Category: Issue 559
-
Prop. 65 Lead Testing Can Use Average Exposures, Appeals Court Confirms
A California appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling against plaintiff Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), which alleged that the products of Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. and other food manufacturers, distributors and retailers contained sufficient amounts of lead to trigger warnings required under the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65).…
-
EFSA Says No Evidence of Ebola Risk from Food
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reportedly concluded that “[t]here is no evidence that the Ebola virus can be transmitted through food in the European Union.” At the request of the European Commission, EFSA issued a scientific report detailing the risk pathway for the transmission of Zaïre Ebola virus (ZEBOV) via imported food consumed…
-
UK FSA Announces Final Results of Aspartame Study
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced the final results of an aspartame study commissioned by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT), which peer-reviewed the initial findings in December 2013. Authored by Hull York Medical School researchers, the study relied on data from 48 individuals who…
-
WHO Seeks Comments on Childhood Obesity Report
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an interim report that seeks to identify policy options for mitigating the risk of childhood obesity. Published by WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, the strategy document emphasizes “the importance of a life-course approach to simultaneously address the risk factors for childhood obesity from before conception, through pregnancy…
-
USDA Schedules Meeting of GIPSA Advisory Committee
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has scheduled an April 7-8, 2015, public meeting of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) Advisory Committee at the National Grain Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Topics of discussion will reportedly include service delivery updates, utilizing new technology to conduct inspections, quality assurance updates, and the reauthorization…
-
Senate Democrats Introduce Legislation Mandating BPA Warnings on Food Packaging
Citing research studies alleging links between exposure to bisphenol A and various adverse health effects, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have introduced the BPA in Food Packaging Right to Know Act. “Knowledge is empowering, and knowledge about BPA ingredients can also stimulate further reforms by the marketplace,” Leahy was quoted as…