Food Law Prof Blog

Raw milk lawsuit in Wisconsin

I know people who go to great lengths to obtain raw milk.  And I know people who think all sales of raw milk should be strictly illegal.  Most states fall somewhere in between, allowing consumption of milk from one's own cows,  sometimes allowing on-farm sales to consumers who come with their own containers, and more rarely, allowing certified producers to sell in stores.  I find the legal tightrope intriguiging.  When I first became interested in food, I wondered whether there was anything that was illegal to eat. 

A lawsuit filed this week in Wisconsin seeks declaratory judgment and construction of Wisconsin's raw milk statute, particularly as it applies to "cow shares." According to the complaint, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection has interpreted sec. 97.24 Wis. Stats. to permit :

"agreements sharing ownership in [a] milk producer license under applicable law that may include allowing actual owners to take a share of the ungraded raw milk produced under the license.”

The issue in the case is whether this sort of "cow share" agreement can extend to a members-only farm store.  Here's the Farm-to-Consumer-Legal-Defense-Fund news announcement:

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) has filed a complaint for declaratory judgment on behalf of Wisconsin farmers Kay and Wayne Craig and related entities against the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).  The complaint seeks declarations that the Craigs,  the farm store they operate (GrassWay Organics Farm Store LLC) , and GrassWay Organics Association and its members who have invested in the LLC are not engaging in the illegal sale of raw milk in violation of Wisconsin laws, and that the farm store does not need to obtain a “retail food establishment” license in order to operate.  “Kay and Wayne Craig, their LLC and their Association members have been harassed long enough by DATCP.  We are asking the court to declare that the Craigs, the LLC, and the Association are operating within the law,” said Pete Kennedy, President of the Fund.  “We hope the Court issues an injunction that will prevent DATCP from taking enforcement action against what we believe to be lawful activity, “  Kennedy continued.

The complaint alleges that DATCP, over a period of several years, has been changing its interpretation of what constitutes an “incidental” sale of raw milk, which are legal under Wisconsin law.  The complaint also alleges that the LLC operated by the Craigs (the farm store) is not a “retail food establishment” because it does not sell to the general public.  The farm store is open only to members of the Association that has purchased an interest in the LLC.  “In Wisconsin, it is legal for an entity that holds a Grade A  permit to sell interests or shares in the entity.  This is a legal arrangement that is lawful in all respects, yet it is being threatened by DATCP,” said the Fund’s General Counsel, Gary Cox.  “We hope the court agrees that DATCP cannot be arbitrary and capricious in their interpretation and enforcement of the law against law-abiding citizens, and try to force them out of business,” said Cox.

The complaint was filed on December 16 in Dane County Circuit Court, Wisconsin and names the Secretary of DATCP as a Defendant, Rod Nilsestuen.

Food Blogs in the ABA Top 100 blogs -- Marlerblog and FDA Law Blog

Two of my favorite blogs have made the Third Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100.  The ABA (American Bar Association) invites online readers to vote for their favorites.

Bill Marler's MarlerBlog has been my favorite source of food safety information.  Bill posts often, uses humor and graphics, and is right on top of every foodborne pathogen outbreak.  Here's what the ABA says:

Marler Blog is the flagship of Seattle lawyer Bill Marler’s fleet of 10 blogs devoted to food-borne illness. It covers reports of outbreaks and adds commentary on how governments and corporations should respond to them.

Twitter: @bmarler

Quick Take: Marler took his show on the road, appearing on Larry King Live in October as an expert on food-borne illness.

FDA Law Blog covers everything to do with the FDA, which means a lot of drug and medical device news that mostly goes over my head, but when there is Food News from FDA, this blog is really helpful in clarifying the legal issues and providing context. 

At FDA Law Blog, lawyers from Hyman, Phelps & McNamara in Washington, D.C., cover conferences, court rulings and Federal Trade Commission actions related to the Food and Drug Administration, as well as FDA an­nouncements and draft guidance documents. It also tracks legislation and citizen petitions related to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Twitter: @fdalawblog

Quick Take: Reader Cheryl Graham works at the FDA but says she de­pends on the blog for up-to-date regulatory information. “There is no one within the agency that does what this blog provides.”

