Category: Issue 528
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Salad Arranged to Evoke Kandinsky Painting Tastes Better, Study Finds
A University of Oxford study has apparently found that a salad with its ingredients arranged to resemble Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract Painting Number 201 tasted better to subjects than salads with the ingredients tossed together in the middle of or laid out neatly on their plates. Charles Michel et al., “A taste of Kandinsky: assessing the influence…
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JAMA Viewpoint Discusses Alternative Theory of Obesity
A recent viewpoint article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) discusses an alternative theory of chronic overeating as “a manifestation rather than the primary cause of obesity.” David Ludwig and Mark Friedman, “Increasing Adiposity: Consequence or Cause of Overeating?,” JAMA, June 2014. Authored by New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center Boston…
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CSPI Asks FDA to Require Energy Drink Warning Labels
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has submitted a letter to U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg requesting that FDA require that “all beverages consumed in a soda-like manner, including energy drinks, comply with the same regulations that limit caffeine in ‘cola-type beverages’” and that energy drinks carry warning…
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EWG Claims Excessive Fortification Poses Health Risk to Kids
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released a June 2014 report claiming that the fortification of foods with large amounts of vitamins and minerals could pose a health risk to children. Citing a study by the National Institutes of Health and California Polytechnic State University, EWG alleges that children younger than age 8 “are at…
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Whole Foods Agrees to Penalties for Overcharging Customers
Following a year-long investigation of Whole Foods Markets in California, state and county weights and measures inspectors found that it was charging more than advertised for a wide variety of food items; the company has reportedly agreed to pay nearly $800,000 in penalties and to conduct its business for the next five years under strict…
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Split New York High Court Says No to NYC’s Sugary Drink Size Limitations
In a 4-2 ruling with one judge not participating, New York’s highest court has affirmed lower court rulings invalidating a New York City Board of Health rule that would have limited the size of the containers in which sugary drinks are sold in certain venues. In re N.Y. Statewide Coal. of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce v.…
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Putative Class Actions Filed Against Chobani and Fage for Alleged Deceptive Labeling
A pair of plaintiffs has filed putative class actions against Chobani LLC and Fage Dairy Processing SA in New York federal court claiming that the yogurt producers deceptively marketed yogurt as healthy despite its high sugar content. Stoltz v. Chobani LLC, No. 1:14-cv-3827 (E.D.N.Y., filed June 19, 2014); Stoltz v. Fage Dairy Processing SA, No.…
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Court Excludes Defendant’s Neuropsychologist in Peanut Co. Lawsuit
Following a hearing on the admissibility of expert testimony proffered as to Stewart Parnell’s ability to form the intent to commit alleged crimes arising from a national Salmonella outbreak linked to the Peanut Corp. of America, the company he formerly owned, a federal court in Georgia has excluded the expert, finding his testimony unhelpful and…