Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 310

  • Rudd Center Releases Report on Effects of TV Food Advertising on Consumption

    Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released the results of experimental studies examining the relationship between TV food advertising and consumption. Titled “Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating Behavior,” the article appears in the July edition of Health Psychology and concludes that “food advertising on television increases automatic snacking…

  • Two Studies Link Phthalates to Premature Birth, Low Birth Weight

    A recent study has reportedly claimed that mothers of premature babies “have, on average, up to three times the phthalate level in their urine compared to women who carry to term.” John Meeker, et al., “Urinary Phthalate Metabolites in Relation to Preterm Birth in Mexico City,” Environmental Health Perspectives, June 16, 2009. Collaborating with the…

  • Douglas MacMillan, “Alcohol, Then Tobacco, Now Fast Food?,” BusinessWeek, June 30, 2009

    “Industry critics compare the intent of fast-food companies to that of cigarette makers, who first came under attack for marketing to children decades ago,” writes BusinessWeek’s Douglas MacMillan in this article detailing the efforts of consumer advocacy groups to outlaw food advertising to children. According to MacMillan, “public criticism and mountains of data linking obesity, diabetes and…

  • Washington Post Report Questions Integrity of Organic Labeling Practices

    “Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest segment of the food industry,” claim Washington Post writers Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton in a July 3, 2009, investigative report alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its…

  • Salmonella-Tainted Milk Powder and Related Products Recalled

    A Plainview, Minnesota, milk cooperative has reportedly recalled two years’ worth of food products, including instant non-fat dried milk, whey protein, and fruit stabilizers and gums for fear that they are contaminated with Salmonella. While no illnesses have apparently been linked to the products, which are sold to food manufacturers and distributors only, the recall has…

  • Cookie-Dough Contamination Remains in the News; E. Coli Found at Plant

    According to news sources, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors have found E. coli in a package of cookie dough at Nestlé USA’s plant in Danville, Virginia. The strain did not, however, match the DNA fingerprint of the strain purportedly linked to the illnesses of some 72 people in 30 states. FDA’s David Acheson, assistant commissioner…

  • CDC Researchers Identify Reston Ebolavirus in Pigs

    Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reportedly identified a strain of Reston ebolavirus (REBOV) in pigs for the first time, raising questions about the ability of the virus to mutate and cause illness in humans. First reported in the July 3, 2009, issue of Science, the results apparently showed…

  • CDC to Host “Weight of the Nation” Conference

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scheduled a conference for public policymakers, health leaders and others to consider “progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies.” The inaugural “Weight of the Nation Conference” will be held July 27-29, 2009, in Washington, D.C.; an interactive discussion format for…