Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 501

  • Cantaloupe Growers Sue Safety-Audit Company over Listeria Outbreak

    Jensen Farms has filed a lawsuit against the company that hired the food-safety auditor who gave the cantaloupe grower a “superior” rating during a 2011 audit not long before the grower shipped fruit allegedly contaminated with Listeria to a distributor that required the cantaloupe to be certified by the auditor, giving rise to a nationwide…

  • LA City Council to Consider Ban on GM Seeds and Plants

    Los Angeles city council members Paul Koretz and Mitch O’Farrell have reportedly introduced a motion that would call on the city attorney to “prepare and present an ordinance which would prohibit the growth of genetically modified (GM) crops within city limits. Specifically, the ordinance should prohibit each [of] the following practices related to the growing…

  • OEHHA Requests Comments on Changes to Advisory Board Member Qualifications

    California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has requested comments on proposed changes to the requirements pertaining to scientific experts appointed to Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) advisory committees by the governor. The proposed revisions would specify the expertise required—completion of a doctoral degree and research experience in an area of specialization, along with demonstrated…

  • India’s Supreme Court Orders Checks on Carbonated Soft Drinks

    India’s Supreme Court has reportedly accepted a government scientific panel’s finding that the chemical additives in soft drinks— e.g., artificial sweeteners, phosphoric acid, carbon dioxide, coloring agents, benzoic acid, and caffeine—are well within safety levels and do not pose a health hazard to citizens. According to a news source, the Union government insisted that the Food Supply…

  • Mexican Government Approves Junk Food Tax

    Mexico’s lower house has reportedly approved a new fiscal package that would, among other things, tax high-calorie foods—such as chocolate, sweets, pudding, potato chips, and ice cream. The new tax, which complements a planned charge on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) discussed in Issue 497 of this Update, is part of a broader package proposed by President…

  • EFSA Issues Feed Additives Guidance on Renewal of Authorizations

    The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Additives and Products or Substances Used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) has issued guidance to assist applicants “in the preparation and submission of technical dossiers for the renewal of the authorization of additives for use in animal nutrition.” According to EFSA, EU regulations require applicants to renew feed additive authorizations…

  • FSIS Issues New Guidance on Humane Handling Practices

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has developed new guidance, titled “FSIS Compliance Guide for a Systematic Approach to the Humane Handling of Livestock,” that outlines a set of practices for livestock slaughter establishments that support the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Noting that the agency has taken “significant” measures during…

  • FDA Seeks Stay in FSMA Rulemaking Litigation

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), currently under a district court timeline for completing the implementing regulations required under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), has filed an emergency stay pending appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the 16-day government shutdown in October makes compliance “not only unsound but impossible.”…