Category: Issue 378
-
Jennifer Medina, “In South Los Angeles, New Fast-Food Spots Get a ‘No, Thanks,’” The New York Times, January 15, 2011
This article focuses on the Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous decision last month to permanently extend a moratorium on new stand alone fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles, where the city Department of Health estimates that 30 percent of the residents are obese. Although the ban allows exceptions for “mom-and-pop” businesses and shopping center eateries,…
-
Walmart Launches Effort to Provide Healthier Food Choices
Walmart has unveiled a plan to provide healthier food choices at reduced prices, setting specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and added sugars in thousands of packaged foods by 2015. Joined by first lady Michelle Obama at an event in Washington, D.C., the major grocer outlined key elements of the initiative that built on…
-
Food & Water Watch Petitions to Remove China from Eligible Poultry-Exporters List
Food & Water Watch recently submitted a citizen petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to remove China from the list of eligible processed-poultry exporters to the United States. Using a Freedom of Information Act request, the consumer watchdog claims to have found “serious mistakes” in the USDA…
-
Consumer Group Issues Seafood Mercury Report
GotMercury.org recently released a report claiming that “nearly one-third of the fish purchased at [California] grocery stores contains levels of mercury the United States has deemed unsafe for consumption and more than half of theretailers did not post mercury advisory signs.” The authors based their findings on 98 samples of swordfish, halibut, salmon, and tuna…
-
Prevention Institute Criticizes Children’s Food Labeling
The Oakland-based Prevention Institute has issued a report claiming that front-of-package (FOP) labeling for children’s food is “misleading.” Authors of the study used the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative’s product list to identify 58 prepared foods, snacks, cereals, and beverages with FOP labeling. The researchers then defined a product as “unhealthful” if it met…
-
Food Activists Call for State AGs to Address Obesity
Jennifer Pomeranz and Kelly Brownell, who are with the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, have authored an article titled “Advancing Public Health Obesity Policy Through State Attorneys General.” Referring to the role played by state attorneys general (AGs) in public health policy on tobacco, the authors contend that they “can be leaders in…
-
Dean Foods Dairy Price-Fixing Settlement Under Attack
According to a news source, a co-defendant in litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the northeastern U.S. milk market has filed objections to the tentative deal reached by Dean Foods Co. and the dairy farmers who filed the lawsuit. Allen v. Dairy Farmers of Am., No. __ (D. Vt., settlement reached December 24, 2010). More…
-
Legal Advocacy Groups Support Kosher Meat Processing Executive
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) have reportedly filed amicus briefs with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, supporting the efforts of counsel for Sholom Rubashkin to overturn his conviction and sentence for financial fraud at his Iowa meat processing facility. The kosher plant was raided in…