Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Category: Issue 759

  • Congress Investigates Heavy Metals in Baby Food

    A staff report from a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform has found that several baby foods contain high levels of heavy metals, including inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. The report argues that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “has failed to confront the risks of toxic…

  • Lawsuit Alleges Market Basket Coffee Serving Sizes Mislead

    A plaintiff has filed a putative class action alleging Demoulas Super Markets Inc. includes representations on its Market Basket coffee indicating that the tins hold 76 to 79 cups of coffee but only contain 37 to 39 cups when prepared according to the label’s instructions. Cohen v. Demoulas Super Mkts. Inc., No. 21-10177 (D. Mass., filed…

  • Claims Trimmed in Whole Foods Graham Cracker Lawsuit

    A New York federal court has dismissed some claims while allowing others to continue in a lawsuit alleging Whole Foods Market Group Inc. misleads consumers by not using graham flour to produce or honey to sweeten its “honey graham crackers.” Campbell v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp. Inc., No. 20-1291 (S.D.N.Y., entered February 2, 2021). The…

  • Lawsuit Challenging USDA Pork Inspection Policy to Continue

    A California federal court has denied a motion to dismiss an advocacy group lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) challenging the implementation of the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s New Swine Inspection System (NSIS). Ctr. for Food Safety v. Perdue, No. 20-0256 (N.D. Cal., entered February 4, 2021). The plaintiffs, several advocacy…

  • Advocacy Groups Challenge Smithfield Foods Sustainability Marketing

    A coalition of advocacy groups has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asserting that Smithfield Foods misleadingly markets its pork products as “produced in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way” despite the company’s production methods allegedly falling “far below the level of environmental sustainability that a reasonable consumer would expect based on…

  • Shook Attorneys Detail Honey Litigation for Law360

    Shook Partner Jim Muehlberger and Of Counsel John Johnson III have authored an article for Law360 detailing litigation targeting honey producers. “Honey producers have sometimes been accused of diluting their product with syrup,” they explain. “They have also faced many other accusations, including that their honey contains contaminants, that it lacks some key quality characteristic, or that its country of origin has…