Selling Too Much Food Hot? SNAP-Authorized You’re Not!

For Export, SNAP, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

Small grocery stores and specialty retail food stores that sell hot foods are facing an unprecedented threat to their businesses. Not from competition or due to rising costs. Instead, thousands of small fish and seafood markets in impoverished urban neighborhoods across the country are threatened with the withdrawal of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) […]

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Oh, SNAP! Maryland Federal Court Judge Enters Summary Judgment Against Baltimore Food Stamp Retailer Without Permitting Any Discovery

For Export, Public Policy, SNAP, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

In a highly unusual decision, a Federal District Court judge in Maryland granted summary judgment in a food stamp licensing appeal brought by a Baltimore convenience store without permitting the retailer to conduct any discovery whatsoever. In Negash v. United States, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett dismissed the retailer’s appeal of a Final Agency

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Variety May Be the Spice of Life, But Not as Much as the Food and Nutrition Service Would Like in the Food Stamp Program

For Export, Public Policy, SNAP, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

Congress Bars FNS from Enforcing Portions of its Enhancing Retailer Standards in SNAP Final Rule Federal agencies are viewed by many as possessing immense power over regulated businesses. This is especially true at the Food and Nutrition Service (“FNS”) in the context of retail food stores that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”),

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SNAP Wars: Scott Walker, Tom Vilsack and Drug Testing of SNAP Beneficiaries

For Export, Public Policy, SNAP, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

For more than 20 years, Federal law has expressly provided that states may test welfare recipients for use of controlled substances free from interference of federal agencies. 21 U.S.C. §862(b). Relying upon this Congressional enactment, Wisconsin passed Act 55 during 2015. Act 55 authorized new drug screening and testing requirements for certain SNAP beneficiaries in

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FNS Agrees To (Finally) Start Publishing SNAP Retailer Final Agency Decisions

Public Policy, For Export, SNAP / Stewart D. Fried

In a major victory for supermarkets, convenience stores, and other Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailers, the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has finally agreed to start publishing its administrative Final Agency Decisions (FADs) in food stamp authorization and disqualification proceedings. On January 4, 2017, in response to a multi-year effort spearheaded by OFW

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No Horsing Around – Nevada Federal Judge Dismisses Burro Suit Against Interior Dept.

EPA, Public Policy, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

The serious environmental problems caused by unchecked wild horse populations on western rangelands are well known to state and local governments, Native American tribes, ranchers and farmers. Efforts, however, to prompt the U.S. Department of Interior (“Interior Dept.”) and its Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) to address widespread environmental damage and other impacts caused by

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Supreme Court Holds FD&C Act Does Not Bar Competitor Food Label Challenges under the Lanham Act

FDA, Public Policy / Stewart D. Fried

By Michael J. O’Flaherty and Stewart D. Fried In a recent opinion delivered by Justice Kennedy (with Justice Breyer recused), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that competitors may bring Lanham Act claims challenging food labels, even if such labels technically comply with regulations promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug, and

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Food Stamp Vendors Face Increased Eligibility Requirements and Oversight Following Implementation of Farm Bill’s SNAP Provisions

Public Policy, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

The 2014 Farm Bill contains several important provisions which will impact retail stores that participate in the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The key changes for food stamp vendors include an increase in the minimum number of staple food items that stores must carry on a continuous basis, that

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“Evaporated Cane Juice” — Comment Period Reopened

FDA / Stewart D. Fried

“Evaporated cane juice” is an ingredient name for a sweetener often seen in food labeling. In October 2009, FDA issued a draft guidance document, essentially advising industry of FDA’s view that the common or usual (C/U) name for the solid or dried form of sugar cane syrup is “dried cane syrup,” and that a sweetener

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After FL Convenience Store Loses Food Stamp Vendor Authorization, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Reverses Course in a SNAP

OFW Law News, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

The wheels of justice frequently turn with glacial speed in federal court litigation, especially in cases brought against the United States government. A recent Middle District of Florida lawsuit brought by OFW Law on behalf of a central Florida convenience store in a SNAP vendor case is a notable exception. This federal action addressed the

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Eight Is Enough: EPA’s Dust and Feathers Discharge Argument Goes Down the Drain

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

In a decision with broad implications for production agriculture, a West Virginia federal judge concluded that Clean Water Act (CWA) permits are not required solely on the basis of dust, feathers and chicken litter from poultry barns that are washed from a farmyard to river and streams by rainfall. In Lois Alt, d/b/a Eight Is

