Centers Of Excellence

Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy

The Resnick Center performs cutting-edge legal research and scholarship in food law and policy to improve health and quality of life for humans and the planet.

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A Food Systems Approach

The Resnick Center’s engagement in food systems thinking allows it to focus on the development of food governance strategies to promote accountability, transparency and safety in the national and global food chain.

Through its publications, courses, clinic and events, the Resnick Center affords students valuable scholarship, research and networking opportunities.Students can also gain unique policy advocacy training within the food justice movement through UCLA Law’s clinical education curriculum.

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To forward its mission, the Resnick Center works with UCLA Law students and faculty and the broader UCLA and UC communities, and engages with national and international scholars, experts and policymakers. The Center also maintains a robust slate of outside advisors, including its Outside Advisory Board, and its Research Affiliates, who are recent law school graduates working to better the food system who will consult and assist on various Resnick Center research projects.

Projects

Food Research & Scholarship

The Resnick Center publishes and contributes to scholarship that is foundational to food law and policy, stimulating discussion about global food system approaches and governance strategies while also providing solutions for local communities through clinical education.
On Food Law

A blog that highlights center publications and activities and provides a forum for food law scholars to discuss ideas and share work, managed by the Resnick Center and the Food Law Lab at Harvard University.
Food Law & Policy Clinic

Students become policy advocates within the food justice movement, pursuing positive, systemic change in the areas of food insecurity, public health, workers’ rights, urban agriculture, land use, animal welfare and social entrepreneurship.
Careers in Public Interest Food Law and Policy

A guide to help law students and graduates understand the varied directions of a public interest food law career.
COVID-19 and Food Law

Resources on the intersection of Covid-19 and food law and policy for scholars, researchers, and officials.
Food-Based Pro Bono Opportunities

This guide is intended to facilitate the delivery of pro bono legal services to help those in America who are food insecure.

Who We Are

Publications by Type

For Students

The Center's educational component features high-caliber classes, conferences, workshops, and experiential learning. Students enjoy working with Center faculty and fellows on various research projects and publications. New student opportunities to immerse in food law include experiential learning through the Food Law and Policy Clinic and interdisciplinary exchange through the new UCLA Graduate Food Studies Certificate Program.

  • Curriculum

    Course Offerings: 2019-2020 

    • Law 440: Introduction to Food Law and Policy, taught by Executive Director Michael T. Roberts, focuses on how food law as a response to the modern food system has adapted and developed into a distinctive area of law.
    • Law 165: Historical Perspective: The Role of Law in the Pursuit of a Moral Food System, also taught by Executive Director Michael T. Roberts, surveys and compares the moral and cultural bases used for historical and modern regulation of food.
    • Law 913: Regulating Food, taught by Assistant Director Diana R. H. Winters, discuss the significant leeway that state and local governments have to regulate the food system, and the boundaries of this power.
  • Food Law and Policy Clinic

    The Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy has one of the only clinical programs in the country dedicated to Food Law and Policy. The Clinic allows students to take on the role of policy advocate within the food justice movement, which calls for positive, systemic change in the areas of food insecurity, public health, workers’ rights, urban agriculture, land use, animal welfare, and social entrepreneurship.

    As part of the course, students will develop and implement several policy advocacy strategies, including:

    1. Working with local stakeholders in the food system to identify, develop, and implement new and impactful policy initiatives;
    2. Providing guidance and education to food innovators regarding laws and policies related to food access and food waste and recovery; and
    3. Using social change campaigns and legal needs assessments to promote food equity for underserved individuals and communities.

    Learn more

  • UCLA Graduate Food Studies Certificate Program

    With food security and environmental sustainability becoming increasing global concerns, there is an urgency to educate the next generation of leaders with strong interdisciplinary foundations. The Food Studies Graduate Certificate Program offers UCLA PhD, MA and professional school students the opportunity to investigate this growing field. The program will prepare students from diverse disciplines to address complex topics that span food cultures and histories, nutrition and public health, food policy and food justice, urban planning, and agrifood systems and the environment. For more information about the certificate, visit the UCLA Food Studies Certificate Program website.

Resources

  • On Food Law Blog

    On Food Law highlights center publications and activities and provides a forum for food law scholars to discuss ideas and share work. The blog is managed by the Resnick Center and the Food Law Lab at Harvard University.

    Read the blog.

  • Resnick Newsletter

    Keep up to date with the Resnick Center's news, events, partnerships and publications.

    Please reach out to us at resnickcenter@law.ucla.edu for more information, to join our mailing list, to get involved, or to donate to our work.

    Fall 2020 Newsletter

News
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Jun 29, 2020

Michael Roberts Quoted by BBC on Need for U.S. Government to Police Honey Fraud

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Apr 14, 2020

Diana Winters Speaks to The Counter about FDA Loosening Nutritional Labeling Requirements To Help Restaurants Sell Unused Food

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Apr 12, 2020

Diana Winters Interviewed by Los Angeles Times on the Surging Costs and Demand for Eggs due to COVID-19

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Events
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03 12
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Law 1447
CANCELED: Meat Consumption at a Crossroads - Looking at the Future of Food

Please join us for the Resnick Center's Meat Consumption at a Crossroads – Looking at the Future of Food event, discussing the societal implications of meat reduction strategies.

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