Finding a lack of standing, a D.C. federal court has dismissed Food & Water Watch’s lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) is inconsistent with the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), which requires USDA to ensure that poultry products are wholesome, unadulterated and properly marked, labeled and packaged. Food & Water Watch v. Vilsack, No. 14-1547 (D.D.C., order entered February 9, 2015). The NPIS reduces the number of USDA inspectors at the slaughter line of poultry production facilities, “freeing up [USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service] resources to conduct offline inspection activities that are more important for food safety, such as verifying compliance with sanitation and [other] requirements, or conducting Food Safety Assessments.” Food & Water Watch challenged the NPIS as consumers of poultry, arguing that the USDA inspection label indicated to them that a federal employee had inspected the poultry and that…
Tag Archives poultry
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new standards that aim to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in “the poultry items that Americans most often purchase,” including ground chicken and turkey products as well as raw chicken breasts, legs and wings, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The proposed standards would require routine sampling throughout the year rather than infrequent sampling on consecutive days, and the allowed amounts of Salmonella in chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey would be lowered substantially. A USDA press release notes that the Food Safety and Inspection Service implemented standards for whole chickens in 1996, but “has since learned that Salmonella levels increase as chicken is further processed into parts.” See USDA News Release, January 21, 2015. Issue 552
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is soliciting comments on proposed amendments to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA). The 1967 law requires that certain products carry labels with identifying information such as the source, content and quantity and specifically excludes—among other categories—meat products, poultry and alcohol beverages. FTC sought comments on the existing rules in March 2014 and used some of the suggested changes in the proposed amendments, which include (i) “modernizing the place-of-business listing requirement to incorporate online resources”; (ii) “eliminating obsolete references to commodities advertised using the terms ‘cents off,’ ‘introductory offer,’ and ‘economy size’”; and (iii) incorporating “a more comprehensive metric chart.” Comments must be received by March 30, 2015. See FTC News Release, January 22, 2015. Issue 552
A California federal court has held that the state law prohibiting the sale of foie gras resulting from the forcefeeding of ducks or geese is preempted by a federal law regulating the distribution and sale of poultry products. Association des Éleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Québec v. Harris, No. 12-5735 (C.D. Cal., order entered January 7, 2015). The Ninth Circuit previously affirmed a lower court’s denial of a temporary injunction sought by the plaintiffs based on a failure to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their vagueness or commerce clause challenges. Additional information about the Ninth Circuit ruling appears in Issue 497 of this Update, and details about the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari to review that decision appear in Issue 542. The court first found that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge the ban despite that defendant Kamala Harris, in her capacity as state attorney…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a risk assessment in response to the European Commission’s urgent request for scientific advice on the H5N8 avian influenza A virus detected in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Focusing on the role of wild birds as vectors, EFSA plans to release a December 2014 report that will provide risk managers “with independent scientific advice and assistance on animal health and welfare related to avian influenza and any possible food safety issues.” See EFSA News Release, November 26, 2014. In a related development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has amended an interim rule restricting the importation of live birds and poultry, hatching eggs and poultry products “from regions where any subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is considered to exist.” Effective December 1, 2014, the final rule now permits the importation of HPAI-resistant species, including pigeons…
The European Union’s (EU’s) Court of Justice has determined that the law requires fresh poultry meat to satisfy the microbiological criteria for foodstuffs and that national law may impose a penalty on “a food business operator which is active only at the distribution stage” for placing a contaminated food product on the market. Reindl v. Bezirkshauptmannschaft Innsbruck, No. C-443/13 (E.C.J., decided November 13, 2014). The issue arose from an Austrian proceeding involving a fine imposed on a food retail manager after a sample from her store of vacuum-packed fresh turkey breast produced and packed by another company was found to be contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium. The Unabhāngiger Verwaltungssenat in Tirol stayed the proceeding and referred to the EU court the questions whether (i) food business operators “active at the food distribution stage” are subject to the full regime under Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005, and (ii) the microbiological criterion in the…
According to a news source, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) and the attorneys general (AGs) of Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky have filed a notice that they will appeal a district court dismissal of their challenge to a California law that allegedly forces egg producers in other states to comply with a voter-approved ballot measure that bans the sale of eggs which have been produced by hens in conventional cages. Missouri ex rel. Koster v. Harris, No. 14-17111 (9th Cir., notice of appeal filed October 24, 2014). Information about a related complaint appears in Issue 512 of this Update. The district court apparently dismissed the complaint in early October on the ground that the officials lack standing to bring the lawsuit because California’s law affects only a subset of farmers who plan not to comply with it. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster claims that the state’s farmers, who export some…
The Pew Charitable Trusts and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have released an October 2014 report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reevaluate its current meat and poultry inspection system. Seeking to identify innovations that could better protect consumers, Meat and Poultry Inspection 2.0 compares U.S. regulations to those used in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. It also examines scientific assessments undertaken by the U.K. Food Standards Agency and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as part of their efforts to modernize food safety regulations. “Modernizing government inspection of meat and poultry plants would focus resources on the food safety risks posed by bacteria and other microbiological and chemical hazards, and away from some human and animal diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, that have been successfully controlled in most developed countries,” argues the report. “However, out of a concern that modernizing government…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report assessing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) current approach to Salmonella and Campylobacter in chicken and turkey products and recommending that the agriculture secretary direct the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to take steps to improve the approach. The report reviews past USDA action on these pathogens, including the establishment of standards limiting Campylobacter contamination and the tightening of existing Salmonella contamination standards. GAO recommended that the agriculture secretary direct FSIS to develop Salmonella and Campylobacter performance measures to monitor whether efforts to bring processing plants into compliance with the poultry products standards are meeting the agency’s goals. GAO also recommended that effectiveness measures be included in future revisions of compliance guidelines for controlling the pathogens. According to the report, USDA agrees with the recommendations. Issue 542
A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel has found that a series of food safety restrictions imposed by the Indian government on imports of U.S. poultry products was based on the inaccurate proposition that U.S. poultry was more likely to carry bird flu. India failed to distinguish between high-pathogenic bird flu that had not been found in the United States since 2004 and a low-pathogenic strain that had appeared in the country, the WTO panel found, so it rejected the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The United States initially challenged the import restriction in 2012 following complaints from chicken farmers accusing the Indian government of unfairly shielding its poultry producers from foreign competition. India has 60 days to challenge the panel’s findings, and if it does, the WTO Appellate Body will have 90 days to issue a report on the dispute. Issue 541
