November 2014

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its annual report this week detailing the 10 most significant challenges facing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this year. Unsurprisingly, concerns about fraud, waste, and abuse in the healthcare system…

On November 6, 2014, voters in Oregon and in Colorado rejected ballot initiatives that would have required food labels to disclose the presence of genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”). The ballot initiative in Colorado was defeated soundly in a 2 to…

The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has rejected two citizen petitions that called for regulators to ban the low-calorie sweetener aspartame.  In the denial letters, the agency stated that the anecdotal adverse effects cited by petitioners were “not supported by…

On November 5, 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (“USDA”) Food Safety and Inspection Service (“FSIS”) issued a constituent update approving four Chinese poultry processing plants’ ability to export cooked chicken into the United States.  The USDA also announced…

Recently, the government filed two responses to four post-trial motions filed by Peanut Corporation of America (“PCA”) executives Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, and Mary Wilkerson. Specifically, the government responded to Mary Wilkerson’s motion for judgment of acquittal and Michael Parnell’s…

It is the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) practice to issue Warning Letters in order to provide individuals and companies an opportunity to take voluntary and prompt corrective action before it initiates an enforcement action. The agency’s position is that…