Country of Origing Labeling -- Protectionism? Canada thinks so

From the New York Times (Oct. 12, 2009 -- still worth posting):

Canada Seeks Redress on Food-Labeling Law

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Ratcheting up a trade dispute with the Obama administration, Canada is asking the World Trade Organization to rule against an American food-labeling law that it claims is helping to destroy much of its hog-farming industry.

The dispute concerns an American rule requiring that food products be labeled by country of origin. The Obama administration denies that the labeling policy is an act of protectionism, even though it is driving American pork producers to decrease purchases of Canadian hogs, traditionally about 7 percent of the pork consumed in the United States.

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NRDC Growing Green Awards

Received by email:

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has just announced this year’s Growing Green Awards 2010, a sustainable food award contest hosted by NRDC to honor extraordinary individual contributions to the sustainable food world.

 

NRDC would like to attract as many applicants as possible in order to garner attention and support for the sustainable food movement. We've also added a 4th category special to this year, Water Steward, and we are very excited to see the submissions for this new category.

 

We have a great group of panelists this year who will be selecting the winners. The panelists include Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, California Secretary of Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura and others.

More about the Growing Green Awards is available on the NRDC website:

Nominations are due by December 4, 2009

$10,000 cash prize to be awarded in the Food Producer category

Through this national award, NRDC will recognize extraordinary contributions that advance ecologically integrated farming practices, climate stewardship, water stewardship, farmland preservation, and social responsibility from farm to fork.

A Growing Green Award will be given to an outstanding individual in each of four categories, including Food Producer, Business Leader, Thought Leader, and Water Steward. A $10,000 cash prize will be awarded in the Food Producer category and all winners will be widely celebrated through outreach to media and NRDC’s networks.

Fraud Plagues Sugar Subsidy System in Europe

From the New York Times:

Call it the mystery of the European sugar triangle.

It began when Belgian customs officials examined shipping records for dozens of giant tanker trucks that outlined an odd, triangular journey across Europe. The trucks, each carrying 22 tons of liquid sugar, swung through eight nations and covered a driving distance of roughly 2,500 miles from a Belgian sugar refinery to Croatia and back — instead of taking the most direct, 900-mile route.

. . . Because Russia, and not Croatia, was listed as the intended destination, the shipments qualified for valuable special payments known as export rebates from the European Union’s farm subsidy program.

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Put a trial lawyer out of business

Bill Marler (Marlerblog.com) is presenting T-shirts to Senators:

(That's Marler in the circle.)

Also in an effort to convince Congress of the need for Food Safety Legislation, Marler asked us to post the video below.  It's the story of a little girl who died of illness linked to a ground beef recall because of E. coli O157:H7. 

Caution: tear-jerker

GAO Report on International Food Assistance

The Government Accountability Office has just published International Food Assistance: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight. 

Background

Multiple U.S. government agencies and stakeholders coordinate U.S. food assistance programs through various forums. In 1990, the U.S. government established the Food Aid Consultative Group (FACG) to coordinate international food assistance activities. The FACG meets twice a year and includes participants from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the private sector, among others. The FACG is a consultative body guided by an Executive Committee. In 2009, four FACG working groups were established to discuss commodities procurement, packaging, child nutrition, and transportation.

In May 2008, the Food Security Sub- Policy Coordinating Committee was established to develop a governmentwide strategy. Ten U.S. agencies met biweekly until the group dissolved in January 2009. In April 2009, the new administration convened the Interagency Policy Committee led by the National Security Council and co-chaired by the Department of State and USAID.

Also in 2009, a group of U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGO) produced the Roadmap to End Global Hunger. This report makes recommendations in four issue areas that are needed for addressing global hunger in the short, intermediate, and long term, as well as necessary funding requirements. These four issue areas include

1. emergency response and management,
2. social safety nets,
3. nutrition programs, and
4. market-based agriculture and infrastructure development.

