A forum for food law scholars to discuss ideas and to share work, managed by the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law
The National Agricultural Law Center will hold a webinar on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 12-1pm EDT, 9-10am PT, for law students throughout the United States with interest in pursuing a career in agricultural and food law. See here for details and to register.
The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to world food security and nutrition.
During its 46th plenary session, the Committee on World Food Security requested the HLPE to produce a report on “Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition”. As part of the report elaboration process, the HLPE is now calling for interested experts to apply to the ad-hoc Project Team for this report.
Experts wishing to apply to this call shall find all the information here.
by Rose Sarner* (Guest Blogger)
“It’s one thing to provide people with food and it’s another to teach food literacy.” According to Fast Company, in 2021, “54 million Americans do not have access to healthy food,” and according to NPR, “80 percent of Americans fail to eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.”
Healthful food and its many benefits are not an everyday reality for many families in the world. Here in the United States, young kids, teens, and adults have little knowledge about the foods they are putting into their bodies, where the food is coming from, or how different foods affect their overall health. The programs that are in place that are supposed to “educate” Americans are not engaging, clear, or very informative and this failing has contributed to the current health and obesity crisis in the United States. Making health sustainable is a multifaceted issue that has many layers. Many individuals fall short of taking care of their health issues because they do not know how to make a life switch and sustain their progress.
Our schools can play an important role in changing dietary habits by educating students on food literacy. According to The Centers for Disease and Prevention, “US students receive less than 8 hours of required nutrition education each school year, which is far below the 40–50 hours that are needed to affect behavior change.” Additionally, educators are encouraged to teach nutritional education classes at schools; however, given the important role a person’s consumption of healthy foods has in preventing chronic diseases and supporting good health, ideally, educators would provide students with more hours of nutritional instruction. Research has proven a connection between healthy diets and one’s emotional well-being, and how emotions may influence eating habits (The Centers for Disease and Prevention). Due to the large number of required classes in many schools across the country, administrators and teachers should consider ways to integrate nutrition education into their existing curriculums.
Continue reading “The importance of food literacy”
by Minako Kageyama Tanaka
This is the first of three blog posts by Minako Kageyama Tanaka* on food waste in the US, the UK, and Japan.
Many people pay attention to what they eat, but not to what they did not eat. According to an estimate released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one-third of the edible part of food is wasted every year, which amounts to 1.3 billion tons per year. Given that between 720 and 811 million people are facing hunger and 2.37 billion people lack access to sufficient food, the amount of food waste is enormous. Besides, wasting food means wasting resources spent on food production and the supply chain.
To change the global consumption and production patterns in the food industry and its supply chain, the United Nations (UN) has set responsible consumption and production as one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and calls for actions to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” by 2030. The global society has only eight years left to achieve that goal.
Continue reading “The problem of food waste in the US, the UK, and Japan”
The Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy is looking for an International Food Law & Policy Fellow. Come join us! You can find the application here.
The International Food-Safety Law and Policy Fellow will research and write on innovative international best practices in food safety as part of the Resnick Center’s current scholarship on transformative governance models in food law. The fellow will work closely with faculty and staff at the Resnick Center and other researchers at UCLA and its project affiliates to research, analyze, and write a major report (the “Food-Safety Initiative”) on the transformation of food-safety best practices into policy. The research would include a focus on key concepts such as cooperation, information sharing, and partnership building. China will be one of several countries used as case studies.
The ideal candidate should have knowledge or interest in the field of international food policy and food systems theory, and have demonstrated capacity in analytical research and writing, with an ability to translate academic concepts to practical application.
Open until filled.
Applications due January 14, 2022.
The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law School is seeking law student applicants for our Summer Honors Internship program. Interns will receive a $5,000 stipend to work full-time with CAFS from May 31 to August 5, 2022 (in Vermont or remotely).
