On May 5, the First Circuit reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought against Conagra alleging violations of Massachusetts’s deceptive trade practices act. In reversing, it found that a company’s...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking public comment on draft instructions to validate a refining process under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard...more
A state senator in Pennsylvania has reportedly announced plans to introduce a bill that would bar any municipality in the state from levying a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). If enacted, the bill could invalidate the...more
French Agency Finds Unlabeled Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Food - The Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF), a French agency for consumer affairs and fraud...more
Shook Partners Lindsey Heinz and Katie Gates Calderon, with Associate Hillary Nicholas, have authored an article for Law360 discussing regulations related to the use of photography during a U.S. Food and Drug Administration...more
Food for Thought is a review of significant court decisions affecting the food, beverage, dietary supplements and personal care products industry. Although many cases in this edition focus on class certification, others...more
On November 19, 2015, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new animal drug application (NADA) that authorizes the marketing of the AquAdvantage Salmon, a genetically modified Atlantic salmon. In...more
China’s new Food Safety Law took effect on October 1, 2015, and will have a far-reaching impact on importers, producers and sellers of food. The new law significantly expands the scope of the previous Food Safety Law, which...more
On November 19, 2015, FDA issued its final guidance for industry concerning the requirements for voluntarily indicating whether food products have or have not been derived from genetically engineered plants. The final...more
This week, the federal district court in Hawaii struck down a Maui County law imposing a moratorium on the cultivation of genetically engineered organisms (GE plants, or GMOs). This decision is the third of three challenges...more
Just how hot is GMO-labeling legislation? On Jan. 6, 2015, a Republican state senator introduced just such a bill - in Indiana, the nation’s breadbasket. Still, federal legislation on both sides of the issue has stalled, the...more
This has been a big year for GMO legislation. In 2014 alone, 25 states have proposed 67 pieces of legislation aimed either at the labeling of products containing GMOs or at the ban of GMO-containing crops. While this space...more
On December 10, 2014, the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on Examining FDA's Role in the Regulation of Genetically Modified Food Ingredients. The witnesses included Michael Landa, Director...more
Last month, Archer Daniels Midland Co. (“ADM”) joined a slew of corn exporters and other stakeholders who have sued Syngenta based on allegations that China rejected these exporters’ products because Syngenta’s genetically...more
The November election changed the regulatory landscape for genetically modified organisms (“GMO”). Though none of the proposed GMO labeling laws on state ballots succeeded, two counties were successful in passing either a ban...more
On August 25, the federal district court for Hawaii vacated Kauai County’s Ordinance 960, which imposed mandatory disclosure obligations regarding the use of certain pesticides and the cultivation of genetically modified...more
In June, we reported on a suit brought by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (“GMA”) seeking to rescind Vermont’s new GMO-labeling statute, Act 120. As we explained in that post, the GMA argues that Act 120 is doubly...more
In April, we wrote about the Vermont legislature’s approval of a bill that would require manufacturers to change the retail labels of certain foods to indicate that they are GMO. On May 8, 2014, Vermont enacted the final...more
Despite Vermont’s passage of its GMO labeling law and other states’ consideration of similar statutes, food manufacturers continue to support uniform federal legislation over the hodgepodge state-by-state approach that is...more