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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

Georgia House Unanimously Passes Food Safety Bill; Kellogg CEO Calls for Food Safety Reforms

Posted on March 18, 2009
Update to today's earlier post: the Georgia House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill today that would strengthen food safety laws in Georgia. The Georgia House and Senate now will resolve minor differences in the proposed legislation and send a final version to Georgia Gov...

Georgia is One Step Closer to Tough New Food Safety Law

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Georgia House of Representatives today considers proposed legislation to strengthen food safety rules in that state. Among other things, Senate Bill 80 includes a provision that would require food makers to alert state inspectors within 24 hours if a plant's internal tests show products are tainted...

California Appeals Court: No Mercury Warnings Required on Canned Tuna

Posted on March 17, 2009
The California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District has upheld a trial court ruling that canned tuna sold in California need not warn consumers about methylmercury. In 2004, the State of California sued three tuna companies: Tri-Union Seafoods, LLC; Del Monte Corporation; and Bumble Bee Foods, LLC...

Obama Administration Focuses on Food Safety

Posted on March 16, 2009
The Obama administration placed food safety front and center over the weekend. In his weekly radio address, President Obama on Saturday announced new leadership at the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a panel to toughen food safety laws...

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Maple Leaf Foods: A Case Study in the Persistence of Memory

Posted on March 11, 2009
Maple Leaf Foods is Canada's largest food processor, and as the name implies, it traces its history a long way with our neighbor to the north. It has always prided itself on its food safety procedures. Last year, as was widely reported, more than 20 people all across Canada died from listeriosis traced to one of Maple Leaf's processing plants in Toronto...

Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Statute

Posted on March 09, 2009
As discussed previously on this blog, the ABA Section of Litigation, Products Liability Committee will soon publish its 50-state survey on consumer protection statutes. In addition to the chapter on Washington, Bryan Anderson and I also coauthored the Alaska chapter...

The Best Restaurant on Earth Closed Due to Food Poisoning

Posted on March 02, 2009

Two Stories from China on the Same Day

Posted on February 24, 2009
The curious juxtaposition of these two stories from China on the same day is striking. In the first story, two men were sentenced to death for purposely poisoning the food in a snack bar in Shenzhen City with sodium nitrite. It appears that a deal to develop a skating rink was contingent on removing a popular marketplace, and the ringleaders decided the best way to do that was to poison people at the marketplace, which they did in February 2008...

Two Stories from China on the Same Day (with an update)

Washington Consumer Protection Law

Posted on February 23, 2009
The ABA Section of Litigation, Products Liability Committee will soon publish its 50-state survey on consumer protection statutes. Bryan Anderson and I coauthored the chapter for the state of Washington. As described in our article, Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19...

Senator Durbin Likely to Introduce New Food Safety Legislation

Posted on February 20, 2009
The National Grain and Feed Association has reported to its members that Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), is likely to reintroduce food safety legislation next week. Senator Durbin has introduced similar bills in prior Congresses. Likely, co-sponsors include Senator Edward M...

The Peanut Recall Hits Bird Food

Posted on February 17, 2009
Reuters is reporting that Scotts Miracle-Gro shares dropped today on news that some of its bird food may contain peanut meal that was bought from now-bankrupt Peanut Corporation of America. A blog called Birdchick reports that many other bird feed companies were able to confirm that they did not include PCA peanut meal in their suet...

PCA Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Posted on February 13, 2009
It will come as no surprise that Peanut Corporation of America has filed for bankruptcy protection in the Western District of Virginia. According to the bankruptcy filing, PCA claims to have debts of only between $1 and $10 million, and between 100 and 199 creditors...

A Nicely Balanced Article from the AP

Posted on February 13, 2009
I came across this article on Google News from Holly Ramer at the AP. What I liked about the article is that it is not afraid to quote from parents who are still feeding peanut butter to their kids. Among those parents: President Obama and his wife Michelle...

PCA President Parnell Pleads Fifth Amendment Before House Committee

Posted on February 11, 2009
Stewart Parnell, President and owner of Peanut Corporation of America, appeared before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. The hearing did without his testimony, howevver, as he pleaded the Fifth Amendment...

The Human Cost of the Peanut Recall Part Three

Posted on February 11, 2009
This article in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer is, of course, pretty much self-explanatory. That I've left this side of the tragedy to Part Three is because it's been so hard to face. The article did a great job of handling it, and is a reason I'm going to miss the P-I if, as it is expected to, it folds next month.

