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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

California Court Declines to Dismiss Food Label Class Action Despite Lack of Alleged Purchase Date

Posted on August 19, 2016
Food manufacturers received a setback earlier this week, when Judge Thelton Henderson of the Northern District of California ruled that where a consumer identifies a specific class period in which a defendant food manufacturer labeled its products in a deceptive manner, the consumer does not have to allege the specific date he or she purchased … Continue Reading

Missouri Court denies Motion to Dismiss Over ?Nothing Artificial? Claims

Posted on August 09, 2016
Like several California courts before it, a recent Missouri federal court case reminds food manufacturers that they must carefully monitor the marketing claims made on the front of their products? labeling packages regardless of whether an ingredient list is included on the packaging...

FDA Offers Webinar to Review Recent Nutrition Facts Labeling Final Rules

Posted on June 17, 2016
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to host a webinar on Monday, June 27, 2016, to review the agency’s recent Nutrition Facts Labeling Final Rules and what industry needs to know about the changes to nutrition facts labels and serving sizes...

Food 2.0 Event Reviews Natural and Organic Food Landscape and Prospects

Posted on June 07, 2016
Stoel Rives LLP is proud to sponsor the 2016 Food 2.0 event taking place today through June 9, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. The annual event brings together manufacturers, service providers, investors, companies, consultants and lawyers to assess the natural and organic food landscape and the prospects for this rapidly evolving space...

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FDA?s Nutrition Facts Panel Gets a Makeover

Posted on May 20, 2016
In a major step aimed at helping consumers maintain healthy dietary practices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule on a new nutrition facts panel that will be required on the back of packaged food and beverages in the coming years...

GMOs: To Label or Not to Label? That is the Question

Posted on March 09, 2016
As the days grow longer and the snow starts to melt, so, too, does the debate on genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling begin to heat up. This is because Vermont?s Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Act?which requires that food entirely or partially produced with genetic engineering and offered for retail sale in Vermont be labeled as … Continue Reading

The Egg Salmonella Sentencing: An Exercise in Imagination

Posted on April 24, 2015
Indulge me for just a moment in an exercise in whimsy. Except as will be expressly described below, any resemblance to real persons or substances, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Imagine if you will that in the processing of a particular foodstuff, unless care is taken during certain steps, the foodstuff will provide the … Continue Reading

Is Paleo the New Black?

Posted on April 10, 2015
An article by two lawyers at Reed Smith, Drew Amoroso and David S. Reidy, entitled “Is ‘Paleo’ The Next Battleground In Food Litigation?”, reminded me of this prior article, the one I wanted to call “Don’t Make Artisan the New Natural”...

Here?s Why Restaurant Chains Are Starting to Issue New Food Menus

Posted on March 25, 2015
In the past few months, consumers may have noticed that some popular chain restaurants have started to display calorie and other nutrition information on menus and placards. The reason can be traced to the release by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of its final rules regarding ?Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items in Restaurants … Continue Reading

When to Call the Whole Thing Off

Posted on March 03, 2015
People who aren’t intellectual property lawyers often mix up trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection. Each provides a different kind of protection for a different kind of property interest, and they generally don’t overlap...

Forum For Water Users In Napa County

Posted on March 23, 2011
This blog entry was originally written by Jake Storms from the California Environmental Law Blog. The Napa County Farm Bureau held its first water forum in five or six years on March 9, in St. Helena, California. Kicked off by Bureau President Jim Lincoln, the event was well attended, with over 100 concerned stakeholders listening to the most recent updates in California water issues...

A Sticky Situation: Packaging and Placement of Syrup Raises Issues

Posted on March 22, 2011
In a letter to leading supermarket chains, Vermont Representative Peter Welch took issue with the packaging and shelf placement of the 'All Natural Syrup' line of table syrup produced by Log Cabin. The primary issues raised in Rep. Welch's letter related to potential customer confusion due to the similar packaging and frequently close shelf placement of the Log Cabin 'All Natural Syrup' line and maple syrups from Vermont producers...

RAISED RIGHT Trademark Blocks BRASSTOWN BEEF Logo

Posted on March 21, 2011
Note: The following post is authored by guest blogger Anne Glazer. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ('TTAB') recently affirmed a USPTO refusal to register the following mark for use with beef: The TTAB said the BRASSTOWN BEEF logo is likely to cause confusion in relation to the word mark RAISED RIGHT, which was already registered for use with poultry, meat and game...

Prop 65 Targets Cooked Food, Coffee and Vitamin Supplements

Posted on March 17, 2011
This blog entry was originally written by Lee Smith from the California Environmental Law Blog. The Industry Acrylamide Coalition (Coalition) filed suit against the State of California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), the agency that manages and revised the Prop 65 list to include 4-metheylimidazole (4-MEI), as a carcinogen...

More on the FSMA and the "Tester Amendment"

Posted on March 11, 2011
Earlier this week, I presented a webinar to the American Cheese Society entitled the "Food Safety Modernization Act and Product Liability." A link to the presentation is here. The presentation covered a number of topics and included a discussion of the so-called "Tester Amendment" to FSMA...

"Recall: A Financial Death Sentence?" An Upcoming Free Seminar in Bellevue, WA

Posted on March 02, 2011
If you're in the Seattle area March 22, please join me at Parker, Smith & Feek's offices in Bellevue for a discussion of the new Food Safety Modernization Act, the Reportable Food Registry, and how to survive a food product recall. Here is the full announcement of the event, including a link to registration (no charge)...

