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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

Future of Food Litigation and Obama's Food Safety Working Group

Posted on July 09, 2009
President Obama's Food Safety Working Group announced its Key Findings on July 7. Three groups of initiatives were announced: 1) Salmonella, 2) National Traceback and Response System, and 3) Improved Organization of Federal Food Safety Responsibilities...

ACI Announces 3rd National Forum on Food-Borne Illness Litigation

Posted on July 08, 2009
The American Conference Institute announced this week its latest food litigation conference. Here's the conference brochure. The conference will take place in Chicago on October 26-27 at the Sutton Place Hotel. Plaintiffs' lawyer Bill Marler and defense lawyer Al Maxwell are co-chairing the conference...

HFCS Labeling Case: Opening The Floodgates For New Consumer Claims?

Posted on July 07, 2009
The Third Circuit may be close to opening the floodgates of claims against food and beverage manufacturers who use high-fructose corn syrup ('HFCS') in products labeled 'all natural.' Shannon Duffy at the Legal Intelligencer reported recently on a 'lively hour-long' oral argument in the Third Circuit about reversing a District Court's dismissal of state consumer claims against Snapple for use of HFSC...

Another Recall From a Company That Does the Right Thing

Posted on July 03, 2009
The FDA announced a recall of fresh tuna steaks distributed to Shaw's, Star Market and Big Y grocery stores by North Coast Sea-Foods Corp. of Boston and New Bedford. The alleged problem was increased levels of histamine that might cause scombroid poisoning...

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Why Are Food-borne Organisms Associated with Beef?

Posted on July 02, 2009
USDA's Be Food Safe Twitter Feed circulated its Fact Sheet titled 'Beef . . . from Farm to Table.' First published a few years ago, this might be of interest to businesses involved in the sale, marketing, labeling, and/or packaging of beef...

Captain Crunch Suit Dismissed: Court Finds No "Actual Fruit Referred to as Crunchberry"

Posted on July 01, 2009
Yes, someone has actually filed a putative class action on the basis that she was 'mislead by the packaging and marketing, which she argues convey the message that the Product contains real, nutritious fruit.' U.S. District Judge England in the Eastern District of California dismissed the complaint captioned as Sugawara v...

Avoid Unnecessary Labeling Claims - Ensure That Cooking Instructions Are Adequate

Posted on June 30, 2009
Bill Marler funded independent research at the University of Idaho to study the adequacy of cooking instructions found on the packaging on various retail brands of frozen ground beef patties. The research was published this month in Food Protection Trends...

Energy Drink Maker Sued Over Alleged Health Risks

Posted on June 29, 2009
The maker of Redline energy drinks has been sued in federal court in California. The plaintiff, Zack Aaronson, is seeking class action status for his lawsuit against Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (operating under the trademark VPX). The plaintiff claims that VPX failed to adequately warn consumers of potential side effects and health risks associated with consuming VPX's Redline energy products...

When A Food Borne Illness Insurance $0 Sublimit Does Not Mean $0 Of Coverage

Posted on June 29, 2009
Restaurant owners recently scored a victory against an insurer, who was looking to limit its exposure for lost sales from the fallout from a food-borne illness outbreak. Middlesex, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Lewis Paley ruled in favor of restaurant franchise owners suing for coverage under a Trade Name Restoration, Loss of Business Income and Incident Response Insurance for Food Borne Illness ('TNR') policy to compensate for lost sales from a well-publicized E...

Trademarking Green/Eco-Friendly Food - What You Need To Know

Posted on June 26, 2009
By Guest Blogger Jere Webb It is evident that virtually every business now is trying to position itself as being 'green'. For a discussion of restrictions on 'green advertising', particularly the FTC's green ad guidelines (the 'Green Guides'), and similar efforts at the state level, see 'Green Claims Advertising – What You Can Say and What You Can't'...

Participate in USDA Governance in Your County

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Stoel Rives Agribusiness Group has sent out an alert reminding farmers and ranchers of the USDA's program that allows you to participate at the county level in discusssions relating to agricultural decisions in your community. The link to the website with materials needed to submit nominations (which opened on June 15) is here...

Sustainability and Consumer Confidence in Food Safety

Posted on June 24, 2009
For food sellers interested in promoting a 'sustainable' brand and inspiring food safety confidence in their consumers, meet Food Alliance. Food Alliance 'is a nonprofit organization that certifies farms, ranches and food handlers for sustainable agricultural and facility management practices...

Melamine in Pet Food and the Limits of the Law

Posted on June 23, 2009
Ken's blog post about taking the time to figure out what insurance limits are right for you resonated with me as I was reading about the plea agreement in the melamine pet food debacle. This was the likely last act in a tawdry story of greed and fraud that led to the deaths of thousands of cats and dogs and placed nearly every pet owner in fear...

Food Safety Legislative Update

Posted on June 23, 2009
We wrote recently about the food safety legislation coming out of Henry Waxman's House Committee on Energy and Commerce. That legislation, H.R. 2749, has passed out of committee and been reported to the full House for a vote. When the vote will occur is anybody's guess...