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Milk Competition Saturday, Sept. 19

From the Wall Street Journal: Farmers Want Industry Probe 

Dairy farmers, stung by a price-depressing glut of milk, are pressing federal antitrust regulators to investigate competition in the industry.

A group of dairy farmers is slated to meet with antitrust enforcers Thursday in Washington, and Christine Varney, chief of the Justice Department's antitrust division, is scheduled to appear Saturday at a Vermont hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is populated with several Democrats from big dairy states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York. . . .

Here's the announcement for the hearing, with the list of speakers:

Crisis on the Farm: The State of Competition and Prospects for Sustainability in the Northeast Dairy Industry

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE FIELD HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a field hearing on "Crisis on the Farm: The State of Competition and Prospects for Sustainability in the Northeast Dairy Industry" for Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Albans City Hall, 100 Main Street, St. Albans, Vermont.

China Probes ‘Unfair Trade’ in U.S. Chicken and Auto Products

From Bloomberg.com:

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- China announced dumping and subsidy probes of chicken and auto products from the U.S., two days after President Barack Obama imposed tariffs on tires from the Asian nation.

Chinese industries complain . . . 

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Thank you to Steven H. Sholk for this and so many other leads.

Advisory Panel to Consider Nano-materials in Pesticide Products

Thank you to Cindy Finley, who contributed this as a comment to our earlier post on nano particles in pesticides (blogged here).

There will be a 4-day consultation meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and review a set of scientific issues related to the assessment of hazard and exposure associated with nanosilver and other nanometal pesticide products.

DATES: November 3 - 6, 2009, from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Environmental Protection Agency, Conference Center, Lobby Level, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202.

Comments: The Agency encourages that written comments be submitted by October 20, 2009 and requests for oral comments be submitted by October 27, 2009. Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0683, by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph E. Bailey, DFO, Office of Science Coordination and Policy (7201M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 564-2045; fax number: (202) 564-8382; e-mail address: bailey.joseph@epa.gov. EPA source: http://www.FederalRegister.com

USDA ERS Report: U.S. Food Import Patterns, 1995-2007

The USDA Economic Research Service recently (August 2009) published a report on food imports:

Abstract

Using import data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this study examines patterns of U.S. food imports for fiscal years 1998-2007. Results indicate faster import growth trends for consumer-ready foods, such as fruit, vegetables, meats, seafood, and processed food products. Although the United States imported most bulk food commodities and perishable consumer-ready products, such as fruit and vegetables, from neighboring countries in the Western Hemisphere, it imported processed foods, spices, and other tropical products from more global sources, with rising import shares for many countries in Asia.

National Food Policy Conference in DC Tues and Wed, Sept 8-9

This is today and tomorrow and I wish I could be there.  Here's the blurb from the home page of the National Food Policy Conference, sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America in cooperation with the Grocery Manufacturers Association:

For 32 years, the National Food Policy Conference has been a Washington institution and a unique collaboration between consumer advocates, government and the food industry. It is a key national gathering for those interested in agriculture, food and nutrition policy. The conference is coordinated by the Consumer Federation of America, in cooperation with the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

This year's conference will focus on food safety and child nutrition, two issues that have become critical concerns in recent months both domestically and internationally. This year’s conference will explore food safety reform at the Food and Drug Administration, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and children’s health. Speakers and panelists will explore the connections between health policy and nutrition, how to regain consumer trust once it has been lost, and the implications of new media technologies on policy making, among other issues.

More information on theNational Food Policy Conference website

Animal Cruelty -- Video Shows Male Chicks Ground Up

From the Associated Press:

Video shows chicks ground up alive at Iowa egg hatchery

An animal rights group is calling on the nation's largest grocery story chains to post warnings on egg cartons that unwanted male chicks are ground up alive, after videotaping the common industry practice at an Iowa egg hatchery.

Read more

The article goes on to explain that "instantaneous euthanasia" by grinding is considered "a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community."  This article does not mention the other standad poultry industry practice of debeaking.

WSJ: Recession hits down on the farm

From the Wall Street Journal:

Recession Hits Down on the Farm
By SCOTT KILMAN and LAUREN ETTER

The American farm, which has weathered the global recession better than most U.S. industries, is starting to succumb to the downturn.

