Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Tag: food safety

  • UCS Survey Claims Special Interests, Public Officials Interfere with Food Safety

    The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has released a report, “Driving the Fox from the Henhouse: Improving Oversight of Food Safety at the FDA and USDA,” that provides the results of a March 2010 survey of 8,000 food safety agency employees. Conducted at Iowa State University’s Center for Survey Statistics, the questionnaire solicited responses from…

  • FSIS to Hold Public Meeting on Meat, Poultry Inspection Programs

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) will hold a public meeting on September 29-30, 2010, in Washington, D.C., to review issues pertaining to data collection, analysis, response and transparency, and pre-harvest food safety controls. The committee…

  • Leahy Introduces Legislation to Hold Food Safety Violators Accountable

    U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has introduced a bill (S.3767) that would “hold violators of food safety standards accountable for their crimes.” The Food Safety Accountability Act would establish a new offense in the criminal code by making it unlawful for any person to knowingly introduce or deliver tainted or mislabeled food into the nation’s…

  • Consumer Groups Urge Passage of Food Safety Reform Legislation

    Consumer groups recently released a report urging the U.S. Senate to pass its version of a food safety bill (S. 510) in light of a recent egg recall linked to foodborne illness. Published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Consumer Federation of America,…

  • UK Divvies Up Food Safety Responsibilities

    The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that as of September 1, 2010, the agency handed over several responsibilities to the departments of Health (DH) and Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Under the restructuring—which does not currently apply to operations to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—FSA in England will continue to handle the…

  • Salmonella-Contaminated Egg Outbreak Sparks Investigations and Recriminations

    Responding to media reports that workers at the egg facilities linked to a recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak complained about food safety problems, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has written to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking whether these complaints were investigated and whether the agency has a process for reporting safety violations. Grassley…

  • Obama to Appoint Key Food Safety Official

    President Barack Obama (D) recently announced his intention to “recess appoint” Elisabeth Hagen as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) under secretary for food safety. According to a White House press release, Hagen is among four key administrative nominees who have waited an average of 303 days for Senate confirmation. Obama said he chose to…

  • FSA Investigates Meat from Offspring of Cloned Cow

    The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that meat from a cloned cow’s offspring has evidently entered the food supply, sparking concerns about the country’s livestock registration and tracking requirements. The agency apparently traced four female and four male calves to a cloned Holstein cow from the United States. According to FSA, farmers have…