Consumer Product Safety

The $1.1 trillion 2016 omnibus spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last week includes many legislative provisions, often called policy “riders,” that  will affect a wide array of issues ranging from repealing food labeling laws to allowing children to sled on Capitol Hill.

The 2016 Omnibus Spending Bill recently passed by both houses of Congress ushers in important developments in the food safety, labeling, and nutrition spaces.  Following House and Senate votes December 18, it now goes to President Obama for his signature.

On December 2, 2015, the Grocery Manufacturers Association announced SmartLabel, a pioneering technology initiative that gives manufacturers and retailers an important new channel for disclosing information about their products directly to consumers.

Over recent weeks, national media outlets have reported extensively on multiple claims from consumers that hoverboards—self-balancing scooters growing immensely in popularity, particularly over the holiday period—have caught fire.  Much of the focus of these claims has been related to the overheating of the hoverboards’ lithium ion batteries.

A courtroom battle concerning a manufacturer’s alleged false marketing of allegedly foreign-produced products as “Made in USA” is potentially nearing a resolution. 

We have blogged regularly about the plethora of litigation, largely centered in California, focused on the labeling of food, beverage, cosmetics, and consumer goods. Nationwide, consumers are demanding more information from manufacturers and retailers of these goods, and companies in the relevant industries seem ready, willing, and able to provide that information.

Over the past few months, numerous national media outlets have published stories about the potential health risks of a material commonly used on playground surfaces—crumb rubber.  Crumb rubber is a granule material typically made from recycled scrap tires that is used to provide a soft play surface for playgrounds (and infill for artificial turf fields). 

Last week will undoubtedly be marked in the annals of Food and Drug Administration history as an important milestone for the Agency.

Although not quite meeting the deadline of October 31 established in a legal settlement last year, FDA has released a set of three more “foundational” Final Rules mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA or the Act).

Passed in 2010, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act has a worthy aim: requiring retailers and manufacturers doing big business in California to disclose what measures, if any, they are taking to ensure their suppliers comply with human rights standards.

On November 12, 2015, FDA is scheduled to publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing a request for public comments on the use of the term “natural” in food labeling.

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted notice of a public meeting to be held on Friday October 30th, in order to clarify the current roles and responsibilities described in the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology and to develop a long-term strategy for the regulation of the products of biotechnology.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)—at the behest of the CPSC—filed suit in California federal court against two companies and three individuals for importing products that violate the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (“FHSA”) and Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”).

The consumer product safety community is a tight knit one and no one is better known or influential in the community than Marc Schoem.

Progress on Final Rules implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) took a significant step forward last week when FDA released its first two, comprising the final rules on Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food and Food for Animals.

At the very beginning of this year, we wrote that we expected the CPSC to remain active in bringing enforcement actions against companies for violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).

The International Campaign Against Microbeads in Cosmetics is most likely celebrating this week, following the California State Legislature's passage of a bill that would prohibit the use of plastic microbeads in personal care products after January 1, 2020. 

A bluntly labeled section of the Code of Federal Regulations – “Mayonnaise” – provides a description of this particular food dressing, the food’s required ingredients, optional ingredients, and how to declare those ingredients.

California, the beacon of individualism and often marching to its own set of rules, has joined the rest of the country as Gov. Jerry Brown has signed SB 633 which revises California’s take on what constitutes “Made in USA”.

Yes. You read that correctly. Two US companies are selling personal flamethrowers to the public. Once grisly weapons of war, the flamethrowers are now being marketed for more practical purposes such as clearing brush and snow, incinerating weeds between cracks on the driveway, controlled burns, insect control and, of course, having fun.