Darin Dines/Flickr

Foie gras doughnut at Umamicatessen

And the foie gras wars continue: According to Courthouse News, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and other animal-rights organizations filed a lawsuit this week against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for continuing to permit the sale of foie gras. The lawsuit claims that the federal agency's failure to ban the delicacy effectively violates the Poultry Products Inspection Act, which prohibits the sale of products derived from diseased poultry. In its press release, ALDF executive director Stephen Wells says, "The USDA is effectively exempting force-fed foie gras from the scrutiny required by federal law, allowing foie gras producers to market diseased organs as gourmet delicacies."

More >>

Muy Yum/Flickr

Huckleberry's fried egg sandwich

If you're an hourly employee who works more than five hours a day, you are entitled to a 30-minute lunch break -- but, as the California Supreme Court just ruled, it's up to you to make sure you exercise your legal right to do so.

The state Supreme Court's unanimous decision is a culmination of nine long years of litigation against defendant Brinker International, which owns and operates several major restaurant chains, including Chili's. The plaintiffs were or are hourly employees at various Brinker restaurants; they filed suit almost a decade ago, alleging that the company violated a number of California labor laws, including a failure to ensure employees stopped working during their mealtime breaks. Brinker, however, responded that its legal obligation was only to make such breaks available to employees. In a ruling issued yesterday, the California Supreme Court sided with Brinker.

More >>

plusgood/Flickr

A Cornish pasty

While we here in the States are embroiled in such mundane things like GhostwritingGate and ParkSlopeCo-OpGate and HealthCareGate, the raging debate across the pond in the United Kingdom involves something far more fascinating: Cornish pasties. Last week, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne presented his annual budget, which included a reduction in the top income tax rate and -- more importantly -- a proposed 20% value-added tax (VAT) on certain hot foods, including Cornish pasties and sausage rolls.

Pasties, empanada-like pastries stuffed with hearty chunks of beef, potatoes and other fillings, were staples for miners and farmers in the 17th century, and endure today as a popular, inexpensive snack. Which explains why the so-called "pasty tax" has erupted into a class war of sorts, with Osborne and his Conservative Party on one side, and the opposing Labour Party on the other.

More >>

R.E.~/Flickr

Starbucks

Back in January, Seattle-based Starbucks endorsed a Washington bill to legalize gay marriage in the state (it eventually passed and will take effect in early June). Predictably, the National Organization for Marriage, one of the largest anti-gay marriage groups in the country, flipped out ("Americans should be able to drink a peaceful cup of coffee without worrying that a portion of the company's profits is going to be used to push gay marriage without a vote from the people"). In response to the company's decision to pick up the cause of gay marriage rights, the group launched a Dump Starbucks campaign, urging consumers to boycott the coffee giant.

The protest comes after the company's shareholders meeting on Wednesday. Under a cloak of concern for the company's bottom line, NOM representatives asked CEO Howard Schultz and the board to justify their support for the legislation, asking in one instance, "Is it prudent to risk the economic interests of all the shareholders for something that might affect the private lives of a very small percentage of our employees?"

More >>

A. Scattergood

Purple savoy cabbage at Flora Bella Farm

If you love nothing more than to stand in the kitchen thinking up ways to make those humble heads of cabbage really sing, then this is your opportunity to take center stage. As part of the Mayor's Day of Service -- aka Good Food Day, March 31 -- there will be a gathering of cabbage fanatics in the form of a cooking contest. From Kim Chee to Coleslaw, an inspired idea for a food contest, is sponsored by See-LA, the nonprofit that runs the Hollywood Farmers Market and the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. The distinct aromas will be found at Metabolic Studio, the contest venue.

More >>

After years of nudges, calls to action and protests, grocery chain Trader Joe's has finally signed on to the Fair Food Agreement. Spearheaded by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, it's a major step forward in the decadelong campaign to improve working conditions for pickers in Florida, where nearly a third of the tomatoes that Americans eat are grown.

Trader Joe's is only the second grocery chain, after Whole Foods, to sign the agreement, although several major industrial and fast food chains including McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Sodexo and Aramark have already come aboard.

More >>

Samrod Shenassa

As the restaurant industry's busiest and most profitable day of the year (Valentine's Day) approaches, ROC has released two reports: a study challenging the idea that restaurants can succeed only by keeping labor costs low and a Diners' Guide spotlighting restaurants that aim for sustainability -- not just on the plate but behind kitchen doors. (Last year, ROC-LA released a report detailing the low pay, long hours and lack of benefits that most of L.A.'s 276,000 restaurant workers endure.)

More >>

Taco Bell

Taco Bell gives thanks for being sued over the contents of its meat

A look at this year through the lens of the food-related lawsuits is like watching the first season of The Killing: an exercise in frustration, bewilderment, and, occasionally, excitement. From the mother who sued Nutella for allegedly misrepresenting its nutritional claims (frustrating) to restaurants suing bloggers for bad reviews (bewildering) to a multi-jurisdictional raid on a members-only food club (exciting), we highlight ten of the year's best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) lawsuits. And eagerly look forward to next year, when we may or may not see who killed Rosie Larsen and the resolution of at least some of these cases.

More >>

Flickr/Calgary Reviews

McDonald's will find a new egg source for its McMuffins.

McDonald's and Target dropped one of the nation's largest egg suppliers after an animal rights group released an undercover video last Friday of the egg producer's farms in three states, according to the Associated Press.

McDonald's Corp. said the same day that it had dropped Sparboe Farms as a supplier after a video by the group Mercy for Animals showed cases of animal cruelty at five facilities in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado. Target Corp. soon followed, going so far as to say it would pull eggs from the Litchfield, Minn.-based company off its shelves.

Sparboe produces 300 million eggs a year, in regular, liquid, frozen and dried form, and ships them to restaurants and stores across the country. The company's Vincent, Iowa, plant had billed itself as the sole fresh egg supplier to every McDonald's west of the Mississippi.

More >>

Top: Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Bottom: Guzzle & Nosh

Workers protest Trader Joe's tomato policies.

A one-cent per-pound increase in the price of tomatoes may not mean much to most consumers, but to many of the workers who pick these tomatoes -- a physically exhausting job with no health benefits, overtime or sick pay -- it would go a long way toward improving their working conditions and their lives. That's the idea behind the Fair Food Program, a campaign, spearheaded by Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), in which several major fast-food chains and other food providers have agreed to pay a penny-per-pound wage increase to the 30,000 Florida workers who pick nearly a third of the tomatoes that Americans eat.

Whole Foods signed onto the campaign along with McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and WingStreet), Sodexo, Aramark, Compass Group and Bon Appétit Management Company. One of the major holdouts, however, has been Trader Joe's.

More >>