What is Food Law & Policy?

 

Food Law & Policy is the study of "the basis and impact of all of the laws and regulations that govern the food and beverages we grow, raise, produce, transport, buy, sell, distribute, share, cook, eat, and drink."  Two of the Academy's  founding board members, Emily Broad Leib and Baylen Linnekin described the origins of this new discipline in their article, Food Law & Policy: The Fertile Field's Origins & First Decade, 2014 Wis. L. Rev. 557.

 

Food Law & Policy embraces a broad study of laws, regulations, and policies at all levels of government that impact the food we eat. It includes traditional food law subjects such as food safety and food labeling and expands the scope to include all of the other elements that impact our food system. Agricultural policy, food assistance programs, efforts to control obesity, dietary guidance, farmed animal welfare, food worker protections and global food security are all within its purview.