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Martinez-Cuevas V. Deruyter Brothers And Covid-19: Is It Time To Re-Examine Farmworker Labor Protections?, Margaret Todd, Sarah Everhart Sep 2021

Martinez-Cuevas V. Deruyter Brothers And Covid-19: Is It Time To Re-Examine Farmworker Labor Protections?, Margaret Todd, Sarah Everhart

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the fall of 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, a closely divided (5-4) Washington Supreme Court, in Martinez-Cuevas v. Deruyter Bros. Dairy Inc.1, held that dairy workers, despite a state wage and hour law2 specifically exempting agricultural workers, are entitled to overtime pay. The Court based its decision, in part, on the dangerous nature of the work performed by the dairy workers.3 Although the decision was specific to dairy workers in Washington, the majority of U.S. farmworkers are not entitled to overtime wages while working jobs that are generally considered dangerous and have been made more …


Addressing Food Insecurity In The United States During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Role Of The Federal Nutrition Safety Net, Sheila Fleischhacker, Sara N. Bleich Sep 2021

Addressing Food Insecurity In The United States During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Role Of The Federal Nutrition Safety Net, Sheila Fleischhacker, Sara N. Bleich

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Food insecurity has been a direct and almost immediate consequence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated ramifications on unemployment, poverty and food supply disruptions. As a social determinant of health, food insecurity is associated with poor health outcomes including diet related chronic diseases, which are associated with worst COVID-19 outcomes (e.g., COVID-19 patients of all ages with obesity face higher risk of complications, death). In the United States (US), the federal nutrition safety net is predominantly made up of the suite of 15 federal nutrition assistance programs that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers and …


Understanding Modern History Of International Food Law Is Key To Building A More Resilient And Improved Global Food System, Michael T. Roberts Sep 2021

Understanding Modern History Of International Food Law Is Key To Building A More Resilient And Improved Global Food System, Michael T. Roberts

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This article advocates the need for a history of the development of modern international food law and suggests an analytical approach to complement the chronicling of events. Comprehension of this history will help elucidate the evolution of a complicated modern global food system, including its resiliency and vulnerability as demonstrated by Covid-19, thereby providing valuable context for change in the system where needed. This essay makes the case for such a history in three parts. First, it briefly demonstrates the need for a historical perspective through a critical examination of a journal article that speaks to Covid-19 food security in …


Organic Waste Bans: Beyond The Compost Heap, David Lee Sep 2021

Organic Waste Bans: Beyond The Compost Heap, David Lee

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Food waste and food insecurity are strange bedfellows, but in the United States they shamelessly walk hand-in-hand. The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (“TEFAP”) are two federal programs that provide for large numbers of people in the United States. Local food recovery and donation programs serve their communities as the “backbone of the America hunger response" efforts. While many American households continue to report their struggles with food insecurity, heaping piles of good food go to waste. The repercussions of wasted food are vast, taxing American wallets, wasting our resources with every bit …


The Pandemic, Climate Change And Farm Subsidies, Allen H. Olson, Edward J. Peterson Sep 2021

The Pandemic, Climate Change And Farm Subsidies, Allen H. Olson, Edward J. Peterson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Many people believe that once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, life will return to the way it was. This belief is both unrealistic and dangerous. It is unrealistic because the virus will be around for years if not indefinitely. The timeframe for the worst of the pandemic will depend on our ability to administer effective vaccines worldwide and the public’s willingness to accept continued social distancing in the meantime. The damage done to public health, the economy and individuals is already substantial and will get worse. Recovery will be slow and incomplete. The belief that life will return to the …


The Quest To End Hunger In Our Time: Can Political Will Catch Up With Our Core Values?, David P. Lambert Jul 2021

The Quest To End Hunger In Our Time: Can Political Will Catch Up With Our Core Values?, David P. Lambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

David Lambert a nationall recognized advocate to end hunger speaks about his work and the impact it has had on Arkansas, the USA and the world.


