By Riëtte van Laack – For several years, the Consumers Union and the Organic Consumers Association (“Petitioners”) have urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) to require that personal care products that use the term “organic” in product labeling comply with the requirements of the Organic …
By Nisha P. Shah and Ricardo Carvajal – The title of a report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) neatly sums up that agency’s perspective: “FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).” The report …
By Ricardo Carvajal – The ongoing recall of a widely used flavor enhancer known as hydrolyzed vegetable protein ("HVP") for possible contamination with Salmonella could mushroom to affect thousands of products. Although no illnesses have been reported thus far and FDA judges the risk to …
By Cassandra A. Soltis – Think twice before putting that claim on your food label – or on your website. Just last month, FDA issued 16 Warning Letters to food manufacturers regarding unauthorized nutrient content and health claims appearing in food labeling. In addition, some …
By Ricardo Carvajal & Diane B. McColl – In the fourth and most recent draft of the framework of its Animal Feed Safety System (“AFSS”), FDA provides a comprehensive overview of the system and of the significant gaps in that system that FDA intends to …
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s Ricardo Carvajal will be speaking at FDLI’s upcoming Introduction to Food Law and Regulation: A Program on Understanding How the Government Regulates the Food Industry. Mr. Carvajal will be presenting on food safety and unintended components/contaminants in food. The conference …
By Ricardo Carvajal – While calling for further research on bisphenol A ("BPA"), a chemical used in the manufacture of some plastics, FDA has acknowledged that it has "some concern about the safety of BPA:" At this interim stage, FDA shares the perspective of the …
By Susan J. Matthees – In July 2008, we blogged about the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s decision that found Purely Juice, Inc. liable under the Lanham Act for false advertising related to its pomegranate juice product. Last month, the U.S. Court …
By Ricardo Carvajal – Californians won’t have to contend with this warning in their grocery stores – for now. A California appellate court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) preempts Proposition 65 point-of-sale warning requirements for meat. The suit …
By Cassandra A. Soltis – At the Federal Trade Commission’s ("FTC’s") conference yesterday on food marketing and childhood obesity, officials from the FTC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the United States Department of Agriculture unveiled tentative proposed …
By Ricardo Carvajal – When FDA sent letters to manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages asking them to furnish evidence supporting a conclusion that the use of caffeine in an alcoholic beverage is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) or prior sanctioned, the agency allowed 30 days …
By A. Wes Siegner, Jr. and Ricardo Carvajal Sen. Kerry has introduced the Medical Foods Equity Act of 2009 with the goal of securing insurance coverage for certain medical foods. The legislation would secure coverage under federal insurance plans (e.g., Medicaid and Medicare), plans governed by the …
By Ricardo Carvajal – FDA and USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (“FSIS”) announced a public meeting intended to “stimulate and focus a discussion about mechanisms to enhance product tracing systems for food” that will “help FDA and FSIS determine what short and long term steps …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum & Kurt R. Karst – Last Thursday we reported on the release by the House of H.R. 3962, the health care reform bill that will soon be considered on the House floor. As we have done with other health care reform …
By Ricardo Carvajal – We’re used to seeing the Center for Science in the Public Interest ("CSPI") take a stick to food marketers. It seems that CSPI now has plenty of friends. First, Connecticut’s Attorney General trumpeted his success in gaining agreement from food companies …
