Category: Issue 571

  • CDC Research Focuses on Prevalence of Sodium Intake Reduction Behaviors

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published research examining self-reported efforts to reduce sodium intake among U.S. adults in 26 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Jing Fang, et al., “Sodium Intake Among U.S. Adults — 26 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2013,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, July…

  • SSB Consumption Allegedly Linked to 184,000 Deaths Annually

    Tufts University researchers have purportedly implicated sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in 184,000 deaths worldwide each year after estimating the role of SSB consumption in adiposity-related cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers and diabetes. Gitanjali Singh, et al., “Estimated Global, Regional, and National Disease Burdens Related to Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in 2010,” Circulation, July 2015. Relying on data from…

  • Chicago and Allstate Partner to Predict Food Safety Violations

    With help from an Allstate Insurance research team, the City of Chicago has reportedly developed a model to predict which food establishments might fail inspections among the more than 15,000 restaurants within the city’s jurisdiction. The research teams analyzed nearly 100,000 sanitation inspection reports to create the prediction model, which assesses the likelihood that a…

  • Food and Beverage Marketing Aimed at Young Children Focus of New Report

    California-based law and policy advocacy organization ChangeLab Solutions has issued a voluminous white paper reviewing legal issues surrounding potential strategies to address the marketing of “unhealthy” foods and beverages purportedly directed to children younger than age 5. The report details various policy considerations with respect to outdoor advertising, broadcast media, digital and print media, childcare…

  • JHSPH Report Evaluates Tactics Used to Implement SSB Taxation in Mexico

    A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) report on Mexico’s sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax has concluded that “strong advocacy work, scientific evidence, and knowledge of the political context can be important facilitators to policy change that promotes obesity prevention and control.” The case study highlights the strategies used by civil society organizations, public…

  • FOE Report Claims Food Industry Covertly Manipulates Public Discourse

    Friends of the Earth (FOE) has released a report claiming that so-called food and agriculture industry front groups use covert tactics to influence the public discourse around agriculture, organic production and sustainability, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Titled Spinning Food: How Food Industry Front Groups and Covert Communications Are Shaping the Story of Food, the…

  • Listing ECJ on Cookie Label Misleads About Sugar Content, Putative Class Action Against Whole Foods Alleges

    A consumer has filed a proposed class action against Whole Foods Market Group Inc. alleging that the company’s Gluten Free All-Natural Nutmeal Raisin Cookies list evaporated cane juice (ECJ) as an ingredient to mislead consumers about the amount of sugar contained in the product. Bryant v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp. Inc., No. 15-1001 (E.D. Mo.,…

  • California Consumers Allege Foster Farms Knowingly Sold Tainted Chicken

    Six consumers have filed a lawsuit against Foster Poultry Farms alleging that the company knowingly sold chicken tainted with Salmonella that sickened the plaintiffs with salmonellosis syndrome. Melendez v. Foster Poultry Farms, No. BC586891 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed July 2, 2015). The complaint asserts that Foster Farms refused to issue a recall…