Tag Archives: CALIFORNIA

California Signs Bill Allowing Sale of Home-Cooked Food

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California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law on September 18, 2018 which will allow Californians to sell food they make themselves, a practice that was previously outlawed due to health concerns.  Assembly Bill 626, also known as the Homemade Food Operations Act, amends California’s Health and Safety Code to establish strict guidelines for … Continue Reading

FDA Issues Statement Regarding Labeling Coffee as a Carcinogen Consistent with California Proposition 65

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California Proposition 65 requires manufacturers to provide clear and reasonable warnings to consumers before exposing them to over 950 listed carcinogens, including acrylamide.  As reported in this blog yesterday, California’s regulations for reporting the presence of the carcinogens have changed.  Also as previously reported in this blog, producers of roasted coffee have been sued under … Continue Reading

New Proposition 65 Warning Regulations Take Effect Today

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As previously reported on this blog, in 2016 California passed new regulations redefining what makes a warning “clear and reasonable” under Proposition 65; those regulations become effective today.  Proposition 65 is a right-to-know law that requires manufacturers to provide a clear and reasonable warning to consumers before exposing them to over 950 listed carcinogens and … Continue Reading

California Passed Nation’s First Kids’ Meal Bill

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In another effort to limit consumption of sugary drinks, California passed Senate Bill 1192, the nation’s first statewide kids’ meal bill. The bill requires that water, sparkling water, flavored water, unflavored milk, or a nondairy milk alternative are the default beverage in kids’ meals, instead of soda or other sugar sweetened beverages. The bill does … Continue Reading

Putative Class Action Challenge to Diet Dr. Pepper in California Fails for the Fourth Time

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The Federal District Court for the Northern District of California has granted Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.’s Motion to Dismiss (available for purchase here) in a putative class action originally filed in October 2017, which alleged that the marketing of Diet Dr. Pepper violated California’s False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and Unfair Competition Law, … Continue Reading

California Bill to Require Sugary Beverage Warning Labels Dies in Committee

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A bill that would have required warnings on the labels of sugar-sweetened beverages sold in California died in the Senate Appropriations Committee this month (Los Angeles Times). Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) introduced the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Safety Warning Act, AB 1335, in February 2018. AB 1335 would have banned the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages in sealed … Continue Reading

California Court Rules Cereals Not Required to Bear Proposition 65 Warnings (Law360 Subscription Required)

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On Monday, July 16, a California appeals court reversed a decision that would have required food manufacturers to label cereal products with cancer warnings, as per Proposition 65. As we have previously written on this blog, Proposition 65 is a right-to-know law that requires businesses to provide warnings when they knowingly cause exposures to chemicals … Continue Reading

California Bans New Soda Taxes until 2030

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On June 28, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB1838, which prohibits local government agencies from imposing new taxes on “groceries,” which are defined to exclude alcoholic beverages, cannabis products, cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes.  The bill is widely seen as a ban on taxes on sugary drinks in particular. The passage of AB1838 is resulting in the withdrawal of Ballot Measure 17-0051, which … Continue Reading

California Coffee May No Longer Require Cancer Warnings

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On June 15, 2018, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposed a new regulation clarifying that cancer warnings are not required for coffee under Proposition 65. Proposition 65 is a right-to-know law that requires businesses to provide warnings when they knowingly cause exposures to chemicals that the state has listed as causing cancer … Continue Reading

California Court Upholds Labor Code Listing Mechanism in Monsanto Glyphosate Case

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A California Court of Appeals has rejected various arguments made by Monsanto Company, challenging the listing of glyphosate based on the Proposition 65 Labor Code listing mechanism, where carcinogens listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer are automatically listed under Proposition 65. The court did not agree that the Labor Code listing of … Continue Reading

Aligning CA Prop 65 and FIFRA Pesticides Labeling Requirements

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The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed to amend the California Proposition 65 Clear and Reasonable Warnings requirements to provide an exception to the safe harbor provisions for listed chemicals in pesticides regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). As we previously reported on this blog, OEHHA published … Continue Reading

Judge Sides with Proposition 65 Plaintiffs in Acrylamide in Coffee Case

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In a recent proposed statement of decision, LA Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle dealt a blow to Starbucks and a number of other defendants in a case regarding Proposition 65 warnings for acrylamide in coffee, finding that the defense failed to support any of the three criteria necessary to support an alternative significant risk level … Continue Reading

California Considers Regulating Food Packaging under Green Chemistry Initiative

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As part of its Green Chemistry Initiative and the Safer Consumer Products (SCP) implementing regulations, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has released its Draft Three Year Priority Product Work Plan (2018-2020).  The Plan indicates that it will “address exposures from harmful chemicals that migrate from consumer products into food.” DTSC identifies as “Candidate Chemicals” … Continue Reading

Court Grants Injunction in Proposition 65 Glyphosate Warning Case

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A California court has granted an injunction enjoining various growers associations from providing Proposition 65 cancer warnings for crops grown with glyphosate.  In a motion for preliminary injunction, National Association of Wheat Growers et al. v. Zeise, the court held that a Proposition 65 warning conveying that glyphosate causes cancer would not be “factually accurate” … Continue Reading

Six Month Countdown to New Prop 65 Warning Requirements

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New Proposition 65 warning requirements are becoming effective in just six months, on August 30, 2018.   As previously reported on this blog, new regulations regarding “clear and reasonable warnings” were issued on September 2, 2016 In guidance, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which administers Proposition 65, has advised that consumer products “manufactured … Continue Reading

California Egg Law Challenged in U.S. Supreme Court

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Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced that 12 states have joined Missouri in a lawsuit challenging a California law requiring any eggs sold in the state to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages. The lawsuit was filed on December 4 to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2008, Californians approved, … Continue Reading

San Francisco Ordinance Requires Grocery Chains to Disclose Antibiotic Use in Meat

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For years, FDA, USDA, and various industry stakeholders have sought to tackle public health concerns associated with the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth or feed efficiency in food-producing animals.  In the U.S., FDA is working with industry to gradually phase out the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals for production … Continue Reading

CA Court Upholds Foie Gras Ban

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Foie gras is a culinary delicacy made from the fattened liver of a duck or goose.  It can be produced through a process called gavage in which the birds are force-fed through tubes inserted into their esophagus.  Foie gras sales derived from this method were prohibited in California following the passage of a bill in … Continue Reading

Court Blocks San Francisco Law Requiring Warnings on Soft Drink Ads

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As previously covered on this blog, the City of San Francisco passed legislation in June 2015 that required health warnings to be placed on advertising for sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e., nonalcoholic beverages with caloric sweeteners that contain more than 25 calories per 12 oz.).  Specifically, the warning would have read:  “WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes … Continue Reading

California Publishes Q&A on New Prop 65 Warning Requirements

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The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) just posted a new question and answer document on how the new Proposition 65 Clear and Reasonable Warning regulations apply to businesses. As we previously reported on this blog, California’s OEHHA announced on September 2, 2016, a final rule concerning “clear and reasonable warnings” required under … Continue Reading

Slack Fill Settlement

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“Slack fill” cases are on the rise across the U.S.  Slack fill is the empty space between products and their packaging. Companies can be challenged for including “nonfunctional slack fill” in product packaging under both the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) and state unfair business practice statutes (particularly in California).  At the federal … Continue Reading

Bill Requiring Soda Warning Labels Introduced in California Senate Again

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California State Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel) introduced a bill that would require health warning labels on sugary beverages sold in California. More specifically, SB 300, referred to as the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Health Warning Act, would require the following warning on certain sealed beverage containers: STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes … Continue Reading
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