Reconsidering Federalism And The Farm: Toward Including Local, State And Regional Voices In America's Food System, Margaret Sova Mccabe Jul 2021

Reconsidering Federalism And The Farm: Toward Including Local, State And Regional Voices In America's Food System, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Why is the relationship between our food system and federalism important to American law and health? It is important simply because federal law controls the American food system. This essay considers how federal law came to structure our food system, and suggests that though food is an essential part of our national economy, the dominating role of the federal government alienates citizens from their food system. It does so by characterizing food as a primarily economic issue, rather than one that has ethical, health, and cultural components. However, state and local governments have much to offer in terms of broadening …


Toward A Constructive Engagement: Agricultural Biotechnology As A Public Health Incentive In Less-Developed Countries, Chidi Oguamanam Jul 2021

Toward A Constructive Engagement: Agricultural Biotechnology As A Public Health Incentive In Less-Developed Countries, Chidi Oguamanam

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Discourses on global public health crises, especially as they impact the less-developed world, focus mostly on the issue of access to life-saving drugs for needy populations. Also, they implicate the misalignment of global pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) agenda with the health needs of the poor. Equally attracting significant attention is the role of intellectual property in driving up the cost of drugs and exacerbating the drug access freeze to needy populations. More often, the conceptual strings of these discussions are woven around a complex interaction of themes, including those of globalization, the development narrative, and strategic changes in international …


The Costs And Impacts Of Rising Food Prices Among Low-Income Households, Elaine Waxman Jul 2021

The Costs And Impacts Of Rising Food Prices Among Low-Income Households, Elaine Waxman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The pressure of rising food prices on low-income households is often assumed to be primarily an issue for developing economies, where fluctuations in food staple prices can have dramatic consequences for food security and social and political stability. Observers often note that Americans benefit from relatively low food prices and spend far less to feed their families than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. Indeed, the average American household spent 7.6% of their household expenditures on food purchases at home in 2009, while the comparable percentage exceeded 40% of household expenditures in diverse countries such as Mexico, …


Global Food Security: In Our National Interest, David P. Lambert Jul 2021

Global Food Security: In Our National Interest, David P. Lambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

All Americans have a direct stake in the problem of global hunger, which has many dimensions. For most of us it is a profound moral issue, and we are guided by our faith to respond.


Tribal Food Sovereignty In The American Southwest, Julia Guarino Jun 2021

Tribal Food Sovereignty In The American Southwest, Julia Guarino

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Food is an issue that implicates tribal sovereignty for historical, cultural, and public health reasons. This article undertakes a policy analysis of the importance of food to tribal sovereignty, and suggests that tribes, many of which have begun to do so already, make robust use of the concept of "food sovereignty" as part of their overarching project of protecting and promoting tribal sovereignty in general. This article sets the stage for understanding the importance of food sovereignty to tribes by exploring the history of food and culture in the American Southwest, where the public health consequences of changes in diet …


The Beginnings Of The Journal Of Food Law & Policy, Michael T. Roberts Jun 2021

The Beginnings Of The Journal Of Food Law & Policy, Michael T. Roberts

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the first sentence of the introduction to the inaugural edition of the Journal for Food Law & Policy, Margie Alsbrook, the founding Editor-in-Chief, and I, the founding faculty advisor, stated: "It is with great pride and pleasure that we present the inaugural issue of the Journal for Food Law & Policy." In celebration of the Journal's tenth anniversary, I am inclined to echo the same sentiment, but with the added proviso: "surprised!" I confess being gravely concerned ten years ago over the Journal's survivability. Food law and policy was then barely in its formative stage. The nascent, social food …


Implementation Of The Public Distribution System: An Empirical Analysis Of The Right To Food In An Urban Slum, Dipika Jain, Brian Tronic Jun 2021

Implementation Of The Public Distribution System: An Empirical Analysis Of The Right To Food In An Urban Slum, Dipika Jain, Brian Tronic

