint, external packaging material does not indicate that the product is brewed in the United States with domestic ingredients, including Missouri River water. Rather, the external packaging for six- and 12-packs allegedly states that the product is “German Quality” beer “brewed under the German Purity Law of 1516” and that it “Originated in Bremen, Germany.” Individual bottles, however, state “in obscure white text on a silver background, ‘Product of USA—Brauerei Beck & Co.—St. Louis, MO.—12 FL. OZ.’”…
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a final rule, effective Oct. 17, 2013, amending regulations governing the standards for the condition of food containers. According to the agency, revising existing tables, removing operating characteristic curves and updating language in the standards will render them applicable to most types of food containers and align them with current industry practices. AMS also noted that since the standards were last amended in May 1983, innovations in packaging technologies have provided an increasingly wide variety of acceptable new food containers, including aseptic packaging, metal cans with easy-open lids, and plastic rings that hold several containers together. See Federal Register, September 17, 2013.
In the first investigation subject to a pilot program, the International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed with an administrative law judge (ALJ) that a company alleging infringement of its patents for laminated packaging by the importers of liquor, wine, toys, electronics, and cosmetics failed to show that it had a domestic industry that would be harmed by the alleged infringement. In re Certain Prods. Having Laminated Packaging, & Components Thereof, No. 337-TA-874 (ITC, decided August 6, 2013). Several alleged infringers, including Camus Wine & Spirits Group of Cognac, France, were terminated from the investigation before it was resolved on the basis of settlement agreements with claimant Lamina Packaging Innovations, Inc. of Longview, Texas. ITC has the authority to bar imports of products deemed harmful to a domestic industry and announced earlier this year that it would test expedited procedures in cases alleging unfair practices in import trade. Under the program, ITC…
U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has re-introduced legislation (H.R. 2248) that would prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in all food and beverage containers. Titled the “Ban Poisonous Additives Act 2013,” the bill would “ban reusable food and beverage containers (e.g., thermoses) and other food containers (e.g., canned food and formula) that contain BPA from being sold or introduced into commerce.” “It’s time to take the worry out of feeding America’s kids by taking the BPA out of infant formula, canned goods, and other food and beverage containers,” said Markey, who has been working to remove BPA from food and beverage containers since 2008. “Parents, consumers, and doctors are all asking to get BPA out of our bodies. It’s time to ban this chemical and move to safer alternatives.” The proposed legislation would also (i) permit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue one-year waivers if a…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a modified 10-year review schedule that includes Fair Packaging and Labeling Act regulations among those for which the agency plans to request public input in 2013 as to their need, costs, benefits, and burdens. Specifically at issue are the regulations under sections 4 and 5(c), exemptions from requirements under 16 C.F.R. Part 500, and statements of general policy or interpretation (16 C.F.R. Part 503). FTC also intends to review and solicit public comments on its telemarketing sales rule. See Federal Register, May 23, 2013.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has reportedly indicated its support of a state ban on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) for infant formula packaging, but stopped short of suggesting that the chemical be prohibited from baby and toddler food containers, which environmental activists have been requesting. Maine already bans the chemical from baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food and beverage containers, but, according to news sources, DEP officials claim that the scientific evidence is limited on whether the most common baby food containers—glass jars with metal lids that contain BPA—cause children to be exposed to the chemical. Agency officials are also apparently concerned about whether rules implementing the chemical ban would be sufficiently clear for consumers and companies to follow. News sources state that DEP is expected to make a recommendation on extending the BPA ban by the end of January 2013, and that an expanded ban…
In the wake of an Australian High Court ruling validating regulations requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packages, some commentators are speculating whether other products, such as alcoholic beverages and fast food, will be subject to the same types of restrictions. The opinion, penned by Patrick Carlyton, suggests that because alcoholism and obesity also purportedly have deleterious effects, government may consider imposing taxing and packaging rules on the other industries. While he questions whether these types of restrictions actually affect consumption—“will plain packaging work in reducing smoking rates? No one knows. It hasn’t been tried before”—he concludes, “One thing is certain. Plain packaging for unhealthy foods in supermarket aisles would certainly constitute a relief for every parent, and this would have nothing to do with the health benefits.” See News Limited Network, August 16, 2012.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule amending the food additive regulations at 21 CFR part 177 “to no longer provide for the use of polycarbonate (PC) resins,” including bisphenol A (BPA), in infant feeding bottles or spill-proof sippy cups. Effective July 17, 2012, the final rule apparently responds to a petition filed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which claimed that “that baby bottles and sippy cups manufactured from PC resins are no longer being introduced into the U.S. market and that manufacturers of baby bottles and sippy cups have abandoned the use of PC resins in making these products.” After reviewing the submitted data and seven public comments addressing the petition, FDA concluded that the use of PC resins in these products has been “completely and permanently abandoned,” and agreed to amend the regulations accordingly. The agency has requested objections to the final rule…
According to news sources, Philippine Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima issued an opinion in May 2012, upholding a Department of Health (DOH) memorandum that prohibited multinational companies that make infant milk and other nutritional products from using registered trademarks that contain health and nutrition claims which may undermine breastfeeding and breast milk. The companies were not prohibited from selling or advertising their products as long as their marketing materials, including product labels, comply with DOH rules. DOH apparently took the action on the basis of data showing that the country has a weak breastfeeding culture. In issuing her ruling, de Lima rejected the companies’ contention that preventing a trademark owner from the right to use its own registered mark on its products constituted a deprivation of property without due process of law. She reportedly said, “deceptive marks and misdescriptive marks are absolutely unregistrable.” See Business Mirror, June 13,…
Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have allegedly demonstrated that low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can turn adult stem cells and pre-fat cells into fat cells, raising questions about the obesogenic effect of a chemical commonly used in food packaging materials. Raquel Chamorro-García, et al., “Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether Induces Adipogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Stromal Stem Cells Through a Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma-independent Mechanism,” Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2012. The study’s authors evidently used multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) to evaluate BADGE’s effects on “adipogenesis, osteogenesis, gene expression and nuclear receptor activation.” Their results purportedly indicated that BADGE, a combination of BPA and epichlorohydrin, can induce adipogenic differentiation in both MSCs and preadipocytes at low concentrations “comparable to those that have been observed in limited human biomonitoring.” “There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying the predisposition to obesity and related disorders.…
