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Full-Text Articles in Food and Drug Law

The Incremental Development Of An Extra-Statutory System Of Regulation: A Critique Of Food And Drug Administration Regulation Of Added Poisonous And Deleterious Substances, James David Poliquin Apr 2025

The Incremental Development Of An Extra-Statutory System Of Regulation: A Critique Of Food And Drug Administration Regulation Of Added Poisonous And Deleterious Substances, James David Poliquin

Maine Law Review

Federal regulation of added poisonous and deleterious substances in food by the Food and Drug Administration has become an administrative quagmire. Although responsibility for this situation evades precise assignment, FDA regulatory problems typically arise through the operation of three factors. First, the applicable statutory provisions are highly ambiguous, far exceeding the level of ambiguity traditionally viewed as necessary to administrative flexibility and efficiency. Even resort to the legislative history of these provisions often leaves many questions unanswered. Second, the perpetual amendment of the original Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act without the simultaneous repeal of all the inapplicable and inconsistent …


From "Maine Law" To Model Act: Liquor Liability In Maine, William P. Shumaker Dec 2024

From "Maine Law" To Model Act: Liquor Liability In Maine, William P. Shumaker

Maine Law Review

With the passage of the Maine Liquor Liability Act by the 112th Legislature, the State of Maine has completed a thorough reexamination of its public policy in the area of liability for injuries resulting from the use of alcoholic beverages. For 130 years the state's policy in this area was expressed by the statute commonly known as the dram shop act, the essential provisions of which had remained unchanged for over a century. This statute held sellers and other providers of alcoholic beverages strictly liable to any third party injured as a result of the intoxication of the recipient of …


Green Amendments And Ham: How Green Amendment Jurisprudence Can Inform Maine’S Right To Food, Sarah M. Everhart Jul 2024

Green Amendments And Ham: How Green Amendment Jurisprudence Can Inform Maine’S Right To Food, Sarah M. Everhart

Maine Law Review

Maine’s constitutional right to food is the first state constitutional right to food and the extent of the rights created by the amendment is largely unknown. The right to food, as enacted in Article I, Section 25 of the Maine Constitution, provides: Section 25. Right to food. All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being, as long as an individual does not commit trespassing, …


Constitutionalizing The Human Right To Food In Maine: A People’S Tool To Advance Food Sovereignty In The U.S., R. Denisse Cordova Montes, Heather Retberg, Photini Kamvisseli Suarez Jul 2024

Constitutionalizing The Human Right To Food In Maine: A People’S Tool To Advance Food Sovereignty In The U.S., R. Denisse Cordova Montes, Heather Retberg, Photini Kamvisseli Suarez

Maine Law Review

On November 2, 2021, Maine voters overwhelmingly supported a statewide referendum approving an amendment to enshrine the right to food in Maine’s constitution. This vote was preceded by a decade of food sovereignty advocacy in Maine. This advocacy was led by small farmers and homesteaders and supported by people looking to opt out of the industrial food system, which is dominated by a few corporate monopolies and promotes charity-based solutions to hunger. This vote was a resounding proclamation by the people of Maine in support of the right to food, the right to save and exchange seeds, and the right …


Realizing The Right To Food In Maine: Insights From International Law, Smita Narula Jul 2024

Realizing The Right To Food In Maine: Insights From International Law, Smita Narula

Maine Law Review

In November 2021, Maine made history as the first U.S. state to constitutionally recognize the right to food. Maine’s right to food amendment—which sought to address widespread food insecurity and corporate control of the food supply—proclaims food as a “natural, inherent and unalienable right,” and empowers Mainers to grow and consume food of their own choosing, affirming their right to food sovereignty. This Article makes three key contributions to scholarly examinations of this historic amendment. First, it situates the amendment within the broader landscape of domestic and global struggles for the right to food and food sovereignty. Second, the Article …


State V. Brown: A Test For Local Food Ordinances, Ryan Almy Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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.