Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 452

  • Study Suggests Coffee Intake Significantly Reduces Colon Cancer Risk

    Researchers using data for nearly 500,000 men and women participating in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study have purportedly found that coffee consumption is “inversely associated with colon cancer, particularly proximal tumors.” Rashmi Sinha, “Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea intakes and risks of colorectal cancer in a large prospective study,” American Journal of Clinical…

  • Norwegian Study Alleges Association Between Soda Consumption and Preterm Births

    Relying on data provided by a study of more than 60,000 Norwegian women from 1999 to 2008, Swedish and Norwegian researchers have found that a “high intake of both AS [artificially sweetened] and SS [sugar-sweetened] beverages is associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery.” Linda Englund-Ögge, et al., “Association between intake of artificially sweetened…

  • Treatment for Obesity Through Brain’s “Addiction” Center?

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly approved the use by Ohio State University (OSU) investigators of brain pacemakers as an obesity treatment. Deep-brain stimulation has apparently been approved for use in the treatment of disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, tremor, dystonia, and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and OSU researchers and clinicians evidently made the…

  • Public Health Law Conference to Address “Addiction,” Preemption and FSMA Issues

    The American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics will sponsor a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, October 10-12, 2012, that will focus in part on food-related issues. The “Public Health law Conference 2012: Practical Approaches to Critical Challenges,” event will include concurrent sessions titled (i) “If Sugar Is Addictive, What Does It Mean for the Law?,”…

  • Brazilian Court Orders Nestlé to Label GM Ingredients in Cookies

    According to a news source, a Brazilian court has determined that Nestlé’s strawberry-flavored Bono Cookies® contain genetically modified (GM) soybeans at levels in excess of a 1 percent limit and that the company must thus place a yellow triangle with a “T” in the middle along with the word “transgenic” on its product labels. Failure…

  • High-End Oven Maker Disputes Right to Use Julia Child Images

    The manufacturer that sells the Bosch®, Thermador® and Gaggenau® brands of home appliances has sued the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts seeking a declaration that it has not infringed the defendant’s trademarks and copyrights or the publicity rights related to the late Julia Child. BSH Home Appliances Corp. v. The Julia…

  • Food Safety Advocates Sue FDA for Delaying FSMA Implementation

    The Center for Food Safety and Center for Environmental Health have filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alleging that the agency has unlawfully delayed adopting implementing regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Ctr. for Food Safety v. Hamburg, No. 12-4529 (N.D. Cal., filed August…

  • Federal Court Narrows False Ad Claims Against Jamba Juice Co.

    A federal court in California has granted in part the motion to dismiss filed by the defendant in a putative class action alleging that it falsely misrepresents its smoothie kits as “All Natural” when they actually contain “unnaturally processed, synthetic and/or non-natural ingredients,” such as ascorbic acid, citric acid, xanthan gum, and steviol glycosides.” Anderson…