Category: Issue 428
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Tomato Grower’s Negligence Claims from 2008 Recall Survive Motion to Dismiss
A federal court in South Carolina has reportedly determined that a tomato grower seeking damages from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allegedly caused by a 2008 tomato recall that followed a Salmonella outbreak which was ultimately found not to be linked to contaminated tomatoes, may pursue negligence claims against the agency. Williams Farms…
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Court Stays Illinois Trans Fat Litigation Against Quaker Oats
A federal magistrate judge in Illinois has stayed a putative class action, the fourth of five brought against The Quaker Oats Co., alleging that the company deceives consumers by representing that its granola and oatmeal products are “heart healthy,” “wholesome,” and a “smart choice made easy,” when they actually contain trans fat. Askin v. The…
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OEHHA Extends Comment Period on Potential Prop. 65 Chemicals
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the comment period for several chemicals, including benzophenone, a chemical used in plastic packaging as a UV blocker, that the agency is considering adding to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer (Prop. 65) under the Labor Code mechanism. Public…
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WHO Backs Publication of Controversial H5N1 Research
A meeting of World Health Organization (WHO) health experts has reportedly reached a consensus on whether to proceed with controversial avian influenza research despite potential security risks. WHO apparently convened the consultation after officials expressed concern about H5N1 strains modified in U.S. and Dutch laboratories to spread more easily among mammals. In particular, panelists discussed…
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FDA Issues Recordkeeping Guidance on Food Distribution
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued updated industry guidance “pertaining to the establishment and maintenance of records by persons who manufacture, process, pack, transport, distribute, receive, hold, or import food.” Although this fifth edition is effective immediately, FDA welcomes comments at any time. Requiring records that identify “immediate previous sources and the immediate…
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FDA to Review Safety and Legality of Inhalable Caffeine
According to Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to investigate the safety and legality of AeroShot®, which allows consumers to inhale a powder delivering 100 mg of caffeine to the body. Created by a Harvard professor and a company led by Harvard graduate Tom Hadfield, the product was apparently…
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Dioxin Reassessment Finds Low-Dose Exposures Persist Without Significant Health Risk
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued its non-cancer dioxin reassessment 27 years after the ubiquitous chemical was last assessed and has established a consumption limit of 0.7 picogram of dioxin per kilogram of body weight per day. The agency has found that, while low-dose exposures persist, primarily from the consumption of meat, fish…
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New York Lawmaker Questions Industry on Livestock Antibiotic Use
U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) has sent a letter to more than 60 food producers and retailers, “asking them to disclose their policies on antibiotic use in meat and poultry production.” Citing “decades of research,” the February 16, 2012, letter claims that agricultural antibiotic applications have contributed to drug-resistant disease in humans and seeks to…