Food and Drug Law Commons^™

Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …

Advancing The Aquaculture Industry Through The Federal Crop Insurance Program, Matthew H. Bowen

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In recent times, the aquaculture industry has experienced dramatic growth. The growth of the industry is a direct result of an increase in demand for seafood, and a decrease in supply from wild fisheries. The industry, however, is also experiencing growing pains. Aquaculture species, compared to their wild counterparts, are at a higher risk of catastrophic loss from a variety of different perils. These perils make investment in the aquaculture industry significantly risky. The federal crop insurance program could be a tool that mitigates these risks, but the program was designed around terrestrial agriculture, and while aquaculture may be covered …

Food Federalism: States, Local Governments, And The Fight For Food Sovereignty, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Recently, a number of states have sought to withdraw or restrain local power. In this Article, which is part of the “Re-Thinking State Relevance” symposium hosted by the Ohio State Law Journal, I write about a state taking the opposite approach, and attempting to affirmatively endow its local governments with additional powers. The state is Maine, and the context is control over local food production and sales. This Article begins by addressing the emergence of the sustainable local foods movement broadly, and reasons for the growth of this movement. It then focuses more pointedly on the food sovereignty movement, considering …

State V. Brown: A Test For Local Food Ordinances, Ryan Almy

Maine Law Review

For many of us, adding a little milk to our morning coffee is likely one of the more insignificant tasks of the day. For Dan Brown of Blue Hill, Maine, that splash of dairy in his coffee mug is the result of his personal labor and constant, meticulous attention paid to the health and well-being of a single 1,000 pound mammal. Besides fresh raw milk, what does Brown gain from his efforts? He knows the exact source of the milk he puts in his coffee, as well as the butter his daughter spreads on her toast: Sprocket, Brown’s sole dairy …

Liberty Of Palate, Samuel R. Wiseman

Maine Law Review

As lawmakers concerned with problems as diverse as childhood obesity, animal cruelty, and listeria have increasingly focused their attention on consumers, legal issues surrounding food choice have recently attracted much broader interest. Bans on large sodas in New York City, fast food chains in South Los Angeles, and foie gras in California and Chicago have provoked national controversy, as have federal raids on raw milk sellers. In response, various groups have decried restrictions on their ability to consume the food products of their choice. A few groups have organized around the principle of what we might call liberty of palate, …

How Reliance On The Private Enforcement Of Public Regulatory Programs Undermines Food Safety In The United States: The Case Of Needled Meat, Diana R. H. Winters

Maine Law Review

Mechanically tenderized meat is a relatively small, although persistent, food-safety problem in terms of the number of individuals affected by foodborne illness. However, the regulatory history of mechanically tenderized meat is a window into a much larger issue, that of regulatory inertia and the inadequacy of existing mechanisms to counter this stasis. This regulatory inertia does not have a simple cause, nor is it amendable to a simple solution. It cannot be reduced to a problem of agency capture, or a problem with agency incompetence, and although I will propose a couple of fixes, all of them have flaws. Telling …

A Hungry Industry On Rolling Regulations: A Look At Food Truck Regulations In Cities Across The United States, Crystal T. Williams

Maine Law Review

Although street vending has always been a part of the American food economy, in recent years modern food trucks have become a dining trend that is sweeping the country. With the booming popularity of food trucks, cities across the country are serving up various ways to regulate the growing number of vendors selling convenient and creative meals to patrons from mobile food units, commonly known as food trucks. Food trucks are regulated by local government agencies, which take a wide range of approaches. For example, in thirty-four of the nation’s largest cities, entire neighborhoods are off-limits to vendors, often including …

Whatever Happened To The "Frankenfish"?: The Fda's Foot-Dragging On Transgenic Salmon, Lars Noah

Maine Law Review

AquaBounty Technologies has genetically modified the Atlantic salmon through the introduction of a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon, which allows the fish to reach market size almost twice as quickly as its farmed counterparts. The research began more than two decades ago. The company secured licenses for the patents that emerged out of this research, and its plans to commercialize the transgenic salmons (branded “AquAdvantage”) took shape more than a decade ago. In late 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appeared to be on the verge of authorizing production, but, more than two years later, the …

A National "Natural" Standard For Food Labeling, Nicole E. Negowetti

Maine Law Review

What do Juicy Juice fruit punch, SunChips, Nature Valley granola bars, and Skinny Girl Margaritas have in common? These products are all branded with the term “natural.” From canned vegetables to cereals to soft drinks, the term “natural” has become one of the most common claims on food, drugs, dietary supplements, and personal care products. The word “natural on the label or in advertising brings to mind nature, and things that are pure, clean, healthy, free of artificial additives, and therefore safe, harmless, and beneficial to overall health. In 2011, “all-natural” was the second-most-used claim on the new American food …

The New England Food System In 2060: Envisioning Tomorrow's Policy Through Today's Assessments, Margaret Sova Mccabe, Joanne Burke

Maine Law Review

As the local food movement gains critical mass around the country, deep and important issues concerning food system policy arise. The modern American food system spans from agricultural production to food processing to food consumption, and finally, to health outcomes. The system’s components include economic, environmental, social, political, and scientific aspects that interact in ways that far outstrip any one discipline’s capacity to analyze and resolve problems. Additionally, the system is profoundly shaped by a complex architecture of laws and regulation. With much credit to the local and regional food movements, people have begun to question not only the current …

Food Safety And Security In The Monsanto Era: Peering Through The Lens Of A Rights Paradigm Against An Onslaught Of Corporate Domination, Saby Ghoshray

