Tag Archives: LAWSUIT

Is Pet Food the Next Front for “Natural” Lawsuits?

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against Rachel Ray’s Nutrish dog food brand, alleging that “natural” claims were false and misleading under state consumer protection laws, based on testing that showed the presence of glyphosate residues. Glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup®, is an EPA-approved herbicide that is used on food crops, including crops that have … Continue Reading

NGOs Sue USDA Over Delay in Issuing BE Disclosure Rules

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The 2016 National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards (NBFDS) Act directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop regulations and standards to create mandatory disclosure requirements for bioengineered (BE) foods by July 2018. The Center for Food Safety (CFS) and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) filed a lawsuit in the Northern California U.S. District Court on August … Continue Reading

Will Pennsylvania Join Other States in Banning Local Soda Taxes?

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages approved by the Philadelphia city council in 2016 (see previous blogs here, here and here for background information on that tax and court challenges to the tax). Opponents of the tax had argued that the tax violated Pennsylvania’s Sterling Act of 1932, which prohibits … Continue Reading

Continuing Fallout from E. Coli Outbreak in Romaine

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According to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), the impact of the recent E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce continues to ripple through the market, causing a 44.5% drop in retail sales of romaine as compared to the previous year and a 27.6% drop in sales of lettuce overall. Retailers, restaurants, and growers are already facing … 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

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

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

Opposing Views and Uncertain Future for the Philadelphia Soda Tax

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15 Months In, Philly Still Plagued With Soda Tax Uncertainties (subscription to Law360 required) As previously covered on this blog, Philadelphia’s 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on distributors of sweetened beverages (including soda and diet soda, non-100% fruit drinks; sports drinks; flavored water; energy drinks; pre-sweetened coffee or tea; and non-alcoholic beverages intended to be mixed into alcoholic drinks) … Continue Reading

Washington State Sued over Termination of Salmon Farming Lease

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As previously reported on this blog last month, Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the termination of Cooke Aquaculture Pacific’s Port Angeles net pen lease for salmon farming. Canadian-based Cooke Aquaculture (Cooke) filed a lawsuit in Clallam County Superior Court on January 4, 2018, claiming that the decision to terminate the lease was … 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

Philly Sweetened Beverage Tax Under Fire

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As previously covered on this blog, on June 16, 2016, the Philadelphia city council voted 13-4 to approve a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.  The tax – which took effect on January 1, 2017 – is levied on distributors and covers a variety of beverages, including soda and diet soda, non-100% fruit drinks; sports drinks; flavored water; energy drinks; … 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

Lawsuit Over FDA Delaying Menu Labeling Rule on Hold for Now

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As previously reported on this blog, on June 7, 2017,  two nongovernment organizations (NGOs)—the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the National Consumer League—filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. against FDA for delaying implementation of the menu labeling rule. By way of background, the menu labeling provisions were added to the … Continue Reading

Philly Soda Tax Opponents Appeal To PA Supreme Court

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As previously covered on this blog, on June 16, 2016, the Philadelphia city council voted 13-4 to approve a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.  The tax – which took effect on January 1, 2017 – is levied on distributors and covers a variety of beverages, including soda and diet soda, non-100% fruit drinks; sports drinks; flavored water; energy drinks; … Continue Reading

Industry Groups Sue NYC to Block Menu Labeling Enforcement

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In 2008, New York City passed the first calorie disclosure rule for restaurants and in 2015, the city amended the rule to match federal requirements (for more information on the federal requirements, see the KHlaw.com article, FDA Issues Final Rules on Menu and Vending Machine Nutrition Labeling Requirements.) As we reported on this blog, FDA … Continue Reading

ABC News and BPI Reach Settlement in Lean Finely Textured Beef Litigation

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As previously covered on this blog, in the Spring of 2012, ABC News aired a series of reports on “Lean Finely Textured Beef” (LFTB), referring to the product as “pink slime.” The media coverage of LFTB and resulting consumer concern led many quick serve chains to discontinue using beef that contains LFTB.  In addition, over … Continue Reading

Cattle Producers Sue USDA to Reinstate COOL

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As previously covered on this blog, in 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented country of origin labeling (COOL) rules, requiring meat labels to indicate where animals were born, raised, and slaughtered.  Meatpacking and livestock commodity groups in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico challenged the COOL requirements via appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and … Continue Reading

Seafood Traceability Rule to Remain in Place, Says Court

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As reported previously on this blog, concerns about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) seafood fraud, led to a proposed rule to establish a traceability program for certain seafood species. The final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program was published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Department of … Continue Reading

New “Natural” Lawsuit Targets Sanderson Farms’ “100 Percent Natural” Chicken

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A leading poultry producer has been sued over “natural” claims on its chicken products.  (subscription to Law360 required) Americans’ increasing appetite for clean label, ethically-raised foods has resulted in the continued proliferation of consumer advocacy litigation targeting “natural” claims for products containing synthetic ingredients or preservatives.  Adding fuel to the continued uptick in “natural” litigation … Continue Reading

Court Upholds Philly Soda Tax

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As previously covered on this blog, on June 16, 2016, the Philadelphia city council voted 13-4 to approve a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.  The tax – which took effect on January 1, 2017 – is levied on distributors and covers a variety of beverages, including soda and diet soda, non-100% fruit drinks; sports drinks; flavored … Continue Reading

Consumer Groups Sue FDA for Delaying Menu Labeling Rule

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As previously covered on this blog, on May 4, 2017, FDA published an interim final rule that delays the compliance date for menu labeling requirements from May 5, 2017, until May 8, 2018 and invites comments for 60 days on the implementation of the menu labeling requirements. Yesterday, the Center for Science in the Public … Continue Reading

Kraft Motion to Dismiss ‘All Natural’ Lawsuit

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Kraft seeks to end ‘all-natural’ sour cream labeling suit (subscription to Law360 required) Kraft Heinz Foods Co. (Kraft) asked the court (the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York) to dismiss a putative class action over claims the “All Natural” label on its Breakstone’s sour cream is misleading because the sour cream … Continue Reading
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