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Personal Injury Law

Food Liability Law Blog

Discussion of emerging legal threats to the food industry.
By Kenneth Odza

Post Frequency: 2.2/day

Last Entry: August 19, 2016 at 16:09:48

USDA Says Continued Research Needed on Distillers Grains

Posted on May 18, 2009
The Nebraska Governor's Conference on Ensuring Food Safety included a lively discussion on distillers grains and E. coli O157:H7. Dr. Jim Wells at USDA presented data that appears to show some correlation between certain levels of cattle-fed distillers grains and the levels of O157 that appeared in the hides of cattle...

How Not to Feed Airport Guards

Posted on May 17, 2009
An Interesting news item out of Kathmandu: 40 airport guards were taken sick with what appears to be dysentery all at the same time. The cause appears to be eating the same tainted food in the same employee cafeteria. According to the Malaysian national news agency: All the police personnel used to share a cafeteria...

Are Organic Foods Safer? Will Consumers Continue to Favor Organics?

Posted on May 15, 2009
Nobody disputes that consumers have a favorable view of organic certification in foods. Consumers generally believe that organic foods are healthier, and many believe they taste better. Yet, among food scientists, uncertainty prevails as to whether organics are safer, especially raw fruits and vegetables...

USDA (FSIS) Becoming More Aggressive

Posted on May 14, 2009
At the recent Nebraska Governor's Conference on Ensuring Food Safety, Dan Engeljohn from FSIS (USDA) announced a number of significant policy changes. FSIS's changes in part are consistent with those previously announced under the last administration and in part represent the Obama administration's new priorities...

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FDA Warning to General Mills: Cheerios is a Drug

Posted on May 13, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking issue with claims that Cheerios cereal can lower cholesterol. In a letter to General Mills, the FDA says that statements made on Cheerios packaging like the claim that the cereal is 'clinically proven to help lower cholesterol' make the product a drug under federal law...

The Pistachio Industry Follows the Peanut Industry

Posted on May 11, 2009
When the peanut butter recall hit, the American Peanut Butter Council issued a list of the items that were not affected by the recall, which was isolated to the products of now-defunct Peanut Corporation of America. The similar, though less-publicized, pistachio recall has also been isolated to pistachios from a single company, Setton Farms...

FDA Seeks Largest Budget Increase in Agency's History

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to increase its budget for Fiscal Year 2010 by nearly 20 percent more than FY 2009 – to $3.2 billion. The Washington Post reports that the increase is the largest in the agency's history. The FDA's spending request includes $259...

Judge Denies Class Action Status in McDonald's French Fry and Hash Brown Litigation

Posted on May 08, 2009
A lawsuit claiming that McDonald's deceived the public about ingredients in its french fries and hash browns will not proceed as a class action. A federal judge in Chicago has denied the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, characterizing the proposed class and subclasses as 'too indefinite and overbroad...

Salmonella in a Different Language

Posted on May 07, 2009
When the news of salmonella in something as American as peanut butter needs to get out, spreading the word is fairly routine. What happens when salmonella rissen is found in white pepper distributed mainly to Chinese and other Asian restaurants on the west coast? Union Internatonal Food Company of Union City, California has voluntarily recalled dry spices after 42 cases of salmonella rissen have been reported in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada...

FDA Commissioner Nominee Faces Confirmation Hearing

Posted on May 07, 2009
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee the Food and Drug Administration, is appearing before a U.S. Senate committee this afternoon regarding her nomination. The confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee began at 2:00 p...

Secretary of Agriculture Emphasizes Safety of U.S. Pork

Posted on April 28, 2009
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued a statement today emphasizing that U.S. pork products are safe and that there is no evidence that U.S. swine have been infected with the swine flu virus. Calling trade restrictions on pork or pork products unnecessary, Vilsack said any such restrictions would be inconsistent with World Organization for Animal Health guidelines...

Pork Producers Feel Effects of Swine Flu

Posted on April 27, 2009
Pork producers are feeling the effects of the swine flu as the number of reported cases of the virus increases. Stock prices for Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor, and Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, fell 12 percent and 9 percent today, respectively...

Michigan Company Announces Frozen Pasta Recall

Posted on April 27, 2009
A Michigan maker of frozen pasta products has issued a recall for products that were distributed to seven states. Canton, Mich.-based Mucci Food Products is recalling an undetermined amount of frozen meat and poultry pasta products because the food was prepared without federal inspection...

FDA and CDC Warn of Salmonella in Raw Sprouts

Posted on April 27, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending against eating raw alfalfa sprouts because of potential salmonella contamination. According to the FDA, the salmonella contamination appears to be in seeds for alfalfa sprouts...

NY Senator to Propose Director of Food Safety Oversight

Posted on April 23, 2009
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) is expected to introduce legislation today to strengthen U.S. food safety. Newsday.com is reporting that Sen. Schumer's bill will call for a director of food safety oversight who would be a senior-level director at the Department of Commerce...

