A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE.
JUDICIAL: Includes food labeling and water law issues.
IN RE: TROPICANA ORANGE JUICE MARKETING AND SALES PRACTICES LITIGATION, MDL 2353, MDL 2353, No. 2:11-07382, 2018 WL 497071 (D.N.J. January 22, 2018) involved a class action suit alleging violations of state consumer protection laws regarding defendant’s sale of orange juice. Plaintiff moved for class certification and alleged defendant adds ingredients to its orange juices in violation of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “standard of identity for pasteurized orange juice,” and that defendant’s labeling “fails to disclose all ingredients.” Court considered whether plaintiffs demonstrated that their proposed class is “ascertainable.” Court concluded evidence “does not show . . . that Plaintiffs can identify all, or even a majority, of putative class members,” and that their the consumer database “does not maintain any of the requisite personal identifiers [necessary] to verify claims.” Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification denied.
Jerome MOVRICH and Gail Movrich, Plaintiffs–Respondents, v. David J. LOBERMEIER and Diane Lobermeier, Defendants–Appellants–Petitioners, No. 2015AP583, 2018 WL 503425 (Wis. January 23, 2018) involved a number of water law issues wherein defendants appealed a ruling allowing plaintiffs to install a pier to access a lake “directly from their shoreline property.” Defendants own the waterbed where plaintiff’s property meets the water and they argued “the presence of navigable water over their property does not affect their basic property rights, including the right to prohibit [plaintiffs] from installing a pier.” Defendants argued plaintiffs’ ownership “is qualified by and subservient to their asserted riparian rights and to the Wisconsin public trust doctrine.” State Supreme Court considered property rights, riparian rights, and the public trust doctrine and concluded plaintiffs were “not entitled to those riparian rights that are incidental to property ownership along a naturally occurring body of water wherein the lakebed is held in trust by the state.” Reversed in part.
LEGISLATIVE:
S.Con.Res. 33: A concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. 195. Resolution is in the first stage of the legislative process. It will typically be considered by committee next.
H.R. 4874: End The Shutdown Act of 2018. Bill referred to the House Committee on Appropriations and House Committee on the Budget.
H.Con.Res. 100: Providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. 195. Resolution was referred to the House Committee on Appropriations and House Committee on House Administration.
S. 1395: A bill to revise the boundaries of certain John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System units in Delaware. Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
S. 2329: A bill to reauthorize and amend the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014. Bill referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
S. 2332: A bill to establish the Kennedy-King National Historic Site in the State of Indiana. Bill referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
REGULATORY: Includes FDA and NOAA rules.
FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION:
Rule FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals: What You Need to Know About the FDA Regulation; Small Entity Compliance Guide.” Info here.
Rule FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Application of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program Regulation to Importers of Grain Raw Agricultural Commodities: Guidance for Industry.” Info here.
Rule FDA is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals.” Details here.
Rule FDA is announcing the availability of another draft chapter of a multichapter guidance for industry entitled “Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food: Draft Guidance for Industry.” Info here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION:
Rule NMFS reduces the commercial trip limit of Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Atlantic southern zone to 1,500 lb (680 kg), in round or gutted weight, per day. Info here.
Rule NMFS closes the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Georgia in the South Atlantic to trawling for penaeid shrimp, i.e., brown, pink, and white shrimp. Info here.
Rule NMFS announces two retroactive commercial summer flounder quota transfers for the 2017 fishing year. Details here.