The Agriculture Department forecast Thursday that U.S. farm profits will fall 38% this year, indicating that the slump is taking hold in rural America. Much of the sector had escaped the harsher aspects of the crisis, such as the big drop in property values plaguing city dwellers and suburbanites.

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USDA ERS Report on Global Economic Crisis and Agricultural Trade

From the USDA Economic Research Service:

What the 2008/2009 World Economic Crisis Means for Global Agricultural Trade

Abstract:   The global economic crisis that started in late 2008 has led to a sharp curtailment of international trade, including a short-term decline in the value of global agricultural trade of around 20 percent. While not uniform across commodities and regions, the trade impact appears to be stronger on crops than on livestock. Global agricultural trade after slowing will continue to grow in the future. Economic growth prospects of emerging and developing countries will be important in determining composition of trade toward increased high-value products. The crisis is leading to a realignment of exchange rates, and the ultimate resolution of the crisis will depend on adjustments in the exchange value of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. agricultural sector would benefi t from a depreciating dollar, which results in high export earnings, high agricultural commodity prices, increased production, and increased farm income.

Study Finds Mercury Contamination in Freshwater Fish Nationwide

Department of Interior press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Scientists detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released [August 19, 2009].

About a quarter of these fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than two-thirds of the fish exceeded the U.S. EPA level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

“This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “This science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation’s waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers.”  

Some of the highest levels of mercury in fish were found in the tea-colored or “blackwater” streams in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana — areas associated with relatively undeveloped forested watersheds containing abundant wetlands compared to the rest of the country. High levels of mercury in fish also were found in relatively undeveloped watersheds in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest. Elevated levels are noted in areas of the Western United States affected by mining. Complete findings of the USGS report, as well as additional detailed studies in selected streams, are available online. . . .

continue reading

Washington Post editorial on Sugar, Imports, and Ag Policy

Sugar Shock: U.S. growers' sickeningly sweet deal with the government

DOWN ON the farm, the latest dispute pits America's sugar producers against their biggest customers: food manufacturers that add the sweetener to everything from raisin bran to raspberry yogurt. The food makers are unhappy with a recent tightening of supplies that has pushed the wholesale price of refined sugar to 35 cents per pound. Warning of higher grocery prices and lost jobs, the manufacturers want Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to . . .

read more

Vilsack, Hamburg to speak at National Food Policy Conference September 8-9

Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg will be providing keynote addresses at the 32nd Annual National Food Policy Conference, September 8-9, 2009, in Washington, DC.

From the conference website:

For 32 years, the National Food Policy Conference has been a Washington institution and a unique collaboration between consumer advocates, government and the food industry. It is a key national gathering for those interested in agriculture, food and nutrition policy. The conference is coordinated by the Consumer Federation of America, in cooperation with the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

This year's conference will focus on food safety and child nutrition, two issues that have become critical concerns in recent months both domestically and internationally. This year’s conference will explore food safety reform at the Food and Drug Administration, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and children’s health. Speakers and panelists will explore the connections between health policy and nutrition, how to regain consumer trust once it has been lost, and the implications of new media technologies on policy making, among other issues.

WSJ Law Blog: On Bananas, Pesticides and Lawyers Behaving Badly

From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

We’ve blogged before on the craziness that is the litigation against Dole Food Co. brought by banana-plantation workers. (Click here, here and here.) But WSJ reporter Steve Stecklow takes it all to another level today, with his front-pager, which takes a comprehensive look at the situation.

In a word, it’s ugly — on a whole bunch of levels.

read the post

NYT: 2 Agencies Take Steps to Improve Food Safety

The August 1, 2009, New York Times online includes an article on recent food safety efforts:

2 Agencies Take Steps to Improve Food Safety
By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Strengthening its efforts to keep a deadly strain of E. coli out of meat sold to consumers, the Department of Agriculture said Friday that it would begin regular testing of meat trimmings used to make ground beef.

At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration said it was working to develop mandatory standards for growing, harvesting and processing fruits and vegetables, going well beyond the rules in place today.

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