Food and Beverage News and Trends

This regular publication by DLA Piper lawyers focuses on helping clients navigate the ever-changing business, legal and regulatory landscape.

• Illinois warns bars and restaurants about social distancing during pandemic. Against the backdrop of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, on July 6 the City of Chicago announced that bars, restaurants and other places serving alcohol for on-premises consumption are now required to close at midnight, effective immediately. The directive aims to limit the spread of COVID-19 "by preventing late-night congregating... after the cutoff of alcohol sales," a city press release said. On July 2, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission had warned that state and local liquor authorities may act to suspend the liquor licenses of restaurants and bars that do not comply with the state’s reopening guidelines. Such suspensions could last up to seven days. Under Phase Four of the state’s reopening plan, restaurants and bars may now provide indoor dining as long as patrons form groups of 10 people or fewer and sit six feet apart in seated areas and occupy no more than 25 percent of the space in standing areas. Face coverings, social distancing and hand-washing are also required. Illinois was the first state to comply with CDC guidelines for reopening and in recent days has reported a significant downward trend in cases. On July 8, Governor JB Pritzker announced an aggressive expansion of testing facilities and called for a national mask mandate.
• Colorado mandates cage-free hen housing.On July 1, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law a bill requiring egg producers in the state to convert their hen housing to cage free by 2025.Chicken, turkey, duck, goose, and guinea fowl hens must be housed according to the standards established in the bill - for instance, hen enclosures must provide at least one square foot of usable floor space per hen.The bill also requires annual certification of shell eggs and egg products.Egg producers say that the cost of remodeling to meet the new standards will cost about $30 per bird. The bill focuses on large-scale egg producers: small operations, selling fewer than 100 cases of shell eggs a week, are exempt.
• Animal advocate says swine may soon harbor a new pandemic. On July 5, Delcianna Winders, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School and director of the Animal Law Litigation Clinic, wrote in an op-ed article that the nation faces the possibility of a new pandemic – this one from swine. The article was published in the New York Daily News. Winders argued that swine are very efficient carriers of the H1N1 flu virus and that a form of that virus was the cause of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Winders said the current issue revolves around the inspection of pigs upon arrival at the slaughterhouse. The USDA, she said, recently deregulated pig inspection, increasing the danger that pigs will carry the virus, and the USDA’s new rule leaves responsibility for front-line inspections up to the slaughterhouses themselves. “Slaughterhouses have every incentive not to reduce the number of animals they can profitably put into the food supply,” she wrote.
• Cat food producer recalls some canned food because of adverse reactions. On July 3, the J.M. Smucker Company announced that is voluntarily recalling one lot of its Natural Balance canned cat food due to potential health concerns. The company said that it had received reports of pets having adverse reactions to 5.5-oz. cans of Natural Balance Ultra Premium Chicken & Liver Paté Formula. The product is commonly sold in specialty stores and online throughout the US and Canada. The company said that the health problems for cats probably result from an excessively high concentration of choline chloride in the cat food. The recall is being conducted in cooperation with the FDA. Choline chloride provides cats with choline, which contributes to important biological functions. However, too much choline can lead to serious health problems.
• Pret A Manger is the target of a class action over its “natural food” claims. On June 23, a class action was filed against the sandwich chain Pret A Manger alleging that the company refers to its products as natural when they actually contain genetically modified organisms and synthetic ingredients. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the complaint, the company’s logo for a substantial period of time contained the words “Natural Food” and appeared on the company’s advertisements and items such as napkins, product packaging, takeaway bags, cups and employee uniforms. Prominent signage in Pret A Manger’s retail outlets reportedly reads: “Freshly prepared, good, natural food.” The complaint says that these claims are false and misleading because the products contain soya, a genetically modified organism, as well as many other synthetic ingredients.

This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials are for general informational purposes only. No reader should act, or refrain from acting, with respect to any particular legal matter on the basis of this information without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.