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Citizen Suit Goes Down The Drain in Farm Tile Case

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

Farm tile drains are not a point-source of pollution under the Clean Water Act, even if the outflows contain contaminated groundwater. So ruled Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in dismissing a citizen suit that sought to require some farmers to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

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Bowman v. Monsanto: Supreme Court Confirms That Soybeans Do Not Grow Themselves, Affirms Seed Biotech Patent Rights

OFW Law News, USDA / Stewart D. Fried

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a patent holder’s rights in biotech seeds extend to subsequent generations of crops grown by farmers. Widely viewed as a victory for biotech seed producers and American farmers, the Court’s decision in Bowman v. Monsanto Co. should provide seed trait developers with the confidence that

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Court Ruffles EPA’s Feathers: Poultry Producer Suit Permitted to Proceed Despite Withdrawal of Administrative Compliance Order

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

A District Court judge in West Virginia is forcing EPA to defend a challenge to a now-withdrawn Administrative Compliance Order (“ACO”) related to “dust and feather” discharges from a broiler facility. In one of the first post-Sackett challenges to an EPA ACO under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), a West Virginia poultry producer sued EPA

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OFW Law Attorneys Author Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Biotech Seeds Case

OFW Law News / Stewart D. Fried

OFW Law attorneys Gary H. Baise, Stewart D. Fried and John G. Dillard have filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the American Soybean Association, 15 state soybean associations, the National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, American Sugarbeet Growers Association, and Growers for Biotechnology in a case of immense

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EPA and Environmental Groups Float Into Stormy Waters

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

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EPA and Environmental Groups Float Into Stormy Waters Read More »

Splish/Splash: No Original Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over EPA’s Water Transfer Rule

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

In a decision with potentially broad implications, the Eleventh Circuit recently concluded that it lacked original subject matter jurisdiction over petitions for review of an EPA rule which freed federal, state and municipal agencies from obtaining a Clean Water Act permit for certain water transfers. In Friends of the Everglades v. EPA, the Circuit Court

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Eight Isn’t Enough: American Farm Bureau Permitted to Intervene In WV Poultry Dust Suit against EPA

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

On October 9, 2012, a federal judge in Elkins, West Virginia, issued an order allowing the American Farm Bureau Federation and the West Virginia Farm Bureau (Farm Bureau) to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a West Virginia poultry producer against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Alt v. EPA. The Farm Bureau’s intervention will result

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California Court Decision May Have Major Implications for Farmers Using Drain Tiles

EPA / Stewart D. Fried

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Stewart D. Fried

Selling Too Much Food Hot? SNAP-Authorized You’re Not!

Oh, SNAP! Maryland Federal Court Judge Enters Summary Judgment Against Baltimore Food Stamp Retailer Without Permitting Any Discovery

Variety May Be the Spice of Life, But Not as Much as the Food and Nutrition Service Would Like in the Food Stamp Program

SNAP Wars: Scott Walker, Tom Vilsack and Drug Testing of SNAP Beneficiaries

FNS Agrees To (Finally) Start Publishing SNAP Retailer Final Agency Decisions

No Horsing Around – Nevada Federal Judge Dismisses Burro Suit Against Interior Dept.

Supreme Court Holds FD&C Act Does Not Bar Competitor Food Label Challenges under the Lanham Act

Food Stamp Vendors Face Increased Eligibility Requirements and Oversight Following Implementation of Farm Bill’s SNAP Provisions

“Evaporated Cane Juice” — Comment Period Reopened

After FL Convenience Store Loses Food Stamp Vendor Authorization, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Reverses Course in a SNAP

Eight Is Enough: EPA’s Dust and Feathers Discharge Argument Goes Down the Drain

Citizen Suit Goes Down The Drain in Farm Tile Case

Bowman v. Monsanto: Supreme Court Confirms That Soybeans Do Not Grow Themselves, Affirms Seed Biotech Patent Rights

Court Ruffles EPA’s Feathers: Poultry Producer Suit Permitted to Proceed Despite Withdrawal of Administrative Compliance Order

OFW Law Attorneys Author Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Biotech Seeds Case

EPA and Environmental Groups Float Into Stormy Waters

Splish/Splash: No Original Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over EPA’s Water Transfer Rule

Eight Isn’t Enough: American Farm Bureau Permitted to Intervene In WV Poultry Dust Suit against EPA

California Court Decision May Have Major Implications for Farmers Using Drain Tiles

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