• On September 10, 2024, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service published a Federal Register Notice related to the updated guidelines on substantiating animal-raising or environment-related labeling claims on meat and poultry products, that were released on August 28 and discussed in a previous blog. In the Federal Register Notice, USDA responds to previous comments,

…

• On September 4, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made available its annual Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program Report for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 2022), which summarizes findings from FDA testing of human and animal foods for 757 different pesticides and selected industrial compounds from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.
• FDA’s pesticide

…

• Spencer Sheehan is a Plaintiff’s attorney who has filed hundreds of class action lawsuits against food companies for allegedly deceptive labeling and marketing. A small percentage of these lawsuits survive the motion to dismiss stage, let alone succeed on the merits. Indeed, many of his losses are suffered many times over as he has a

…

• On August 29, 2024 (Law360 subscription required), the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2316, the California School Food Safety Act, sending it to the governor. If signed, the bill will prohibit school districts, county superintendents of schools, or charter schools with kindergarten through 12th grade from serving Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue

…

• On August 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of an updated guideline that makes recommendations to strengthen the documentation that supports animal-raising or environment-related claims on meat or poultry product labeling.  According to USDA, the intent is to protect consumers from false and misleading labels.
• Animal-raising claims (e.g., “Raised Without

…

• On August 9, 2024, FDA issued a warning letter to Austrofoods S.A.S., the Peruvian-based manufacturer that produced lead-contaminated apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches that were the subject of a recall last year.
• The letter follows up on inspections that were conducted in December of last year and which “found serious violations of the Current Good

…

• Mondelēz International Inc. has been sued (Law360 subscription required) for allegedly using deceptive sustainability claims regarding its cocoa supply chain. According to the plaintiffs, Mondelēz’s supply chain “really contributes to ‘grievous and unsustainable labor abuses.’”
• Mondelēz launched its “Cocoa Life” program in 2012 to “help make cocoa sourcing more sustainable in key cocoa-producing

…