Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Tag: pathogen

  • FSIS Implements ‘Hold and Test’ Policy For Poultry and Beef

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that, as of February 8, 2013, it will require producers of non-intact raw beef and all ready-to-eat products containing meat and poultry to hold shipments until they pass agency testing for foodborne pathogens. FSIS announced its plan to implement this policy in…

  • FDA Issues Final Food Irradiation Rules

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued final rules amending food additive regulations pertaining to the use of ionizing radiation in the production, processing and handling of meat and poultry products. Promulgated at the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rules took effect on November 30, 2012. FDA requests written objections or…

  • Consumer Reports Identifies Bacteria, Drug Residue in Pork

    Consumer Reports magazine has allegedly identified bacterial contamination as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria and veterinary drug residues in pork chop and ground-pork samples purchased from U.S. grocery stores. According to an analysis in the January 2013 edition of the magazine, 69 percent of the 198 pork samples in question purportedly contained Yersinia enterocolitica; 11 percent…

  • Appellate Court Affirms E. Coli Verdict Against Nebraska Meat Supplier

    The First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a jury verdict tracing the source of E. coli-contaminated beef to Greater Omaha Packing Co. thus sustaining a third-party indemnification claim against it. Long v. Fairbank Reconstruction Corp. v. Greater Omaha Packing Co., No. 12-1412 (1st Cir., decided November 21, 2012). Two Maine residents sickened in the…

  • FDA Shutters Peanut Butter Plant Implicated in Salmonella Outbreak

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended operations at nut and seed spread manufacturer Sunland Inc.’s New Mexico plant after investigators reportedly discovered Salmonella-tainted peanut butter linked to an outbreak that has allegedly sickened 41 people in 20 states this year. According to FDA, “the fact that peanut butter made by the company has…

  • Insurance Corp. Seeks to Rescind Umbrella Policy with Importer of Salmonella-Contaminated Fish

    Golden Eagle Insurance Corp. has filed a complaint for declaratory relief against its insured Moon Marine (U.S.A.) Corp., requesting that the umbrella policy it issued to the insured be rescinded because Moon Marine allegedly concealed material facts when it obtained the policy. Golden Eagle Ins. Corp. v. Moon Marine (U.S.A.) Corp., No. 12-5438 (N.D. Cal., filed October 22, 2012).…

  • Denmark Tracks Decline in Animal Antibiotic Use

    The Statens Serum Institut and National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark recently released a report charting a decline in overall antibiotic use in the country’s food animals. Funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Ministry of the Health, the Danish…

  • Canadian Victims of Contaminated Beef File Class Action Claims

    Two British Columbia residents have reportedly filed individual and putative class action suits against the Canadian meat processor that was forced to recall 1,800 ground beef products in an E. coli contamination outbreak that involved retail chains in the United States and Canada. The class action, filed October 12, 2012, by Erin Thornton in B.C.…