Category: Issue 353
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Mike Steinberger, “What’s in the Bottle?,” Slate, June 14, 2010
This investigative report by Slate’s wine columnist, Mike Steinberger, examines the retailer allegedly at the center of a multimillion dollar fraud rippling throughout the rare wine world. Manhattan-based Royal Wine Merchants apparently provided its clientele with highly desirable wines that were later deemed fakes and traced back to Hardy Rodenstock, a supplier suspected of creating…
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Andreasen to Chair ABA Agricultural Management Committee
Shook Of Counsel Jim Andreasen has been appointed by the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources leadership to chair the section’s Agricultural Management Committee. His one-year term will begin at the conclusion of the section’s 2010 annual business meeting to be held August 8 during the ABA’s annual meeting in San Francisco. As committee…
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Author Questions Whether Umami Is the “Fifth Taste”
Book author Anneli Rufus recently explored claims made about food ingredients that stimulate the purported “fifth taste” promoted by, among others, Ajinomoto, a Japanese company that manufactures monosodium glutamate (MSG), which was created in the early 1900s as the essence of ingredients that purportedly give food a richness and savoriness identified as umami. Ajinomoto-funded researchers…
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AMA Adopts Policies on Trans and Saturated Fat Labeling, Obesity Reduction
The American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted new public health policies concerning the reporting of fats on nutrition labels and obesity reduction. During its June 14, 2010, annual meeting, AMA urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to adopt more “precise processes” to measure trans and saturated fat content in foods. Under current FDA guidelines,…
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Cornucopia Institute Urges Public Nomination Process for Organic Board
An organic industry watchdog has released a June 7, 2010, letter that urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase the transparency of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) appointment process. “The Cornucopia Institute, and other organic advocates, have long been concerned that representatives from corporate agribusiness have obtained a disproportionate influence on rulemaking…
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Raw Milk Dairy Challenges Restrictions on Sales in Wisconsin
A Wisconsin organic farm was reportedly scheduled to argue in court this week that state restrictions on the sale of raw milk do not apply where the sales are made to consumers who are part owners of the farm. While the legislature recently attempted to change a law that regulators contend allows incidental raw milk…
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California Advocacy Organization Files Prop. 65 Violation Notices over Lead in Fruit Products
The Environmental Law Foundation has notified more than four dozen food manufacturers and retailers that they are in violation of California’s Proposition 65 Toxics Right to Know law (Prop. 65) after testing purportedly indicated the presence of lead in numerous fruit and fruit juice products. According to the foundation, “apple juice, grape juice, packaged pears…
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JPML Denies Request to Consolidate Yo-Plus® Health Claims Cases
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a request to transfer four pending federal lawsuits to a multidistrict litigation court, finding that the common factual questions about General Mills’s alleged nationwide marketing claims for its Yo-Plus® yogurt products are not sufficiently complex or numerous to justify consolidation. In re: General Mills, Inc., Yoplus…