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Category Archives: Agricultural Law

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Industry Critical of Proposed Prop 65 Regulations

Posted in Agricultural Law, Green Chemistry, Prop 65

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s  (OEHHA)  2014  proposed regulations to revise  Proposition 65 warnings has been widely panned by industry critics.  The overhaul was requested by Governor Brown last year when a related effort to gain a consensus on proposed rules was unsuccessful.  The proposed rules contain requirements for identification of specific chemicals in… Continue Reading

New FDA Strategy Document for FSMA, Food Safety Modernization ACT

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, Green Chemistry

The USDA has issued a new “strategy” document that outlines the agency’s direction with regard to implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (“FSMA”).  The document is intended to “to guide the next phase of FSMA implementation by outlining broadly the drivers of change in FDA’s approach to food safety and the operational strategy for implementing that… Continue Reading

DTSC Announces Three Priority Products under the Green Chemistry Regulations

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Green Chemistry, Prop 65

DTSC on Thursday March 13, 2014 announced the first three Priority Products under the Green Chemistry Regulations.  The manufacturers of these products that sell into California are now on a regulatory time schedule to try to find alternatives to the use of the identified chemicals in the specified products.  We have set out this timetables… Continue Reading

New Proposed Prop 65 Warning Label Regulations

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Green Chemistry, Prop 65

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) under the auspices of Governor Brown’s declaration in May 2013 (after a failed legislative effort)  that he would further reform Prop 65, last week OEHHA released the proposed regulations with respect to Prop 65 warnings. Regulations can be found here.  A workshop is scheduled for April 14, 2014…. Continue Reading

Governor’s Prop 65 Strategy-Change the Regulations

Posted in Agricultural Law, Prop 65, Real Estate Acquisitions and Dispositions, Real Estate Development

According to the California Environmental Insider, Governor Brown’s 2014-15 draft budget contains a proposal to allocate almost $800,000 to OEHHA (Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment) to revise the Prop 65 regulations and to finance the development of a website to provide detailed information about listed chemicals. Also according to CEI there does not appear… Continue Reading

Intentional Adulteration Strategies Released for Comment by FDA

Posted in Agricultural Law, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act

The FDA has released a proposed rule “(Focused Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration”) that requires domestic and foreign facilities to address potentially vulnerable processes in their operations to prevent acts on the food supply intended to cause what they term, ” large scale public harm,” (terrorism). The rule requires that large businesses have… Continue Reading

FDA Announces that it will Revise Produce Safety and Preventive Controls for Human Food in Response to Farmers’ Significant Comments

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, Water Quality

The comment period on the proposed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules on produce safety and preventive controls for human food, originally published in January 2013, was recently closed after being extended several times due to the volume of comments that they received. The rules consist of new far reaching controls imposed on producers including farmers… Continue Reading

Amendment to Prop 65 That Affects Restaurants Passed by Legislature- Larger Efforts On Hold

Posted in Agricultural Law, Prop 65

The attempt by the Brown Administration to revise Proposition 65 for the most part was unsuccessful, at least for this year. Attorneys for Weintraub Tobin assisted the California League of Food Processors with respect to the legislation. What started out as an attempt to provide relief from the overuse of the statute by plaintiffs’ attorneys,… Continue Reading

Arsenic In Rice At Safe Levels Per FDA Above Average Consumption May Exceed Prop 65 Levels

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Prop 65

As part of its ongoing effort to monitor food safety, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)  posted the results of testing for the presence of arsenic in rice and rice products. The FDA found that although levels varied depending on the product, overall the levels of detectable  arsenic is too low in the rice… Continue Reading

Weintraub Attorneys are Presenting as Part of Webinar on Food Safety Modernization Act

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Construction, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act

  FSMA Made Simple: Strategic and Tactical Approaches In Preparing For New Regulations   August 14, 11 AM PST –http://foodseminarsinternational.com/August_14th__2013.html                                               Overview: After participating in this webinar, attendees will have knowledge of how to realistically analyze the effects of FSMA regulations on their operations and build an action plan of next steps for their company. The Food… Continue Reading

FDA Proposes Arsenic Action Level for Apple Juice

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, Prop 65, Uncategorized

July 12, 2013  the FDA announced a proposed action level of 10 ppb (parts per billion) for arsenic in apple juice.  The 10 ppb is the same as EPA  arsenic in drinking water standards. “The FDA is committed to ensuring the safety of the American food supply and to doing what is necessary to protect public… Continue Reading

Court Requires FDA to Final FSMA Regulations by June 2015

Posted in Agricultural Law, Agriculture Law, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act

Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled that the FDA must publish all of the final regulations required under the Food Safety Modernization Act by June 30, 2015. This ruling expressly rejected the FDA’s proposed target timeline for 2015-2016 for the publication of the final rules. As stated in the… Continue Reading

Brown Supports Changes to Prop 65

Posted in Agricultural Law, Prop 65

Governor Brown announced yesterday  proposed reforms to  Proposition 65, a three decade old proposition approved  by voters to protect Californians from harmful chemicals.    It has,  according to Brown , been abused by some unscrupulous lawyers driven by profit rather than public health. The law which prohibits the exposure to the public  of certain chemicals  “known to the State”… Continue Reading

Court Enjoins BPA Prop 65 Reproductive Listing, More to Come.

Posted in Agricultural Law, Food Safety, Prop 65

On April 19, 2013 Superior Court Judge Cadei on  Motion for Preliminary Injunction enjoined OEHHA from listing or taking further action with respect to Bisphenol A (“BPA”) with respect to its listing as a Prop 65 Reproductive hazard.  The fact that the Court issued the injunction indicates that the Court believes that the Petitioners are likely… Continue Reading

Superior Court Issues Writ to Set Aside Dairy General Order and Return Writ in 180 Days

Posted in Agricultural Law, Dairies

In the Asociacion de Gente Unida Por El Agua v. Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, 210 Cal. App. 4th 1255 (2012) the third District Court of Appeals found that the Central Valley Regional Board had violated and the State’s antidegradation policy in issuing the Dairy General Order issued by the Central Valley Regional… Continue Reading

Weintraub Tobin to Help Sponsor Western Dairy Air Quality Symposium

Posted in Agricultural Law, Air Quality, Dairies

Western States Dairy Producers Trade Association is sponsoring the 2013 Western Dairy Air Quality Symposium in Boise on April 16-17. The purpose of this symposium is to have a round- table exchange on the status of air quality research, demonstration projects, and pending regulations in the west, and to plan for coordination of research efforts… Continue Reading

Wetlands Update: California’s New Draft Policy for Permitting State Wetlands

Posted in Agricultural Law, Construction, Water Law, wetlands

The State Water Resources Control Board has released a second version of what is called the “Preliminary Draft” of a policy to establish a state definition of “wetlands” The goal of the eventual regulation is to create a permitting system under which the nine Regional Water Boards would be required to process permits for Dredge… Continue Reading