Tag: import/export
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USDA Report Critical of France’s Proposed BPA Ban
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Foreign Agriculture Service recently issued a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report concluding that a French proposal to prohibit all food packaging and materials containing bisphenol A (BPA) would “very likely… impact and jeopardize U.S. processed and other food exports to France.” Introduced after a French National Agency for…
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NPR Disputes Food Safety News Honey Coverage
“Maybe we’re too inclined to believe the worst about supermarket food,” writes NPR’s Dan Charles in a November 25, 2011, column about a recent Food Safety News report suggesting that most honey sold in the United States does not deserve the name. According to NPR, the article in question implied that producers use a process…
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Court Finds Honey Importers Improperly Served, Quashes Summonses
A federal court in Illinois has determined that the government did not allege facts sufficient to pierce the corporate veil of related U.S. and foreign corporations and thus could not bring the foreign corporations before the court on charges of avoiding $80 million in customs duties on honey imported into the United States between 2002 and…
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Del Monte Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking to Lift Cantaloupe Import Restrictions
Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. has filed a notice of dismissal in a Maryland federal court after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to lift the import alert it imposed on cantaloupes from Guatemala that had purportedly been linked to a Salmonella outbreak. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. v. United States, No. 11-2338…
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Upcoming Codex Meeting to Discuss Food Import, Export Inspections
The Office for the Under Secretary for Food Safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have announced an October 4, 2011, public meeting in Washington, D.C., to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 19th session of the Codex Committee on Food…
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FDA Refutes Arsenic Apple Juice Claims
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a consumer update reassuring the public about the safety of apple juice after a TV talk show claimed that certain brands contain high levels of arsenic. Mehmet Oz, who hosts “The Dr. Oz Show,” apparently sent 50 apple juices samples to EMSL Analytical, Inc., which measured total…
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Del Monte Announces Intent to Sue Oregon Health Authority in Cantaloupe Flap
According to a news source, Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc. has indicated, as part of its campaign to counter allegations that its cantaloupes, imported from Guatemala, were tainted with Salmonella, that it intends to sue the Oregon Health Authority and a public health official for making “misleading allegations” about its products. Company Vice President Dennis…
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Wired Blogger Questions Safety of Food Imported from China
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,”…