Liability Limits: How Much Should Your Food Company Maintain?

Posted on June 23, 2009
Food business clients frequently want to ensure that they have sufficient liability limits in the event of an outbreak (they also want to make sure they have adequate coverage, but this is a separate discussion). Determining the amount of a business's limits depends on the business's possible exposures...

Improved Surveillance Will Lead to More Food-Borne Illness Claims

Posted on June 22, 2009
We've explained previously in this blog why increased surveillance by state and federal agencies will lead to detection of more outbreaks (and, therefore, more legal exposure). Others seem to agree. Law360 published a nice interview with Jim Neale at McGuire Woods, another lawyer experienced in the food liability arena ( a Law360 subscription is needed to access the full article)...

The Perils of Raw Cookie Dough

Posted on June 19, 2009
Nestlé is voluntarily recalling all its refrigerated and frozen chocolate chip cookie dough. The FDA and CDC warn of the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7. In its release, Nestle says the following: Nestlé Toll House cookies made from refrigerated and frozen dough are perfectly safe for consumption when prepared according to the instructions on the label...

Nolan v. Ocean Spray Verdict: The PACA Angle

Posted on June 16, 2009
Jim Prevor, the author of the Perishable Pundit blog and a man who has probably forgotten more about the produce industry and its practices than many will learn in a lifetime, has been blogging constantly about the lawsuit brought by Theresa Nolan, her company The Nolan Network and her late husband Jim against Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc...

More on Reducing the Risk of Failure - Focus on Shifting Liability For Consumer Claims

Posted on June 16, 2009
Food Safety Magazine ran an interesting piece by Aaron Krauss titled 'Reducing the Risk of Failure.' The article was part of the magazine's focus on limiting liability for food companies. Mr. Krauss includes a good discussion of the pros and cons of indemnities and disclaimers of warranty and liability as ways to shift or reduce liability for claims within the supply chain...

Tips For Successful Multiparty Food Liability Mediation

Posted on June 11, 2009
Mediation has become a critical process for resolving large, multi-party consumer claims. Settlement of these claims is often complicated by insurance and third-party recovery. Often a brokered process is the only practical way to get to a meeting of the minds...

Court Rules That Retailers Have No Duty to Investigate Suppliers Compliance with Organic Regulations

Posted on June 05, 2009
An important ruling was issued last week dismissing claims that milk produced by an organically certified dairy and labeled as organic was not really organic. Plaintiffs in the action asserted violations of various states' laws because they claimed that they paid more for the milk because it was labeled as "organic...

Food Safety Legislation Proposed by House - User Fees and Traceability Are Among Highlights

Posted on June 01, 2009
Last week, members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce released a discussion draft of the 'Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.' The draft proposes beefing up the FDA registry of 'all food facilities serving American consumers' and charging every facility $1,000 per year to fund FDA food safety activities...

Tracking the Food Safety Working Group - More or Less Legal Exposure Food Sellers?

Posted on May 29, 2009
This week the Obama administration announced the launch of a new website for the recently formed food safety working group. Obama announced the formation of this group in March in the wake of the high-profile food safety issues surrounding PCA peanut products...

Tracking the Food Safety Working Group - More or Less Legal Exposure For Food Sellers?

A Reminder To Review Insurance

Posted on May 28, 2009
Law 360 has an article up this week titled 'Coverage May Be Tricky For Food Recalls.' I am among the lawyers quoted in the article. For me, the takeaway is that any food company should have in place a strong team of insurance coverage counsel and brokers...

Defending Liability in Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

Posted on May 27, 2009
I'm asked frequently about the 'anatomy of litigation.' I plan to write more in this space on the topic. For now, some may find useful the slides from a presentation I gave recently on 'Defending Liability in Foodborne Illness Outbreaks.' I discussed what I see as three prototypes of consumer claims and possible strategies to respond to each.

The Missing Menu Item: the Farm Products Exception

Posted on May 20, 2009
I just got the latest issue of Business Law Today, published by the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. The cover has an intriguing title: "Food and the Law." The lead article has a title even closer to my heart: "Le Menu: the UCC and Food", written by Steven O...

USDA Says Continued Research Needed on Distillers Grains

Posted on May 19, 2009
<p>The <a href="http://fpc.unl.edu/govconf/index.shtml">Nebraska Governor's Conference on Ensuring Food Safety</a> included a lively discussion on <a href="http://www.foodliabilitylaw.com/2008/06/articles/distillers-grains/update-on-distillers-grains-e-coli-link-not-established/">distillers grains</a> and E...

Hamburg Confirmed by Voice Vote in Senate

Posted on May 19, 2009
Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, President Obama's nominee to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate yesterday by a voice vote. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had moved up her confirmation hearings because of the imminent threat of H1N1 influenza, and she sailed through both the heaings and action on the Senate floor with bipartisan accolades...

Next Generation Sequencing for the Food Industry

Posted on May 19, 2009
More and more, it is becoming true that nothing drives detection and prevention of food-borne illness than technology (and, of course, with advancements in detection come potential increases in exposure to legal liability)...

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