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Malnutrition is one of the biggest problems facing India today. Thus, the functioning of the Public Distribution System (PDS) - which provides subsidized food to hundreds of millions of peopleis critically important. However, while numerous studies have evaluated the performance of the PDS in rural areas, there is a notable lack of research in urban slums, a rapidly growing population. Through interviews with PDS beneficiaries and other stakeholders, the present study examines the PDS in one slum in Delhi and finds numerous problems, including low quality grain, corruption, and the lack of an effective complaint mechanism. Although several states in …


United States Food Law Update: Shrouded By Election-Year Politics, State Initiatives And Private Lawsuits Fill In The Gaps Created By Congressional And Agency Ossification, A. Bryan Endres, Lisa R. Schlessinger, Rachel Armstrong May 2021

United States Food Law Update: Shrouded By Election-Year Politics, State Initiatives And Private Lawsuits Fill In The Gaps Created By Congressional And Agency Ossification, A. Bryan Endres, Lisa R. Schlessinger, Rachel Armstrong

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Observers of food law in the 2012 presidential election year witnessed a dramatic slowing of federal initiatives-perhaps arising from a desire by both Congress and the administration to avoid upsetting critical constituent groups during a year seemingly dominated by campaigns and endless talking points. For example, Congress failed to take action on a unique compromise between what some had considered mortal enemies-the Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers-that would implement a federal animal welfare standard for laying hens in return for abandoning ballot measures in various states. Similarly, the FDA waited until the early days of …


The U.S. Department Of Agriculture As A Public Health Agency? A "Health In All Policies" Case Study, Lindsay F. Wiley May 2021

The U.S. Department Of Agriculture As A Public Health Agency? A "Health In All Policies" Case Study, Lindsay F. Wiley

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The "war on obesity" is now well into its second decade. What began as an effort to encourage medical doctors to screen and treat patients whose weight put them at risk for health problems has transformed into a much broader public health campaign to address the root causes of obesity. A growing number of state, territorial and local health departments are currently exploring new ways to promote healthy eating and physical activity. At the federal level, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made "nutrition, physical activity and obesity" a top priority.


The Forgotten Half Of Food System Reform: Using Food And Agricultural Law To Foster Healthy Food Production, Emily Broad Leib May 2021

The Forgotten Half Of Food System Reform: Using Food And Agricultural Law To Foster Healthy Food Production, Emily Broad Leib

Journal of Food Law & Policy

America is facing widespread problems with its food system, including environmental harms due to externalities from industrial farms; the increasing amount of "food _miles" traveled by the products that make up our daily meals; and the growing size and complexity of recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Indeed, the entire system that covers the life cycle of food, through production, processing, distribution, consumption, and food waste management, is in crisis. One of the most disturbing of these well-documented problems with the industrial food system is the increase in rates of obesity and diet-related illnesses. Obesity rates in the U.S. have more …


Food Law & Policy: An Essay, Peter Barton Hutt May 2021

Food Law & Policy: An Essay, Peter Barton Hutt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Food has been the driving preoccupation of humans since the dawn of evolution. Exactly when food processing began and when the original hunter-gatherers settled down to develop agriculture-or even the question of which of these occurred first-remain issues of scholarly pursuit and debate. It is clear, however, that these events occurred millennia before the advent of recorded history; therefore, we must rely on largely adventitious discoveries of archeological artifacts to advance our developing knowledge of these events.


