Category: Issue 388
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Court Pares Soup Labeling Claims Litigation
A federal court in New Jersey has granted in part the motion to dismiss filed by the Campbell Soup Co. in litigation alleging that consumers were misled by the company’s lower-sodium labels, believing they were a healthier alternative to regular soups, which allegedly contain about the same levels of sodium as the more expensive low-sodium…
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DOJ Settles Antitrust Claims Against Dean Foods
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with Dean Foods Co. over antitrust concerns about its acquisition of the Foremost Farms USA Coop. Under the agreement, which will be published in the Federal Register for comment and must undergo court approval, Dean will “divest a significant milk processing plant in Waukesha, Wis.,…
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YoPlus Class Certification Ruling Remanded to District Court
Finding that the class definition approved by the district court was inconsistent with its analysis of the class certification requirements, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has returned litigation over the purportedly misleading digestive health claims for YoPlus yogurt to a district court in Florida. Fitzpatrick v. General Mills, Inc., No. 10-11064 (11th Cir., decided…
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Eleventh Circuit Refuses to Recognize Nicaraguan Court Judgment for Banana Workers
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court ruling finding that a $97 million judgment entered by a Nicaraguan court to compensate 150 Nicaraguan agricultural workers for injuries allegedly caused by workplace exposure to a pesticide is unenforceable under Florida law. Osorio v. Dow Chem. Co., No. 10-11143 (11th Cir., decided March…
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European Lawmakers Reach Impasse on Food from Cloned Animals
Representatives of the European Parliament and Council of the European Union (EU) have reportedly failed to reach an agreement on legislation that would have prohibited the sale of food produced from cloned animals. The impasse means the EU’s 1997 law remains in effect; it requires government approval to sell milk and meat from cloned animals…
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U.S. Senate to Consider Food Safety Crime Bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee has sent to the Senate a food safety crime bill (S. 216). Designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” the legislation would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the…
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EPA Detects Trace Radiation in U.S. Milk
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a joint March 30, 2011, statement confirming traces of radiation in domestic cow’s milk, which the agencies have been monitoring since an earthquake and tsunami in Japan compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant. A screening sample taken near Spokane, Washington,…
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FDA Panel Rejects Food Dye Warning Labels
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Advisory Committee has reportedly rejected a proposal to require warning labels for artificial food dyes, thereby confirming its earlier position that “a causal relationship between exposure to color additives and hyperactivity in children in the general population has not been established.” The committee addressed the issue at a…