Category: Issue 696
-
Advocacy Group Calls for a Ban on “Freakshakes”
According to the BBC, advocacy group Action on Sugar has called for restaurants to stop serving “freakshakes,” milkshakes with added “chocolates, sweets, cake, cream and sauce.” The group reportedly surveyed restaurants for nutritional information on their freakshakes and found that some contained as many as 1,280 calories, or “more than half the daily recommended amount…
-
Russia “Resurrects the Soviet Super Chicken,” Bloomberg Reports
Russia has created a poultry-breeding program to reduce its dependence on meat imports, Bloomberg reports. The country has used Soviet technology—which created “a bigger and tastier version of Gallus gallus domesticus” that apparently nearly went extinct following the collapse of the government—to establish a program that aims to reduce foreign imports of food products. Bloomberg…
-
Taste Cannot be Copyrighted, EU High Court Holds
The European Court of Justice’s Grand Chamber has determined that taste cannot be copyrighted in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement of a cheese spread. Levola Hengelo BV v. Smilde Foods BV, No. C-310/17 (E.C.J., entered November 13, 2018). The court considered whether “taste” amounts to a work under copyright law. “[F]irst, the authorities responsible for…
-
D.C. Court Dismisses Olive Oil Complaint
A D.C. court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Deoleo USA Inc.’s “extra virgin” olive oil, finding that the plaintiff failed to state a claim. Fahey v. Deoleo USA Inc., No. 18-2047 (D.D.C., entered November 8, 2018). Deoleo settled a similar lawsuit in March 2018, and the plaintiff “apparently caught wind of this news,” the court…
-
Plaintiff Challenges Malic Acid in Vivaloe Beverages
A consumer has filed a putative class action alleging that Vivaloe beverages are misleadingly marketed as naturally flavored because they contain malic acid. Anderson v. Outernational Brands Inc., No. 18-2550 (S.D. Cal., filed November 6, 2018). The complaint asserts that malic acid is “an inexpensive synthetic chemical used in processed food products to make the…
-
California Passes Cage-Free Eggs Mandate
California residents voted to pass a measure that will require by 2022 that all eggs sold in the state come from cage-free hens. The measure also sets minimums on cage sizes for animals raised for pork and veal production, with calves requiring 43 square feet and pigs 24 square feet. The Legislative Analyst’s Office reportedly…
-
FDA Seizes Food Held in Insanitary Conditions
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the seizure of human and animal food products held by J and L Grocery LLC in insanitary conditions. A complaint filed in Arkansas federal court alleges that September and October 2018 FDA inspections “revealed insanitary conditions including multiple live and dead rodents, rodent nesting, live racoons,…