Category: Issue
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Civil Rights Organization Files OSHA Complaints Against Farming Company
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has urged the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate Farm Fresh Foods, LLC, arguing the company forced sanitation workers to race against one another to carry and unpack 80-pound crates of chicken. The company allegedly required workers to unload raw chicken after cleaning the processing plant without…
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NOSB to Remove Five Nonorganic Substances from List of Allowed Substances
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has removed five non-organic nonagricultural substances—egg white lysozyme, cyclohexylamine, diethylaminoethanol, octadecylamine, and tetrasodium pyrophosphate—from the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances governing the use of synthetic and non-synthetic substances in organic food production and handling. After determining that these substances “are no longer necessary…
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FTC and USDA Examine Consumer Perceptions of “Organic” Non-Agricultural Products
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have released an August 10, 2016, joint report examining consumers’ perceptions of “recycled content” and “organic” claims, especially for non-agricultural products and services. Using data from Internet-based questionnaires completed by 8,016 respondents, the study sought to determine whether consumers view products marketed with such…
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Report Claims Alcohol Consumption Causes Cancer
Taking issue with language that only loosely links alcohol consumption to increased cancer incidence, an article in the July 2016 issue of Addiction suggests that 5.8 percent of all cancer deaths worldwide are caused by alcohol-attributable cancers of the oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and female breast. Jennie Connor, “Alcohol consumption as a cause…
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Bud Light “Caucus” Super Bowl Ad Not Lewd, Beer Institute Review Finds
Following a consumer complaint, the Beer Institute has reviewed Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC’s Super Bowl ad featuring comedians Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer discussing the “biggest caucus in the country” and determined the ad does not violate the industry group’s marketing standards. Under the standards, “advertising and marketing materials should not contain languages or images that…
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Illinois Lawsuit Claims Contaminated Feed Killed Horses
Two horse owners have filed a lawsuit against Archer Daniels MidlandCo. alleging feed produced by its subsidiary, ADM Alliance Nutrition, was contaminated with monensin, a cattle-feed additive poisonous to horses. Berarov v. Archer Daniels Midland Co., No. 16-7355 (N.D. Ill., filed July19, 2016). The plaintiffs argue that ADM knowingly manufactured cattle feed containing monensin in the…
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Olive Oil False Ad Class Certified
A California federal court has granted certification to a class of consumers alleging that Salov North America Corp., maker of Filippo Berio olive oil, misleads consumers by labeling its oil as “Imported from Italy” even though most of the oil is produced in Tunisia, Greece and Spain. Kumar v. Salov N. Am. Corp., No. 14-2411…
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Wendy’s Data Breach Class Action Dismissed
A Florida federal court has dismissed a putative class action against The Wendy’s Co. alleging the company failed to adequately secure its customers’ financial information but granted the plaintiff leave to amend. Torres v. Wendy’s Co., No. 16-0210 (M.D. Fla., order entered July 15, 2016). The court found that while the plaintiff’s financial information had been…