Category: Issue 492
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Magistrate Recommends Hold on “100% Natural” Suit Against General Mills
A federal magistrate has recommended that General Mills’ motion to dismiss a putative consumer fraud class action be denied without prejudice and that, under the primary jurisdiction doctrine, the suit be stayed “pending action by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] with respect to the referral made by Judge Rogers in Cox v. Gruma. Van…
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OEHHA Agrees to Accelerate Chemical Review and Prop. 65 Listings
To settle litigation filed in 2007 by environmental and union interests, California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has agreed to a number of actions that would remove certain steps from the Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) chemical-listing process that would accelerate the listings. Sierra Club v. Brown, No. RG07356881 (Cal. Super. Ct., settlement…
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Prop. 65 Suit Filed Against Clif Bar & Co. for Lead in Food Products
The Environmental Research Center, which frequently files lawsuits to enforce California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act f 986 (Prop. 65), has sued Clif Bar & Co., alleging that it fails to warn consumers that its protein, energy, electrolyte, and snack bars contain lead, a substance known to the state to cause cancer, birth…
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FDA Seeks More Time to Promulgate Two Food Safety Regulations
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has filed a motion for reconsideration or stay of a court order establishing rulemaking deadlines under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Hamburg, No. 12-4529 (N.D. Cal., Oakland Div., motion filed July 19, 2013). More information about the litigation appears in Issues 481, 487…
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EFSA Approves Use of Advantame Sweetener
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has concluded that the sweetener advantame is safe for human consumption. Derived from aspartame and vanillin, advantame is reportedly 37,000 times sweeter than sugar and 100 times sweeter than aspartame and can be used to enhance flavors such as fruit, citrus and mint and to extend the sweetness duration…
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Japan Lifts Ban on U.S. Wheat Imports
Japan has reportedly announced that it will resume purchasing U.S. white wheat, ending a two-month suspension that was implemented after genetically engineered crops were found on an Oregon farm in April 2013. According to a news source, Japan imports nearly five million tons of wheat per year—60 percent of which comes from the United States—but…
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EFSA Concludes BPA Exposure “Lower Than Previously Estimated”
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a draft assessment of consumer exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), provisionally concluding that “for all population groups diet is the major source of exposure to [BPA] and exposure is lower than previously estimated.” According to a July 25, 2013, news release, EFSA used exposure modeling and new human biomonitoring data to refine…
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Upcoming FDA Meeting to Discuss Chemical Hazards in Food
The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a public meeting of the Food Advisory Committee on September 23-24, 2013, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The committee plans to discuss detection signals for chemical hazards in foods, dietary supplements and cosmetics, and review information sources and chemical hazard data. FDA will accept comments until September…