Kellogg Co. Agrees to Settle False Advertising Claims

Posted on April 22, 2009
Cereal maker Kellogg Company has entered into a consent agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that certain Kellogg advertisements contain false or misleading statements. At issue in the FTC's complaint are statements from Kellogg's advertising that eating a bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal for breakfast is clinically shown to improve kids' attentiveness by nearly 20 percent...

Ivar's Turkey Soup Recall

Posted on April 22, 2009
Ivar Haglund was a Seattle legend. In these parts, he was known only by his first name, the way you can refer to "Michael" when you're discussing basketball and people know you mean Michael Jordan. His food is at Sea-Tac Airport, Safeco Field and Qwest Field...

Update: Supreme Court Declines Review of Methylmercury Case With Potential Preemption Implications

Posted on April 21, 2009
An update to a case we've been following: the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit involving state-law claims over methylmercury content in canned tuna. The Supreme Court's order in Tri-Union Seafoods, LLC v...

Update on the Rojak Case

Posted on April 15, 2009
The rojak-related outbreak in Singapore happened only on April 3, but the Singapore health officials have already issued their official report. The report links the illnesses to Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which in turn got into the rojak by having raw cuttlefish on an upper shelf of a refrigerator, which dripped into the gravy on the lower shelf of the refrigerator...

Nebraska Governor's Conference on E. Coli

Posted on April 13, 2009
The third annual Nebraska Governor's Conference on Food Safety Issues related to E. coli is May 5-7 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Together with Bill Marler, I have been invited to speak to agricultural stakeholders about legal issues and ramifications of Shiga toxin-producing E...

FDA Seeks Input on Intentional Adulteration of Products

Posted on April 13, 2009
The Food and Drug Administration has announced an effort to explore the intentional adulteration of products to increase a producer's bottom line. So-called 'economically motivated adulteration,' or EMA, is the topic of an FDA-sponsored public meeting to be held on May 1 in College Park, Maryland...

Food-Borne Illness: Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full?

Posted on April 09, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control has issued a study of the incidence of food-borne illness in ten states. The study, by the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as "FoodNet", in general concludes that food-borne illness has not significantly either increased or decreased in the United States since 2004, after substantial gains in food safety from 1996 to 2004...

The High Cost of Loving Rojak

Posted on April 08, 2009
Rojak is an important Singaporean dish. To the Indonesian rudjek, basically a salad, is added (for the Indian version most popular in Singapore) yu tiao, sort of a doughnut; ju her, a cuttlefish salad; taupok, which are tofu puffs; or pei tan, which are preserved duck eggs...

A Bad Week for Grapefruit

Posted on April 06, 2009
The Lancet reported last week that a "constellation of potential risk factors" had almost cost a woman in Olympia, Washington her leg. Dr. Lucinda Grande reported that the woman had started a "grapefruit diet", while taking birth control pills and having a previously undiagnosed genetic condition, while remaining immobile in her car for an extended period...

California Lawmakers Announce Proposed Food-Safety Reforms in Wake of Pistachio Recalls

Posted on April 02, 2009
As pistachio recalls continue to be announced in the wake of salmonella-tainted pistachios from Setton Farms, two California lawmakers this week announced legislation that is expected to strengthen food-safety standards in that state. The bill to be introduced in the California State Assembly by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Assemblyman Mike Feuer is expected to require detailed safety plans from food processors, periodic testing of food at California food processing facilities, and requirements for food processors to report to state authorities any positive tests for a dangerous contaminant within 24 hours...

More on Pistachios and Setton Farms

Posted on April 01, 2009
As I predicted yesterday, the pistachio recall is affecting more products. The FDA has a nice list. Meanwhile, the Setton Farms website, as of 1:30 pm PDT today, still has no information on the recall.

The Pistachio Recall: More Salmonella

Posted on March 31, 2009
The FDA and the California Department of Public Health announced on March 30 the recall of pistachios from Setton Farms, which have been linked to a discovery of salmonella originally identified by Kraft Foods in Back to Nature Trail Mix. The FDA has a list of recalled products, but that may grow...

The Uniform Commercial Code and Food Recalls

Posted on March 24, 2009
Article 2 of The Uniform Commercial Code. The Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") is my Bible. So, when I read about the pain caused to businesses and charities by the peanut butter recall, I look first to the UCC to see what might be available to help...

Back to School

Posted on March 23, 2009
In the next couple of weeks, I have the unique opportunity to travel back to Cornell University, my law school alma mater, to spend time getting acquainted with its world renowned food science program. While in "gorges" Ithaca, I plan to audit courses such as 'Food Safety Assurance' and 'Current Topics in Food Science & Technology...

Nestle's Makes the Very Best Peanut Decision

Posted on March 23, 2009
On Thursday, March 19, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held another hearing on Peanut Corporation of America and the Salmonella outbreak. A focus of the hearing was the different choices made by Nestle USA, which had refused to buy PCA peanuts, and the companies testifying at the hearing, including Kellogg and King Nut, which had...

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