A New Age of Evolution: Protecting the Consumer's Moral and Legal Right to Know through the Clear and Transparent Labeling of All Genetically Modified Foods.

The United States government, until recently, did not require the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). On July 29, 2016, President Barack Obama signed into law the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). This law directs the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create regulations that require manufacturers to disclose certain bioengineered products on food labels. On December 20, 2018, the USDA released the final regulations for the NBFDS, which requires food manufactures, importers, and certain retailers to ensure bioengineered foods are appropriately disclosed. The final regulations include provisions that will leave the majority of GMO derived foods unlabeled. The final regulations also restrict approximately 100 million Americans from accessing GMO information by allowing QR codes to replace clear and transparent labeling, an issue that will be discussed in further detail later in this Note. This Note explores why you, as a consumer, may want to know whether your food contains GM products, and furthermore, why you as a consumer have a moral and legal right to know.

Developing anti-counterfeiting measures: The role of smart packaging.

Counterfeiting of food and beverage products is rife and premium brands are often targeted by fraudsters. Such is the case with Scotch whisky, a global, reputable brand revered for its heritage and tradition. Using Scotch whisky as a case study, the aim of this paper is to review existing literature and industry information to determine the market and personal consequences of counterfeiting activities and consider the packaging related anti-counterfeiting measures that can be employed within a wider anti-counterfeiting strategy. A typology of counterfeiting activities is developed including: tear-down counterfeiting, product overruns, malicious activities and document counterfeiting. Anti-counterfeiting measures are used to deter, detect and control counterfeiting activities and different packaging related approaches include the use of smart covert and overt technology. Most smart packaging-related anti-counterfeit technologies are stand-alone systems and this presents a vulnerability. An integrated anti-counterfeiting measures strategy, employed by business, the supply chain and the government is required to reduce the risk of the sale of counterfeit food and beverage products.

Corporate political activity of the dairy industry in France: an analysis of publicly available information.

OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we used a structured approach based on publicly available information to identify the corporate political activity (CPA) strategies of three major actors in the dairy industry in France. DESIGN: We collected publicly available information from the industry, government and other sources over a 6-month period, from March to August 2015. Data collection and analysis were informed by an existing framework for classifying the CPA of the food industry. Setting/Subjects Our study included three major actors in the dairy industry in France: Danone, Lactalis and the Centre National Interprofessionnel de l'Economie Laitière (CNIEL), a trade association. RESULTS: During the period of data collection, the dairy industry employed CPA practices on numerous occasions by using three strategies: the 'information and messaging', the 'constituency building' and the 'policy substitution' strategies. The most common practice was the shaping of evidence in ways that suited the industry. The industry also sought involvement in the community, establishing relationships with public health professionals, academics and the government. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the dairy industry used several CPA practices, even during periods when there was no specific policy debate on the role of dairy products in dietary guidelines. The information provided here could inform public health advocates and policy makers and help them ensure that commercial interests of industry do not impede public health policies and programmes.

Evaluating the Legitimacy of Contemporary Legal Strategies for Obesity.

Contemporary legal strategies for obesity raise troubling questions regarding individual liberty and the legitimate scope of public health authority. This article argues that the predominant approach to assessing public health legitimacy--John Stuart Mill's "harm principle"--may be unsuitable for evaluating the legitimacy of legal strategies for obesity. The article proposes an alternative test for assessing the legitimate scope of public health authority: John Rawls's liberal principle of legitimacy. It outlines how Rawls's principle would evaluate obesity policies, and contrasts this evaluation to that of Mill. The alternative test avoids some of the limitations of the Millian approach, and may offer an improved mechanism for assessing the liberty effects of policies for obesity and other public health activities.

Food additives: an ethical evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Food additives are an integral part of the modern food system, but opinion polls showing most Europeans have worries about them imply an urgent need for ethical analysis of their use. SOURCES OF DATA: The existing literature on food ethics, safety assessment and animal testing. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: Food additives provide certain advantages in terms of many people's lifestyles. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: There are disagreements about the appropriate application of the precautionary principle and of the value and ethical validity of animal tests in assessing human safety. GROWING POINTS: Most consumers have a poor understanding of the relative benefits and risks of additives, but concerns over food safety and animal testing remain high. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: Examining the impacts of food additives on consumer sovereignty, consumer health and on animals used in safety testing should allow a more informed debate about their appropriate uses.

Trans fat bans and human freedom.

A growing body of evidence has linked consumption of trans fatty acids to cardiovascular disease. To promote public health, numerous state and local governments in the United States have banned the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant foods, and additional bans may follow. Although these policies may have a positive impact on human health, they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions, and exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities. These slippery slope concerns cannot be dismissed as far-fetched, because the social and political pressures are place to induce additional food regulations. To protect human freedom and other values, policies that significantly restrict food choices, such as bans on types of food, should be adopted only when they are supported by substantial scientific evidence, and when policies that impose fewer restrictions on freedom, such as educational campaigns and product labeling, are likely to be ineffective.

[The algorithm of eliminating the similar samples in the process of calibration and prediction].

During the manufacture and debugging of the NIR instruments it is compulsory to make final calibration analysis to verify whether the instruments operate correctly. However, the conventional method of NIR calibration needs to make calibration analysis for the instruments with all the samples at hand. In fact in order to cover the samples that will be encountered in the future the amount of the samples set and the labor that the personnel need to offer are enormous. In this paper a new algorithm is presented which can be used to effectively eliminate the similar samples in the original sample set. By using this algorithm we have chosen 94 optimal samples in the original 178 sample set successfully. After performing calibration experiment we found that the sample set chosen by this algorithm are equally representative to the original sample set and obtained almost the same precision compared to the original sample set when the two sample sets were individually calibrated. This algorithm brings great relief to the labor of the workers, presents the possibility of performing more experiments and greatly improves the efficiency of performing calibration experiment. As a result, the amount of calibration sets and the labor of the personnel are reduced remarkably.