Category: Issue 428
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FDA Expands Surveillance After Report on Arsenic in Rice
A recent study has reportedly detected inorganic arsenic (Asi) in organic brown rice syrup (OBRS), a prepared foods sweetener sometimes used in lieu of high-fructose corn syrup. Brian P. Jackson, et al., “Arsenic, Organic Foods, and Brown Rice Syrup,” Environmental Health Perspectives, February 2012. Researchers evidently sought to determine “the concentration and speciation of arsenic…
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Researchers Seek Phosphate Additive Labeling on Foods
German researchers claim that “elevated serum phosphate concentrations have recently been found to be correlated with mortality in patients with chronic renal failure, while high-normal serum phosphate concentrations have been found to be correlated with cardiovascular morbidity in the general population.” Eberhard Ritz, et al., “Phosphate Additives in Food—a Health Risk,” Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 2012.…
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Scientists Vie to Produce First Test-Tube Meat
Researchers presenting at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2012 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C., have announced two new ways to produce synthetic meat, significantly upping the ante in what AAAS describes as a potentially lucrative industry. The first approach pioneered by Stanford University biochemist Patrick Brown reportedly uses plant material to…
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Food Advertising to Kids Deemed “Inherently Misleading”
In an article titled “Government Can Regulate Food Advertising to Children Because Cognitive Research Shows That It Is Inherently Misleading,” two attorneys and a communications professor assert that the First Amendment is no bar to the regulation of “junk food” ads targeting children younger than 12 because they lack the ability to understand the advertisers’…
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Mixed Rulings in PETA Litigation Against California “Happy Cows” Ad Campaign
According to news sources, a state court has ordered dairy farmers on the California Milk Advisory Board to answer questions about marketing the dairy industry in California. The order was reportedly entered in a lawsuit filed in June 2011 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) alleging that the board’s “Happy Cow” ads…
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Prison Inmates Challenge Soy in Diet as Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Counsel for five current and former Illinois prison inmates has reportedly indicated that four expert witnesses are prepared to testify that the soy in the inmates’ prison diets caused them “irreparable, actual harm,” and thus their litigation against the state, prison wardens and nurses will proceed. Harris v. Brown, No. 07-03225 (C.D. Ill., filed August 16,…
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Starbucks Files Brief Seeking to Uphold Judgment in Tip Dispute
Starbucks Corp. has filed its response in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute over tip sharing, asking the court to affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in its favor. Lawrence v. Starbucks Corp., No. 11-3199 (2d Cir., brief filed February 22, 2012). Additional information about related litigation involving Starbucks baristas…
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FDA and NRDC Reach Agreement in FOIA Records Dispute Related to BPA in Food Packaging
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have agreed to a timeline for the production of material NRDC requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) involving bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging and food contact materials. NRDC v. FDA, No. 11-8662 (S.D.N.Y., stipulation and order filed February 21,…