Category: Issue 374
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Researchers Suggest Limited Parental Influence on Eating Habits
A literature review and meta-analysis of global studies published since 1980 has reportedly found a “weak association” between parents’ dietary intake and that of their children, suggesting to lead author Youfa Wang that “family environment plays only a partial role” in people’s eating patterns. Youfa Wang, et al., “Do children and their parents eat a…
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Lisa Miller, “Divided We Eat,” Newsweek, November 22, 2010
“Essentially, we have a system where wealthy farmers feed the poor crap and poor farmers feed the wealthy high-quality food,” food activist Michael Pollan told Newsweek society editor Lisa Miller in this article examining the gap in the availability of nutritious, fresh and organic foods between rich and lower-income Americans. Noting that “in hard times,…
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Rudd Center Launches Food Marketing Pledge Database
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released a new international database designed to track company pledges to limit food marketing to children. The database currently features 16 pledges: (i) three specific to the soft-drink industry; (ii) one specific to the food industry; and (iii) 12 applicable to the entire food industry.…
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Campuses Shaken by “Whipahol®” Craze
Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted last month to nix alcoholic energy drinks, media focus has apparently shifted to the new campus craze, alcohol-infused whipped creams sold under the monikers CREAM and Whipped Lightning. The growing popularity of “whipahol®” has drawn scrutiny from both public health officials and campus administrators, who in some…
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Candy Makers Spar over Packaging
Hershey Company has reportedly sued Mars for trademark infringement in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that colors used in the packaging for Mars’s Dove peanut-butter milk-chocolate Promises® candy is too similar to what Hershey uses for its Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups®. Mars apparently filed a preemptive suit just days earlier in a Virginia federal court,…
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Class Action Challenges Health Claims for Elderberry Juice
Two Missouri residents with arthritis and allergies have filed a putative class action on behalf of Missouri, Illinois and Kansas consumers who were allegedly deceived by false health-related claims made by a company that sells elderberry juice. Delling v. Wyldewood Cellars, Inc., No. 10-02287 (E.D. Mo., filed December 6, 2010). The complaint also names a…
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Humane Society Member Files Class Action Against Poultry Producer
Alleging that Perdue Farms Inc. misleads consumers by labeling its chicken products as “Humanely Raised,” a member of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has reportedly filed a putative class action against the company in a New Jersey court. The suit apparently claims that the company’s chickens are processed under National Chicken Council…
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Court Orders Dole to Pay Documentary Filmmakers’ Legal Fees
A California court has reportedly ordered Dole Food Co. to pay about $200,000 in legal fees and costs to Swedish filmmakers whom the company sued for defamation, alleging that their documentary about the lawyer who sued Dole on behalf of Nicaraguan banana plantation workers exposed to the pesticide DBCP implied that the company caused their…