How Regulatory Changes Affect Litigation Risks

Posted on February 28, 2011
On February 24, 2011, Lee Smith and I presented "How Regulatory Changes Affect Litigation Risks" to the Grocery Manufacturers Association's food litigation conference. A link to the slide-deck can be found here. We discussed ways that the Reportable Food Registry (RFR) and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are affecting litigation now and can be expected to affect litigation in the near term...

Bad Guys Disguised As Good Guys: Labeling and Sourcing Issues at Farmers Markets

Posted on February 23, 2011
One of the first scenes in IFC's comedy 'Portlandia' involves a couple asking their waitress for the provenance of the chicken they are considering ordering. She comes back with a photograph of 'Colin', the actual chicken, and describes the conditions under which he lived before he died for their meal...

Preparing for FSMA Produce Safety Rules: What "Ag-in-the Middle" Needs to Do

Posted on February 14, 2011
Many who track FDA's implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) believe that a priority for FDA is Section 105, 'Standards for Produce Safety' (FDCA section 419), in particular, the leafy greens regulations. Farms are exempt under FSMA's produce safety rules if: (A) during the previous 3-year period, the average annual monetary value of the food sold by such farm directly to qualified end-users during such period exceeded the average annual monetary value of the food sold by such farm to all other buyers during such period; and (B) the average annual monetary value of all food sold during such period was less than $500,000, adjusted for inflation...

Unmitigated Chutzpah: The CSPI's Merchantability Claim Against Safeway

Posted on February 07, 2011
Ken posted about some general issues related to the Center for Science in the Public Interest's claims against Safeway related to the decision not to use its Club Card data to publicize recalls. Hidden among the claims, however, is a claim for breach of the warranty of merchantability that is so breathtakingly extensive it requires a separate post...

Why CSPI's Loyalty Card Suit Has No Merit and Does Not Promote Food Safety

Posted on February 03, 2011
Following the playbook it has followed in the past with sodium and other issues, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed yet another complaint of very questionable legal merit to promote a policy agenda. This time CSPI seeks to compel all retailers to use loyalty cards as a recall alert system...

I Have Seen the Future and It Wants Me to Eat Better

Posted on February 03, 2011
One of the few pleasures of my current road trip is the chance to eat at Burgerville, a fast food chain based in Vancouver, WA, but with more stores in Oregon and none north of Centralia. Their motto is Fresh?Local?Sustainable; we're proud to have them as a client...

Proposed Bill Would Eliminate the Corporate and LLC Shield for Many Washington Contracts

Posted on January 31, 2011
Note: This blog entry was authored by Douglas Batey and originally published on the LLC Law Monitor blog. The Washington legislature is currently considering a bill that would apparently require any contract that calls for the payment of money by an LLC or corporation, to include an extra signature by an authorized representative that would render the representative personally liable for any amounts due on the contract...

FDLI Publishes Stoel Rives Guidance on Environmental Marketing

Posted on January 27, 2011
The Food and Drug Law Institute's ("FDLI") Update Magazine just published our article addressing the FTC's proposed regulations on green marketing: "New Green Guides Lay Out Rules for Environmental Marketing," available here...

Beyond Statistics: What the FDA's RFR Report Means for Food Manufacturers

Posted on January 25, 2011
Last week, the FDA issued its first annual report on the Reportable Food Registry (RFR). The report provides statistics on the first year of the RFR (2240 entries, 229 "primary reports," a breakdown of the report by hazards, etc.). Beyond the statistics, the FDA report should be noted by food companies for two reasons: Food Safety Plans FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor says that '[s]everal key U...

Strategies to Defeat Putative Class Claims Challenging Labeling and Marketing of Food Products

Posted on January 24, 2011
April 8, 2011 – Scott Rickman from Del Monte, Lara White from Adams and Reese, and I will be talking at the Defense Research Institute (DRI) food law break-out. This event is held in conjunction with the DRI annual product liability conference in New Orleans...

How the Food Safety Modernization Act Changes the Status Quo

Posted on January 20, 2011
Yesterday (while taking a break from the Sustainable Food Summit in San Francisco), I traveled to Modesto, California to speak to the Manufacturer's Council of the Central Valley. I spoke about the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The focus of my talk was how the FSMA changes the status quo for food businesses...

Hershey and Mars Battle Over the Color Orange

Posted on January 12, 2011
The Hershey Company and Mars Inc. are fierce competitors. They have clashed with each other in the past over Hershey's asserted rights in the color orange, when Hershey sued Mars for using orange on the individual wrappers for its Dove Promises peanut butter chocolate candies...

Plaintiffs Question "Carbon Negative" Water

Posted on January 10, 2011
The Fiji Water Company has attracted the attention of plaintiffs lawyers with its 'carbon negative' bottled water. The Newport Trial Group, a law firm representing California consumers, sued Fiji Water last month, arguing that Fiji's carbon offset claims are deceptive and misleading...

It's Official: The Food Safety Modernization Act Is Law. What Food Companies Need to Do Right Now

Posted on January 04, 2011
President Obama signed into law today the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Companies with facilities subject to FDA jurisdiction should take immediate steps to review and, where necessary, modify SOPs, policies and procedures. For example, given the FDA's expanded access to business records, companies should set SOPs that anticipate (before a crisis occurs) what records they may have to turn over and what they may not...

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