The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled yesterday that the Country of Origin Labeling on meats can continue. COOL was put into effect last year, but the meat industry filed suit to block it. The court denied a preliminary injunction against COOL, so consumers will be informed about where the meat they buy is grown and produced. Food & Water Watch is one of the groups in favor of the court's decision. Wenonah Hauter, that agency's executive director said in a statement, "The Federal Appeals Court correctly affirmed the legitimate consumer interest in being able to make informed choices about the origin and safety of their meat products. The court recognized that COOL labels should be transparent and informative enough for consumers to make these choices, … [Read more...]
FDA Motion to Delay FSMA Rules Denied by Court of Appeals
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an FDA motion yesterday to delay issuing a rule required by the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. FDA did not meet deadlines set by Congress, so the Center for Food Safety sued that agency. The court agreed with CFS that delaying the rules was unacceptable, and re-established deadlines, starting with all drafts issued by November 30, 2013. FDA appealed that decision and sought a stay of the injunction. Yesterday's decision rejected the appeal for an extension, but let the agency have an extra 16 days to make up for the government shutdown last month. George Kimbrell, lead attorney for CFS, said in a statement, "Congress passed FMSA to end the preventable foodborne illness epidemic in this country. But without its implementing rules, the … [Read more...]
FDA Files Injunction Against Oregon Dietary Supplement Maker
The FDA has filed a permanent injunction against the dietary supplement manufacturer James G. Cole, Inc., after the company's "repeated distribution of unapproved drugs and adulterated dietary supplements in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act." The company is based in Hood River, Oregon. Melinda K. Plaisier, the FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said in a statement, "This company has ignored the multiple warnings they have been issued by the FDA by continuing to make unsubstantiated drug claims about the products it sells and by failing to conform to the cGMP requirements for dietary supplements." In addition, some of the supplements were not manufactured in accordance with the cGMP requirements for dietary supplements. The company has claimed … [Read more...]
Jensen Farms Cantaloupe Owners Arrested, Charged
Eric and Ryan Jensen, the owners of Jensen Farms that was the source of contaminated cantaloupe that caused a nationwide outbreak, were arrested today in Denver on charges brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FDA. The indictment charges the brothers with six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting. The Justice Department claims that the cantaloupe produced at Jensen Farms was contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and the fruit was "prepared, packed and held under conditions which rendered it injurious to health." Documents state that the defendants had a processing center that did not clean bacteria from the product. A system was installed in May of 2011 that was originally designed to clean potatoes, which are cooked before consumption. The system was … [Read more...]
FDA Granted Decree of Permanent Junction Against T&T Cattle
A federal judge has entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Gregory T. Troost, doing business as T&T Cattle and T&T Cattle Pearl, along with manager Mark Mourton, for violations including illegally administering animal drugs for uses not approved by the FDA. Inspections in January 2002, January 2006, September 2010, and October through November 2012 found that the facility had violated several provisions of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act. Specifically, the defendants offered for slaughter seven dairy cows with illegal levels of drug residues. Cows had tissues that tested positive for elevated levels of penicillin and sulfadimethoxine. People can have severe adverse reactions to those drugs even at very low levels and the drugs can harm those sensitive … [Read more...]
Groups Petition Court for Permission to Defend COOL
Four groups joined together to file court papers last week for permission to defend mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) from a "spurious lawsuit" brought by the meatpacking industry. R-CALF USA, Food & Water Watch, the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, and the Western Organization of Resource Councils petitioned the court to let them defend the labeling law. COOL requires muscle cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and goat meat to display where the animal was born, raised, and slaughtered and prohibits the "commingled" mixed-origin label. Those labels allowed meat produced completely in the U.S. to carry a label such as "Product of Mexico, USA." Country of Origin Labeling has been a contentious issue and has been the subject of several lawsuits in the past few years. The American … [Read more...]
Judge Tells FDA No More FSMA Extensions
Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton has sided with the Center for Food Safety again and told the FDA that there can be no more extensions of rules in the Food Safety Modernization Act. The rules should have been completed last July, but there have been delays at the Office of Management and Budget, and the FDA has extended comment periods several times. The Center for Food Safety filed suit against the FDA last year when the original deadlines were not met. Judge Hamilton ruled that the FDA violated the law in a decision released April 2013. Last month the FDA moved for reconsideration or a stay of the injunction, but the Judge denied that motion. George Kimbrell, senior attorney for the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement, "this ruling is clear. FDA must step up and protect … [Read more...]
Judge Orders FDA to Complete FSMA Rules by June 2015
Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District court of Northern California rejected the FDA's proposed timeline for completion of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) timeline and ordered the agency to publish all regulations by June 30, 2015. In her decision, Hamilton wrote, "the court finds defendant's 'target timeframes' to be an inadequate response to the request that the parties submit a proposal regarding deadlines that can form the basis of an injunction." The FDA was sued by the Center for Food Safety in August 2012, which applauded the Judge's decision today. George Kimbrell, CFS senior attorney said in a statement, "this is a critical victory for consumers, farmers, and the public health. The Court's decision will ensure FDA cannot unduly delay these life-saving … [Read more...]
Judge Orders FDA to Establish Timetable for FSMA
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit against the FDA last fall for failing to implement new food safety regulations as mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ordered the FDA to work with CFS to establish a new timetable to implement those regulations. CFS senior attorney George Kimbrell said, "today is a good day for food safety and for consumers. Every day without the FSMA regulations is another day where consumers are at unnecessary risk. Because of this decision our food will soon be safer from E. coli and other threats." CFS has compiled a timeline of foodborne illness outbreaks that have occurred since FSMA was enacted on January 4, 2011. FSMA's critical rules, which were signed into law by President … [Read more...]
FTC Upholds Trial Decision Against POM Wonderful LLC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) upheld an Administrative Law Judge's decision that the marketers of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements deceptively advertised their products and did not have support for their claims. Ads claimed that the products could "treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction, and that they were clinically proven to work." The FTC found that POM marketers made deceptive claims in 36 ads and promotional materials. That goes beyond Judge D. Michael Chappell's May 2012 ruling that there were false or deceptive claims in 19 of the challenged items. Food Poisoning Bulletin told you about that ruling last year. A Final Order was issued that prohibits POM marketers from making any claim that their … [Read more...]