The Human Cost of the Peanut Butter Recall Part Two

Posted on February 11, 2009
According to a Bloomberg report, over 100 companies, including Kellogg Company., The Kroger Co., and Unilever plc expect to post losses as a result of the Peanut Company of America debacle. Although it is not specified in the article, I presume these are mainly public companies who have statutory obligations to post information about their expected losses...

PCA Recall - Insurance Lessons for Food Sellers

Posted on February 11, 2009
Bill Marler posted on his blog recently a complaint for declaratory relief filed by an insurer for Peanut Corporation of America (“PCA”). Mr. Marler comments, “Frankly, I read this suit several times and still do not see what the fight is about...

Update on Criminal Risk Management: The Peanut Case

Posted on February 09, 2009
By Guest Blogger Per Ramfjord In my February 3, 2009 blog entry, I briefly discussed the steps a company should take to avoid criminal prosecution under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. The FDA’s criminal investigation of Peanut Corporation of America continues to provide lessons on this subject—in particular, on what not to do...

Irradiation as a Part of Food Safety Reform?

Posted on February 09, 2009
In the wake of the latest Salmonella recall, Congress is holding well-publicized food safety hearings, and food safety may be rising on the priority list of the Obama administration. One question that arises is whether the perceived crisis in food safety will lead lawmakers and the public to revisit the option of food irradiation...

The Human Cost of the Peanut Recall Part One

Posted on February 06, 2009
The headline in last Friday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer read, "Local Food Banks Go Peanut-Free." A main supplier to food banks in the Puget Sound region, Food Lifeline, has decided to quarantine all peanut products "rather than try to keep up with the flood of U...

FDA's Searchable Widget for Peanut Product Recall

Posted on February 05, 2009
UPDATE to the Salmonella-driven peanut product recall: as the number of peanut products recalled continues to rise, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has created a Web widget that allows users to search for peanut-containing product recalls (see below)...

Is More Bad By-Products News Coming for Biofuels Producers?

Posted on February 04, 2009
2008 was a terrible year for makers of ethanol and biodiesel. Huge spikes in the prices of raw materials, natural gas and transportation and drops in the prices they received for their main products have driven many of them to cut back production, shutter plants or even seek bankruptcy protection...

Avoiding Criminal Prosecution Under The FFDCA

Posted on February 03, 2009
By guest blogger Per Ramfjord The FDA’s recent announcement that it is pursuing a criminal investigation of Peanut Corporation of America, arising out of the Salmonella-driven peanut product recall, is sure to raise concerns with executives in food product companies throughout the country...

Another High-Profile California Labeling Case

Posted on February 02, 2009
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently filed a putative class action in federal court in the Northern District of California claiming that Glacéau’s VitaminWater is mislabeled under California law. This suit comes on the heels of the recent Ninth Circuit decision that remanded the Gerber foods case...

Upcoming Hot Topics in Food Law Teleconfernce

Posted on January 30, 2009
UPDATE - This panel will address emerging issues related to the recalls and investigations related to the Peanut Corporation of America. The panel includes persons intimately involved with these issues. Anybody with an interest in the peanut recall should register and tune-in...

Lengthy List of Products NOT Affected By Peanut Butter Recall

Posted on January 23, 2009
UPDATE to "Avoiding the Panic" - The American Peanut Butter Council has a website that lists products it knows are UNAFFECTED by the peanut butter recall associated with the current Salmonella outbreak. The list of unaffected products is lengthy and growing...

Supreme Court Asked to Hear Preemption Case Involving Methylmercury; FDA Issues Draft Documents Regarding Consuming Commercial Fish

Posted on January 22, 2009
By Guest Blogger Bryan Anderson The maker of Chicken of the Sea products has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in a case we reported on involving preemption of state-law tort claims. In August 2008, the Third Circuit in Fellner v. Tri-Union Seafoods, LLC reversed the district court and held that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actions regarding methylmercury content in tuna did not preempt the plaintiff’s claims under the New Jersey Product Liability Act...

Peanut Butter - Avoiding The Panic

Posted on January 19, 2009
Marler Blog and some of the press have been sounding the alarm on all peanut butter products. True the FDA and CDC have been investigating a multi-state Salmonella outbreak and that there may be a connection with certain peanut butter products...

Upcoming Hot Topics in Food Law Teleconfernce

Posted on January 15, 2009
The American Bar Association is presenting its second Hot Topics in Food Law teleconference on February 10, 2009 at 10am Pacific Time (1pm EST). Anybody connected with the food industry and concerned with risks affecting the industry should consider registering...

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