On March 13, 2015, the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law held a conference called the California Aquaculture Law Symposium. The goal of the conference was to facilitate conversation about the aquaculture industry within the legal sphere. This report provides an overview of that conference, including a background on aquaculture, a description of the event, the panelists featured at the event, and their perspectives and recommendations for how aquaculture can proceed.
As the modern food system continues to transform food—its composition, taste, availability, value, and appearance—consumers are increasingly confronted by legal and regulatory issues that affect us all on a daily basis. In Food Law in the United States, Michael Roberts addresses these issues in a comprehensive, systematic manner that lays out the national legal framework for the regulation of food and the legal tools that fill gaps in this framework, including litigation, state law, and private standards.
I. Damian A. Martin, Environmental Regulation of Marijuana Cultivation in California: Got the Munchies for Some Regulation But Only Boring Old Sticks Are On the Menu
II. Justine Coleman, Bee Aware of Pesticides: Is the Legal System Protecting Our Pollinators?
Congressional Outlook 2016: Food (with Michael T. Roberts), Law 360 Expert Analysis (2016).
In this article, Emilie Aguirre and Michael Roberts provide background on and forecast the consequences of policy changes in the food sector, particularly the nexus between environment and public health in the food supply chain.
On October 23, 2013, the Los Angeles City Council officially recognized "Food Day," an annual day to bring awareness to our food system and the policies that dictate it. In that spirit, this inaugural Los Angeles Food Policy Tracker documents food policies undertaken in Los Angeles since October 24th of 2012, when the City of Los Angeles made a significant food policy commitment in the form of adopting the Good Food Purchasing Pledge.
The Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy and the Los Angeles Food Policy Council actively follow Los Angeles food policy actions. In this 2016 Los Angeles Food Policy Tracker, substantial policy actions undertaken at both the City and County level are identified. Specifically, the tracker documents policies that were adopted, administratively closed, or are currently pending during the time period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016. The tracker is divided into three sections: City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles Unified School District.
In recent years, the food landscape in the United States has witnessed a rapid growth of food related start-ups, direct marketing to consumers, and new food inventions. While many of the businesses that have been developed in this new food space have been successful in terms of expanding market share and securing funding and customer support, it is evident that at least some of them are running up against a regulatory and legal structure that was not designed to accommodate them.
The food sector is witnessing a substantial shift in consumer interest in plant-based diets. Millennials, in particular, are keen to expand the quality and quantity of plant-based foods they consume. More generally, Americans are increasingly aware of the social, environmental, and financial costs of diets heavy in animal protein and are beginning to seek out foods that are healthier, more sustainable, and animal-friendly as well.
The publication of this White Paper coincides with an uptick in media attention globally on this type of fraud - dilution, substitution, omission, or concealment, all for the purpose of economic gain. The White Paper notes that this fraud (EMA) often leads to food safety incidents and cheats consumers.
UCLA Law Review, 65 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 28 (2017)