Overlawyered » food safety http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 NYC diner owner decides to record food inspection on cellphone http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nyc-diner-owner-decides-to-record-food-inspection-on-cellphone/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nyc-diner-owner-decides-to-record-food-inspection-on-cellphone/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:54:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26875 And soon finds cause for regret [NY Post via Radley Balko, to whom congratulations are in order; related]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nyc-diner-owner-decides-to-record-food-inspection-on-cellphone/feed/ 1 “Relax, folks, it really is honey after all” http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/relax-folks-it-really-is-honey-after-all/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/relax-folks-it-really-is-honey-after-all/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:33:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26385 Dan Charles at NPR reports on how parts of the media joined in last month to hype a report by journalist Andrew Schneider in Food Safety News raising alarms about the safety and authenticity of honey. (Similarly: Maggie Koerth-Baker, BoingBoing). “It sounded so right, plenty of people decided that it just had to be true. … But then we decided to look into it a little more closely. We talked to honey companies, academic experts, and one of the world’s top honey laboratories in Germany. The closer we looked, the more misleading the story in Food Safety News seemed.”

My Cato colleague Sallie James was among the few to take a skeptical tone about the Schneider allegations when they first hit the press. And as NPR points out, Food Safety News is part of the sprawling new media empire of Bill Marler, the very media-savvy food poisoning lawyer whose Marler Clark law firm has done much to sway press discussion of many food safety issues. On a different topic, did Marler really say the other day that raw milk farmers should count themselves lucky they’re not put to death?

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/relax-folks-it-really-is-honey-after-all/feed/ 4 Soup kitchen as “retail food establishment” http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/soup-kitchen-as-retail-food-establishment/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/soup-kitchen-as-retail-food-establishment/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:21:24 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25829 In Morristown, N.J., the city’s decision to reclassify a church-sponsored soup kitchen as a “retail food establishment” is expected to drive up the kitchen’s operating costs by at least $150,000 a year, in part by prohibiting volunteers from bringing in home-prepared food or even aprons. [William McGurn, Wall Street Journal] We’ve covered the issue periodically over the years.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/soup-kitchen-as-retail-food-establishment/feed/ 11 Food law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-law-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-law-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:09:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25351
  • “Wisconsin Judge Rules No Right to Own a Cow or Drink Its Milk” [Food Freedom; related on demonstration at FDA]
  • We’re from the authorities, and we’re shutting down your “farm-to-fork” dinner [Amy Alkon]
  • “FTC Makes Strategic Concessions on Food/Beverage Marketing Guidelines” [Lammi, WLF]
  • Given a little humility, NYT’s Mark Bittman might have noticed that his new junk food insight contradicts his old [Jacob Sullum, Reason]
  • Urban myths about Halloween candy tampering [Free-Range Kids]
  • New Jersey lawsuit over serving of meat to devout Hindu vegetarians [Abnormal Use; compare 1999 case]
  • “First lady will achieve goal of eradicating all food deserts by 2017″ — calm down, that’s “deserts” with just the one “s” [Obama Foodorama, more, more] Premise that lack of access to fresh fruits/vegetables accounts for poor urban diet, however, is sheerest fantasy [Katherine Mangu-Ward/WaPo, earlier here and here]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-law-roundup-3/feed/ 8     October 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-13-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-13-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:36:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25043
  • Behind the antitrust assault on Google [Jerry Brito, Josh Wright, more]
  • Rapid rise of lawsuit lenders [WSJ] And a Searle Civil Justice Institute conference on third party financing of litigation;
  • More law firms muscle into class action against e-book publishers [PaidContent] Fifth Circuit questions cy pres [Trask] And a new edition of the Federalist Society’s Class Action Watch is out;
  • When the house painters announce they’re not leaving: “Britain plans to tighten anti-squatter laws” [NYT]
  • “Courts Call Out Copyright Trolls’ Coercive Business Model, Threaten Sanctions” [EFF] “Righthaven’s Copyright Trolling is a Bankrupt Idea” [Cit Media Law] More: Vegas Inc.
  • “Twombly is the Logical Extension of the Mathews v. Eldridge Test to Discovery” [Andrew Blair-Stanek via Volokh, Frank] “Four more reasons to love TwIqbal” [Beck] “O’Scannlain says 9th Circ has adopted ‘Iqbal lite’ pleading standard, ‘Same insufficient complaints, fewer dismissals!’” [@ScottKGraham on dissent in Starr v. County of Los Angeles, PDF]
  • Florida farms sell raw milk as (wink) “pet food” [Sun-Sentinel]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-13-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Food law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:56:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24546
  • Feds fund Boston campaign bashing sweetened drinks [Globe; see also on NYC] More on ObamaCare “Public Health Fund” subsidies to local paternalist initiatives on diet [WLF]
  • Thanks to federal funding priorities, New York education department had 40 experts on school lunches, only one on science education [Frederick Hess via Stoll]
  • Grocers hope to escape federal menu labeling mandate [FDA Law Blog] How regulations exasperate midsize restaurant operators [Philip Klein, Wash. Examiner]
  • “The Eight Dumbest Restaurant Laws” [Zagat]
  • Proposed federal standards on kid food ads extreme enough that many USDA “healthy” recipes would flunk [Diane Katz, Heritage] Do FTC’s guidelines violate the First Amendment? [WSJ]
  • Compared with what? “Egg farm regulations still skimpy” [Stoll] Deer blamed for E. coli in pick-your-own strawberries [USA Today]
  • U.K.: Your kids are too fat so we’re taking them away [Daily Mail; earlier here, here, etc.]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Temperature of brown-bag lunches http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/temperature-of-brown-bag-lunches/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/temperature-of-brown-bag-lunches/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:14:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24473 Do parent-packed school meals require refrigeration protocols once thought suitable for human organs destined for transplant? Lenore Skenazy examines a ridiculous media scare. [Free-Range Kids]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/temperature-of-brown-bag-lunches/feed/ 1     “CA bars may soon be able to serve infused alcohol” http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ca-bars-may-soon-be-able-to-serve-infused-alcohol/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ca-bars-may-soon-be-able-to-serve-infused-alcohol/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:40:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24405 A victory for California consumers and producers in search of artisanal tippling. [San Francisco Chronicle, last year]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ca-bars-may-soon-be-able-to-serve-infused-alcohol/feed/ 0     Artisanal ice cream OK in Illinois http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/artisanal-ice-cream-ok-in-illinois/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/artisanal-ice-cream-ok-in-illinois/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:09:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24373 At least so long as it’s produced in an industrial manner. [Chicago Tribune]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/artisanal-ice-cream-ok-in-illinois/feed/ 0     Raw milk dairy club raided (again) http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/raw-milk-dairy-club-raided-again/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/raw-milk-dairy-club-raided-again/#comments Sat, 06 Aug 2011 05:09:39 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24169 Knock three times at the cheese-easy: “A yearlong sting operation involving a multitude of state and federal agencies brought to justice Wednesday a dangerous ring of raw dairy enthusiasts in California.” [C.J. Ciamarella, Daily Caller; Reason.tv]

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