The agreement was approved and entered into the California Superior Court on February 1 for the 30 GOED member companies, thereby giving these companies operating certainty around Proposition 65 limits for dioxins, furans, PCBs and dioxin-like PCBs in products with EPA and DHA omega-3s.
Adam Ismail, executive director of GOED (Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s), told NutraIngredients-USA that the limits in the agreement are not official statewide limits but they are effectively immediately for the 30 companies involved in the settlement.
“GOED agreed to update its monograph to reflect these changes, so our Board and Technical Committee are also working on the best way to do so,” he said.
“The agreement only gives firm legal and operating protection to the 30 companies involved in our settlement and their customers.
“However, these companies can sell products that meet the standards without warning labels and not risk the expense of further lawsuits that take advantage of the fact that California has not set firm limits on these contaminants but still identifies them as toxicants.”
GOED reached an agreement with Chris Manthey and Benson Chiles, founders of FishOilSafety.com last fall that assures that these plaintiffs will not start any new lawsuits against GOED member companies whose products meet the agreement's standards.
This agreement also requires GOED to perform testing of product pulled from California retail shelves as well as to incorporate the settlement's standards into the GOED Voluntary Monograph.
Ismail added: “This does not put the issue to bed once and for all, but it gives firm protection to a significant portion of the industry, strengthens the defense for the rest of the industry, and most importantly ensures consumers will continue to have access to safe products with accurate information on the label.”
Introduced in 1986, Prop 65 requires manufacturers selling products in California to give warnings if their products expose consumers to any detectable amount of 800+ chemicals believed to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
The GOED member companies who are parties to the settlement with the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation are Aker Biomarine, Aurora Algae, Austral Group, Azantis, Barlean's Organic Oils, BASF, Biodroga, Bioriginal Food & Science, Bizen Chemical, Copeinca, Croda Chemical, Denomega, DSM Nutritional Products, Epax, GC Rieber Oils, Golden Omega, J.R. Carlson Laboratories, K.D. Pharma, Marine Nutriceutical, Maruha Corporation, Nordic Naturals, Ocean Nutrition Canada, Omega Natural Science (OmegaBrite), Organic Technologies, Originates, Pharma Marine, Pharmline, Solutex, TASA, and Tishcon.