By Ricardo Carvajal – The Obama administration’s Food Safety Working Group has launched a website through which it intends to keep the public informed of its activities (to date, the only activity listed on the website is a listening session and breakout discussion among stakeholders …
By JP Ellison – In a Memorandum to the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies dated May 20, 2009, with the Subject Line “Preemption” (the “May 20, 2009 Memorandum”), President Obama stated that “executive departments and agencies have sometimes announced that their regulations preempt State …
By Ricardo Carvajal – According to a DOJ press release, a federal judge has handed down a 63-month sentence to a seafood company president convicted of participating in a conspiracy to falsely label a certain type of fish from Vietnam to avoid paying federal tariffs. …
By Wes Siegner & Ricardo Carvajal – FDA has issued a warning letter to General Mills in which the agency alleges “serious violations” of the FDC Act in the label and labeling of Cheerios cereal. Specifically, FDA contends that the following label claims make Cheerios …
By Ricardo Carvajal – In two studies recently published in Nature (see here and here) scientists report success applying a novel technique to more precisely insert genes conferring herbicide resistance into corn and tobacco. In addition to enabling greater precision, the technique results in stable …
By Ricardo Carvajal – FDA has announced that it expects compliance with its final rule prohibiting the use of certain cattle origin materials (e.g., brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older) in the food or feed of all animals on …
By Susan J. Matthees – Last week FDA published a memorandum titled “FDA Comments on Symbols Public Hearing and Current Plans for Addressing Issues.” The memorandum responds to questions and issues raised during a September 10-11, 2007 hearing titled "Use of Symbols to Communicate Nutrition …
By Ricardo Carvajal & John R. Fleder – On April 20, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand the Third Circuit’s decision in Fellner v. Tri-Union Seafoods. As we discussed in a prior posting, Fellner’s lawsuit contends that Tri-Union is guilty of negligence under New Jersey …
By William T. Koustas – On April 20th, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") announced that it has brought, and at the same time tentatively settled, charges of false advertising brought under the FTC Act against Kellogg, the world’s largest cereal maker. The FTC accused Kellogg …
By Ricardo Carvajal – The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”) will hold a public meeting on April 29 and 30 to foster discussion of certain issues that were raised during the comment period for its proposed rule on Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release …
By Ricardo Carvajal – FDA has announced that it will hold a public meeting on “economically motivated adulteration” to foster discussion about ways that FDA-regulated industries can “better predict and prevent economically motivated adulteration with a focus on situations that pose the greatest public health …
By Ricardo Carvajal – Among the myriad proposals to overhaul the nation’s ailing food safety system, at least one calls for splitting off FDA’s food safety programs and incorporating them into a new Food Safety Administration ("FSA") within the U.S. Department of Health and Human …
By Ricardo Carvajal – The latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives credence to a possible link between higher intake of sodium and an increased risk of hypertension. According to CDC, nearly 70% of U.S. adults …
By Ricardo Carvajal – In June 2008, the Technical Committee on Dietary Lipids of the International Life Sciences Institute sponsored a workshop titled “Towards Dietary Reference Intakes for Omega-3 Fatty Acids.” A summary of the workshop participants' conclusions is now published in the Journal of …
By Riëtte van Laack & J.P. Ellison – The Seventh Circuit’s March 12, 2009 decision in United States v. Farinella starkly shows what can happen when, as the court concluded, a prosecutor relies on bad facts for the government and combines that with no controlling law, …