Maine Law Review

Since our earliest ancestors’ desire for a better hunting weapon to procure food or a better storage facility to avoid spoilage, food safety and security has shaped human social and technological evolution like no other essential element. The need to procure food has shaped our civilization since the first human graced our planet. Food continues to be a pivotal force in humankind’s saga for life and death. Yet, despite stratospheric progress in scientific application surrounding food, food security and safety for all citizens continues to elude mankind. Why do some enjoy a feast, while others suffer in famine? This essay …

Zoning And Land Use Controls: Beyond Agriculture, Lisa M. Feldstein

Maine Law Review

If one were playing a word association game and were asked what comes to mind when the terms “food” and “land use” are given, chances are high that the response would be “agriculture.” Yet every stage in the food system, from being grown or raised through being consumed, is place-based. Put differently, everything that happens with our food system involves land use in some way. Even the acquisition of aquatically sourced foods requires a journey that begins from the shore, and yet it is rare to consider the profound ways in which our every interaction with food system utilizes or …

Obesity Prevention Policies At The Local Level: Tobacco's Lessons, Paul A. Diller

Maine Law Review

For at least a decade, commentators have speculated that obesity is the next tobacco, a public health scourge that might nonetheless offer a gold mine to ambitious plaintiffs’ lawyers. Successful lawsuits, as in the tobacco context, might spur the food industry to reform its practices so as to help reduce the alarmingly high national obesity rate. The obesity narrative, however, has not played out accordingly to the same script as tobacco. Relatively quick action by most state legislatures immunized the food industry to tort lawsuits seeking obesity-related damages, and the scant judicial opinions on the issue have skeptically assessed plaintiffs’ …

The Symbolic Garden: An Intersection Of The Food Movement And The First Amendment, Jaime Bouvier

Maine Law Review

What is communicated when a neighbor raises raspberries instead of roses on the porch trellis, grows lacinato kale rather than creeping bentgrass in the front yard, or keeps Buckeye hens rather than a bulldog? This essay asserts that these and other urban agricultural practices are expensive—that they are not just ends in themselves but are commutative acts. These acts are intended to educate neighbors, assert a viewpoint, establish identity, and area widely viewed as symbols of support for a social and political movement—what Michael Pollan has dubbed the “Food Movement.” And, as symbolic acts, they deserve protection under the First …

From " Food Miles" To "Moneyball": How We Should Be Thinking About Food And Climate, Bret C. Birdsong

Maine Law Review

Since Michael Pollan polarized the push to eat local food in his bestseller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the concept of “food miles” has been something of a rallying cry and an organizing principle in the marketing of the local food movement. Among locavores and their sympathizers, the term seems to encapsulate all that is wrong with the food system. Fresh grapes from Chile make their way to supermarkets from Maine to Minnesota, and even California. Major food conglomerates process commodity ingredients like corn, soy, and wheat into packaged food that travels across the country and across oceans before landing on a …

Legal Institutions Of Farmland Succession: Implications For Sustainable Food Systems, Jamie Baxter

Maine Law Review

The legal institutions relevant to farmland succession—defined as the transfer of property in and control over farmland—are increasingly important determinants of sustainable environmental outcomes on modern farms. The history of farmland succession has been written, by and large, through extra-legal processes of transfer and inheritance between generations of close family relations. This familiar “family farm” model, however, is rapidly being replaced by succession arrangements between non-relatives, often strangers, with entrant farmers from non-agricultural backgrounds. As a growing number of current farmers retire and seek creative ways to transfer control and ownership of their farms, the availability and content of property …

Colloquium: Local Food || Global Food: Do We Have What It Takes To Reinvent The U.S. Food System?, Agnieszka A. Pinette Editor-In-Chief

Maine Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Tuna Still Isn’T Always Tuna: Federal Food Safety Regulatory Regime Continues To Inadequately Address Seafood Fraud, Stephen Wagner

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In 2012 alone, Americans consumed approximately 4.5 billion pounds of seafood, over 90% of which was imported. Simply put, Americans eat a lot of seafood, with upwards of 500 different species available to satiate the demand. Consequently, imported and domestic seafood in the United States is a thriving 80.2 billion dollar market, with certain highly desired species of fish fetching steep prices.

One fundamental assumption of the consumer-driven market is that the label on the seafood correctly identifies the species of seafood, thereby, among other things, justifying the market price. It is increasingly clear, however, that this assumption is often …

Regulating The Underground: Secret Supper Clubs, Pop-Up Restaurants And The Role O F Law, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Instagram pictures of elegantly plated dinners, long farmstyle tables, and well-to-do people laughing in what looks like a loft apartment are followed by commenters asking, “Where is this?” This is the world of underground dining. Aspiring and established chefs invite strangers into their homes (or their friends’ stores after hours, or the empty warehouse at the edge of town, or the nearest farm) for a night of food and revelry in exchange for cash. Although decidedly antiestablishment, these secret suppers and pop-up restaurants are popular—there are websites to help people locate them, and many respected publications have penned stories about …

Dying To Know: A Demand For Genuine Public Access To Clinical Trial Results Data, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

Four years ago at the age of 34, I heard the awful words "I'm sorry, but you have breast cancer" coming from my doctor. After the initial shock of the diagnosis wore off, I like many others who have faced life-threatening diseases began to work with a team of physicians to develop an appropriate treatment plan, which included contemplating enrollment in a clinical trial. Quite unexpectedly, my position as an intellectual property professor whose scholarship focuses primarily on information control, my role as a member of my university's Institutional Review Board that oversees studies involving human subjects, and my newly …