Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 402

  • JAMA Study Examines Accuracy of Restaurant Calorie Counts

    A recent study claims that the calorie counts which restaurants provide for their fare is “accurate overall,” although there is “substantial inaccuracy for some individual foods, with understated energy contents for those with lower energy contents.” Lorien E. Urban, et al., “Accuracy of Stated Energy Contents of Restaurant Foods,” Journal of the American Medical Association,…

  • New Book Deems Corporate Agriculture “Perpetrator of Climate Change”

    Corporations and Health Watch writer Monica Gagnon recently interviewed Anna Lappé about her new book, Diet for a Hot Planet, which describes the agricultural industry as “not just a victim but also a perpetrator of climate change.” According to Lappé, “Our food system indirectly and directly is responsible for about one-third of all greenhouse gas…

  • CFBAI Announces New Ad Guidelines as Food Fight Escalates

    The 17 companies comprising the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) have reportedly agreed to abide by new uniform nutrition criteria as part of a voluntary effort to encourage healthier dietary choices among children. Under the new rules, CFBAI signatories have pledged not to market the following products to children: (i) juices with added…

  • New Jersey Appellate Court Revives Meat Samosa Lawsuit

    A New Jersey appellate court has partially reinstated a lawsuit against an Indian restaurant that mistakenly served meat samosas to a group of Hindu vegetarians, who are now seeking compensation for emotional distress and to recover the cost of traveling to India for a purification rite. Gupta v. Asha Enterprises, L.L.C., A-3059-09T2 (N.J. Sup. Ct., decided…

  • EC Promotes Fruit, Vegetable Consumption Following E. Coli Outbreak

    The European Commission (EC) has launched a promotional campaign “to help address the difficulties faced by the fresh fruit and vegetables sector following the E. coli crisis.” Consisting of an advertorial and an audiovisual package for distribution in all European Union (EU) member states, the effort is reportedly an attempt to “win back consumer trust.”…

  • Lawmakers Urge FDA to Halt Approval Process for GE Salmon

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop the approval process for genetically engineered salmon. Fifteen members of the House of Representatives and eight members of the U.S. Senate signed separate letters to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg expressing economic and environmental concerns over the fast-growing fish.…