Business News Roundup, Dec. 3
About 30 food companies announced plans Wednesdday to add scannable codes to their packaging that will offer details about ingredients, allergens and nutrition.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association said the new code, called Smart Label, would appear on almost 30,000 products like shampoos, detergents, crackers and sodas by the end of 2017.
The trade group publicized the program in the face of fierce lobbying over the issue of labeling foods containing genetically engineered ingredients.
Worried about a Vermont law due to go into effect next summer that requires labeling of such foods, the food industry is working to get Congress to put language in an omnibus spending bill that would preempt states from passing such regulations.
General Electric Co. has agreed to pay a $2.25 million penalty for releasing unsafe levels of air pollution from a hazardous waste incinerator in upstate New York and submitting false pollution control records.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the settlement Wednesday for violations at GE’s former silicone plant in Waterford, 10 miles north of Albany.
The Justice Department says GE employees manually overrode the plant’s automatic waste feed cut-off system nearly 1,900 times in 2006 and 2007.
The override allowed GE to continue to burn hazardous waste in violation of its air pollution permits.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., dealing with an E. coli outbreak that has sickened dozens around the country, has tightened its supplier standards, putting its long-standing promise to buy food locally in jeopardy.
“We have elevated requirements for all of our produce suppliers (chiefly in the area of testing of ingredients) and we are not sure that all of the current local suppliers will be able to meet those elevated protocols,” Chris Arnold, a spokesman for the Denver company, said in an e-mail in response to questions from Bloomberg.
Chipotle changed its website last month, taking down a description about buying locally and replacing it with a message on long-term supplier relationships.
Though the company is still contemplating its plans for the local-produce efforts, the move cuts to the heart of Chipotle’s culture and marketing.
The head of the Internal Revenue Service says that agents investigating crimes won’t continue to track cell phones without seeking a warrant.
The IRS has used tracking technology to locate 37 cellular devices as part of 11 federal investigations since 2011.
Wyden and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, have introduced a bill requiring a warrant for government tracking of electronic data.