Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 306

  • Study Alleges Reusable Grocery Bags May Pose Safety Threat

    Reusable grocery bags and packages can apparently contain a high level of bacteria, yeast, mold, and coliform that can pose a significant food safety risk because of cross contamination, claims a new microbiological study funded by the Environment and Plastics Industry Council (EPIC). The study, reportedly the first of its kind in North America, looked…

  • Study Claims BPA from Polycarbonate Bottles Identified in Humans

    A Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study has reportedly found that “participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles, the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles, showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA).” Jenny L. Carwile, et al., “Use of Polycarbonate Bottles and Urinary Bisphenol A…

  • New Butter Flavoring Target of Andrew Schneider Investigation

    “Diacetyl-linked jury verdicts of tens of millions of dollars for injured flavoring workers and diagnoses of lung damage in at least three popcorn-loving consumers forced popcorn packers and other food processors to stop using the chemical butter-flavoring two years ago,” writes investigative journalist Andrew Schneider in a May 28, 2009, article examining claims that possible…

  • Global Food Crisis Challenges Policymakers; Malthus May Have Been Right

    Known as outsourcing’s “third wave,” the trend among wealthy nations to buy farmland in developing countries is reportedly raising concerns among those dealing with issues like world hunger and water shortages. When the price of staples like wheat, rice and corn skyrocketed in recent years, food exporting countries, faced with food riots, restricted their exports…

  • ACSH Criticizes Banzhaf’s Call for Fast-Food Calorie Disclosures and Taxes on Snacks and Beverages

    The director of nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a non-profit “consumer education consortium,” recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer responding to an opinion piece authored by John Banzhaf, an anti-tobacco crusader and law school professor who in recent years has turned his attention to…

  • CSPI Announces “Xtreme Eating Awards 2009”

    The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has targeted a number of restaurants in its Xtreme Eating 2009 report, which also singles out four plates as particularly high in calories, fat and sodium. The public watchdog has lambasted chain establishments for making “already bad foods even worse,” claiming that some appetizers rival entrée-sized…

  • Northeastern University Project to Examine Ways Food, Tobacco Companies Shift Responsibility to Consumers

    The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $2.7 million grant to Northeastern University Law School for a five-year project led by anti-tobacco advocate Professor Richard Daynard. “Our goal is to examine how the tobacco industry has used personal responsibility rhetoric to influence courts, legislatures, regulatory agencies and public opinion, and to see to what extent the…

  • Traces of Cocaine Detected in Red Bull Cola®; CSPI Seeks Accounts of Negative Experiences with the Product

    German officials are reportedly considering banning high-energy drink Red Bull Cola® after a food safety institute in North-Rhine Westphalia found traces of cocaine in the beverages. While the levels found did not pose a health threat, cocaine’s presence in a product requires special licensing. German authorities in two states have reportedly ordered retailers to stop…