Food Democracy Ii: Revolution Or Restoration?, Neil D. Hamilton May 2021

Food Democracy Ii: Revolution Or Restoration?, Neil D. Hamilton

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Author's Note: This essay is a companion to the essay 'Food Democracy, "which appears in 9 DRAKE JOuRNAL OF AGRICULTURAL LAw 9 (2004). In that essay, the author discussed many of the progressive trends that are helping reshape America's food system. These trends have a common denominator in their reflection of the democratic tendencies of the American populace. The desire of an increasing number of consumers to eat better food and to have access to the information, choices, and alternatives that make better food available are helping drive shifts in food production and marketing. Accompanying these shifts are political and …


Food And Agricultural Security Strategy And Its Implementation Under Public Health Security And Bioterrorism Preparedness And Response Act Of 2002, Vivek V. Nemane May 2021

Food And Agricultural Security Strategy And Its Implementation Under Public Health Security And Bioterrorism Preparedness And Response Act Of 2002, Vivek V. Nemane

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The U.S. agricultural system can be described as concentrated, specialized and industrialized. A typical food chain generally involves agricultural production, storage, processing and distribution. In the U.S. agricultural and food system, most production, distribution and processing is done in a consolidated and centralized manner.


Food Sovereignty In The United States: Supporting Local And Regional Food Systems, Allison Condra May 2021

Food Sovereignty In The United States: Supporting Local And Regional Food Systems, Allison Condra

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Today, perhaps more than ever, an increasing portion of U.S. society is paying attention to and asking questions about our food and agricultural system. We are recognizing the immense consequences of the agricultural "efficiencies" we valued and wrote into our policies in the seventies-for example, growing corn "fence row to fence row" and the ease ofmicrowaved meals and prepackaged foods. 3 The increasingly global nature of our food system and its consequences are becoming more apparent. Food safety concerns-prompted by a growing number of foodborne illness outbreaks and the government's response in the 2009 Food Safety Modernization Act-loom large and …


The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children (Wic) And The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap): Comparing Policies And Suggesting Changes, Regina T. Cucurullo May 2021

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children (Wic) And The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap): Comparing Policies And Suggesting Changes, Regina T. Cucurullo

Journal of Food Law & Policy

National concerns, such as obesity, should be addressed through national efforts. Considering the national reach of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and their ability to influence the diets of a significant amount of the nation's population, changes to these programs should be made to encourage healthy nutrition.


Herding History: Law And The Transformation Of Collective Subjectivities In The Dairyspheres Of Ukraine, Monica Eppinger Apr 2021

Herding History: Law And The Transformation Of Collective Subjectivities In The Dairyspheres Of Ukraine, Monica Eppinger

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In response to the limitations of socialism and capitalism in meeting basic needs, this article explores the alternative version of modernity offered in post-Soviet Ukraine and its agriculture. Tracing a century of fundamental transformations through the story of milk, it finds a history that troubles universalized framings of indigeneity and colonialism. This article argues that under socialism milk became a product of collectivized effort and a reservoir of household resilience; and then, with post-Soviet disintegration of some forms of collective life and emergence of others, that milk has come to delineate spheres of both collective action and individual striving. This …


Can Small Farmers Survive?: Problems Of Commercializing The Milk Value Chain In Pakistan, Erum Sattar Apr 2021

Can Small Farmers Survive?: Problems Of Commercializing The Milk Value Chain In Pakistan, Erum Sattar

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Milk in Pakistan is infused with the self-understanding of a nation. British colonial administrators laid the modern-day foundations of the country’s structure through land grants to small farmers. In an agricultural country where nearly forty percent of the population remains food insecure, rearing animals is a way of life in the rural areas where milk remains an important source of animal protein. Selling the daily surplus that families don’t consume is a significant source of earnings for cash poor families – and here an unprecedented change is taking place within dairy management and milk procurement systems. The scale of this …


The U.S. Dairy Industry In The 20th And 21st Century, George B. Frisvold Apr 2021

The U.S. Dairy Industry In The 20th And 21st Century, George B. Frisvold

Journal of Food Law & Policy

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the U.S. dairy industry was comprised of millions of small-scale operations producing for their own or for very local consumption. By the end of the 20th Century, the industry was dominated by large-scale producers marketing products via large cooperatives. Improvements in transportation, advances in animal breeding and feeding technologies, and scale economies have allowed the industry to be more competitive on global markets, where there is now active international trade in dairy products. Major government programs to support dairy farm income date back to Depression-era problems facing the industry. Federal programs to support …


