Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Eaters, Powerless By Design, Margot J. Pollans Feb 2022

Eaters, Powerless By Design, Margot J. Pollans

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Food law, including traditional food safety regulation, antihunger programs, and food system worker protections, has received increased attention in recent years as a distinct field of study. Bringing together these disparate areas of law under a single lens provides an opportunity to understand the role of law in shaping what we eat (what food is produced and where it is distributed), how much we eat, and how we think about food. The food system is rife with problems--endemic hunger, worker exploitation, massive environmental externalities, and diet-related disease. Looked at in a piecemeal fashion, elements of food law appear responsive to …


Fda As Food System Stewards, Margot J. Pollans, Matthew F. Watson Jan 2022

Fda As Food System Stewards, Margot J. Pollans, Matthew F. Watson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) is one of the primary regulators of the U.S. food system, yet it all but ignores the food system's vast environmental footprint. Although the agency is not technically an environmental agency, it could and should view redressing the food system's significant environmental footprint as part of its health and safety mission. In this Article, we review FDA's history of National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) compliance. This history affirms our hypothesis that FDA does not view its own work as environmental. The review, along with assessment of some of FDA's core food programs, reveals that …