Interns will work alongside CAFS faculty and staff on a wide range of projects. In past summers, interns have worked on projects related to farmland access and equity; food labeling and regulation of novel food products; legal barriers facing food hubs; laws and regulations that protect the health and safety of farmworkers; legal resources for farmers markets; and biodiversity and agriculture. They have worked alongside project partners from Agrarian Trust, Farmers Market Coalition, and the Farm Bill Law Enterprise, among others. Tasks are dependent on project needs and may include legal research, drafting law and policy documents, conducting original research in the form of interviews and surveys, drafting case studies, and providing general support.
Vermont Law School’s Summer Session draws visiting faculty and lecturers from around the country and the world. Interns will have the opportunity to attend the summer lecture series and to meet with scholars and food system practitioners in small groups.
Continue reading “JOB POST! Summer Internship, Food and Ag Law, Vermont Law School”
Summer interns have the opportunity to engage in action-based learning to gain a deeper understanding of the complex challenges facing the food system, including hands-on experience conducting legal and policy research for individuals, community groups, and government agencies on a wide range of food law and policy issues. Interns are challenged to develop creative legal and policy solutions to pressing food issues, applying their knowledge from the law school classroom to real-world situations.
Summer interns will be eligible for a financial stipend of up to $4,000 from the Food Law and Policy Clinic, should they be unable to secure funding from other sources (we ask interns to demonstrate proof of having sought other funding but not receiving it). It is anticipated that the summer intern program will be in person this summer.
The internship will run from May 31 to August 5.
Click here for the link to information and the application. The deadline to apply is 1/21/22, but early applications are strongly encouraged and applicants are being accepted on a rolling basis.
Happy holiday season! Welcome to a new feature of On Food Law – job postings in food law and policy. As we come across them, we will post links to current job openings – the title of the post will always start with “Job Post” (for searches).
We will also post job openings on our Instagram stories (@uclafoodlawcenter).
Please keep in mind that we are not vetting or monitoring these openings, just posting. And please send any food law and policy job openings to winters@law.ucla.edu.
Click here for the CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: Food and Agriculture Policy Specialist listing.
by Hilal Elver, Michael T. Roberts, Diana R.H. Winters, and Melissa Shapiro
Cross-posted on HilalElver.org
Will the US finally acknowledge that this right actually exists?
Maine is officially the first US state to recognize a right to food. On Election Day this year, more than 60% of voters agreed that Maine should amend the state constitution “to declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being.” Put simply, those in Maine will have agency over how they procure their food within the bounds of food safety laws and quality controls. The “right to food” amendment, which was proposed by Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) and received bipartisan support, was welcomed by a diverse constituency comprising small farmers, libertarians, liberals and those who believe that local producers should not have to compete with corporate food interests.
Observing how Maine practically applies the “right to food” amendment in furtherance of the stated objective is critical. It will be necessary for Maine legislators to work closely with other state agencies to ensure that emerging programs and policies do not violate federal and state laws. It is also important for future decision-making to involve open consultation and participation from civil society and private sector. Being a trailblazer means that the path forward is not always clear; but those who have already dismissed the historic amendment as an empty promise or inoperable language are missing the point: Maine’s constitutional amendment is a transformative step towards the United States’ formal recognition of the human right to food.
Continue reading “Commentary – It is Time for the United States to Learn About the Right to Food.”
by Lucy Weiss*
With a background in Food Studies, an interest in food law and policy, and a belief in the power of education, I was searching for ways to combine my passions when a professor recommended FoodCorps to me. FoodCorps is an AmeriCorps service fellowship program focusing on student access to healthy food in schools that partners with local community organizations and school districts around the U.S. Service members participate in three primary activities: providing hands-on lessons, encouraging healthy school meals, and promoting a schoolwide culture of health. For example, members teach gardening and cooking and facilitate taste tests of new and different foods, although the COVID-19 pandemic limits some of what we are able to do. A number of service members also work with the cafeteria staff and school districts to ensure healthy food options are available and promoted at school lunches. Each state and site partner have different needs and therefore service varies from position to position.
Continue reading “Service with FoodCorps”
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