Private Farms, Public Power: Governing The Lives Of Dairy Cattle, Jessica Eisen Apr 2021

Private Farms, Public Power: Governing The Lives Of Dairy Cattle, Jessica Eisen

Journal of Food Law & Policy

It is widely assumed that laws governing dairy productioninclude substantial protection of animals’ interests—that in some way the state is regulating the treatment of farmed animals and protecting them against the worst excesses of their owners’ selfinterest. In fact, across jurisdictions in Canada and the United States, the standards governing farmed animal protection are not established by elected lawmakers or appointed regulators, but are instead primarily defined by private, interested parties, including producers themselves. As scholars of animal law have noted, this has contributed to weak and ineffectual legal protection of the interests of farmed animals. The present study will …


The History And Future Of Genetically Modified Crops: Frankenfoods, Superweeds, And The Developing World, Brooke Glass-O'Shea Jan 2021

The History And Future Of Genetically Modified Crops: Frankenfoods, Superweeds, And The Developing World, Brooke Glass-O'Shea

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In a 1992 letter to the New York Times, a man named Paul Lewis referred to genetically modified (GM) crops as "Frankenfood," and wryly suggested it might be "time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle." Little did Lewis know that his neologism would become the rallying cry for activists around the world protesting the dangers of genetic engineering. The environmental activist group Greenpeace made great use of the "Frankenfood" epithet in their anti-GM campaigns of the 1990s, though they have since backed away from the word and the hardline stance it represents. But genetically …


Canadian Food Law Update, Patricia L. Farnese Jan 2021

Canadian Food Law Update, Patricia L. Farnese

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Provided below is an overview of developments in Canadian food law and policy in 2008. This update primarily analyzes regulatory and policy developments by the federal government. This focus reflects the significance of federal activities in the food policy realm. As this is the first Canadian update to appear in the Journal of Food Law & Policy, it is appropriate to include a brief summary of the Canadian regulatory framework for food. The regulatory framework provides the necessary context to identify trends driving recent changes in Canadian food law and policy.


European Union Food Law Update, Emilie H. Leibovitch Jan 2021

European Union Food Law Update, Emilie H. Leibovitch

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The European Union (EU) is facing major institutional challenges because Ireland rejected the Treaty of Lisbon last summer. The Treaty of Lisbon aims at modifying the institutional framework of the EU; more precisely, it aims in part at modifying the interaction of the various EU regulatory bodies with one another, as well as the interaction between the EU regulatory bodies and the national ones. The next few months will be decisive in determining whether the Treaty of Lisbon will finally replace the Treaty of Nice.


Teach A Man: Proactively Battling Food Insecurity By Increasing Access To Local Foods, Christina Fox Jan 2021

Teach A Man: Proactively Battling Food Insecurity By Increasing Access To Local Foods, Christina Fox

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This Chinese proverb has broad application when addressing the issue of food insecurity. It transcends beyond national borders and gender categories. It applies to many men, women, and children who are confronted by food insecurity today in America. Food insecurity is the "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.


A Meating Of The Minds: Possible Pitfalls And Benefits Of Certified Organic Livestock Production And The Prodigious Potential Of Brazil, Adam Schlosser Jan 2021

A Meating Of The Minds: Possible Pitfalls And Benefits Of Certified Organic Livestock Production And The Prodigious Potential Of Brazil, Adam Schlosser

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Certified organic food represents the fastest growing segment of food production in both the United States and throughout the entire world. This article examines the issues and opportunities facing both large and small-scale farmers who wish to engage in organic livestock production. Organic regulations cover everything involved in production, starting with the organic certification process and concluding with slaughter and the subsequent shipping and sale of the end organic product. The final section of this article addresses the unique ability of Brazil - described alternatively as "the world's warehouse" and the "world's [future] source of food" - to increase the …