Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Tag: antibiotic

  • Pew Environment Group Asks FDA to Apply Drug Rules to All Imported Farmed Salmon

    According to the Environment Group of the Pew Charitable Trusts, salmon farming companies producing fish for export to the United States from Canada, Norway and Scotland are using pesticides and antibiotics that do not appear on the FDA/CVM Approved Drugs in Aquaculture list. In an April 23, 2009, letter to the acting Food and Drug…

  • Study Finds Houseflies Near Poultry Farms Spread Drug-Resistant Bacteria

    A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study has reportedly found evidence that houseflies living near poultry operations could contribute to the spread of drug-resistant bacteria among humans. Researchers collected flies and poultry-litter samples from farming operations in the coastal regions of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, which has “one of the highest densities of…

  • New York Times Columnist Addresses Purported Link Between Pork Production and MRSA

    New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently published two op-ed pieces claiming that high-density pig farms have contributed to an increase in methiciliin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in rural communities. A March 12, 2009, article titled “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health” examines the case of a family physician in northwestern Indiana, where patients reportedly began contracting…

  • Food, Health and Safety Issues Continue to Attract Congressional Attention

    As members of the 111th Congress actively consider how to address food-safety issues and debate in committee whether splitting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in two would best reform federal oversight, new bills addressing food health and safety continue to be introduced. The most recent include: H.R. 1324 – Introduced March 5, 2009, by…

  • Seattle Newspaper Exposes Widespread “Honey Laundering”

    “A far cry from the innocent image of Winnie the Pooh with a paw stuck in the honey pot, the international honey trade has become increasingly rife with crime and intrigue,” claims a recent Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle P-I)investigative report on the widespread practice of “honey laundering,” the illegal practice of transshipping products through other countries to…

  • Agency Revokes Order Banning Use of Antimicrobial Drugs in Animals

    Reversing a position it took in July 2008, the FDA has issued a notice announcing the withdrawal of a final rule that prohibited the extra-label use of cephalosporin antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals. As we noted in issue 266 of this Update, the FDA issued its prohibition “based on evidence that extralabel use of these…

  • UK Soil Association Calls for Action on Antibiotic-Resistant E. Coli

    The UK Soil Association has reportedly urged veterinarians to limit their penicillin use after health officials found that cows from one unidentified English farm are carriers of extended-spectrum betalactamase (ESBL) E. coli, a rare antibiotic-resistant strain of the disease. Although the organic watchdog noted that the government has asked the farmer and his family to follow…