Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic

The FDA can take action against unsafe products as needed after they come to market. But "it’s nearly impossible to do that if they don’t have a list of what those substances are,” said Emily Broad Leib, founding director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic. “No one’s notifying them.” The upshot is that, because of GRAS, the FDA doesn’t know what additives are in the food supply today. “The more I work on this, the crazier it is,” Leib said of the issue. Sarah Todd and Lizzy Lawrence ask in this STAT piece if the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can close the GRAS loophole and prevent untested additives from entering food. Read: https://lnkd.in/etm9HbZj

Research reveals that current U.S. state date label policies are failing to reduce food waste or improve public health. Emily Broad Leib and Regan Jayne Plekenpol are co-authors in this MDPI article "Can Food Waste Policies Promote Sustainability?: Relationships of Food Date Label Policies with Food Waste and Safety Outcomes" Our research on food date label policies examined the impact of state-level date label policies on food waste or foodborne illness. We found that states with more date label restrictions had greater waste, but this effect was not significant. In addition, date label restrictions and foodborne illness were not related. This underscores the urgency to rethink and reform date label policies to promote sustainability. Lead author is Balca Alaybek, and other co-authors are Grace Mika, John A. Aitken, Rob Hartman, Julia Painter, Joseph Beckmann, Laura Leets and Amber Sprenger Read: https://lnkd.in/eCjDsCnE  MITRE #FoodWaste #Sustainability #Policy #ClimateChange #PublicHealth #Research

CHLPI's Katie Garfield and Erika Hanson are co-authors on this Health Affairs article, "Food Is Medicine In The US: A National Survey Of Public Perceptions Of Care, Practices, And Policies" Lead author is Ronit Ridberg and other co-authors are Julia Sharib and Dariush Mozaffarian. Despite poor nutrition costing the US over 600,000 lives and $1.1 trillion annually, awareness of "Food Is Medicine" interventions is low. conducted a national survey which shows that most people want these nutrition-focused programs, like medically tailored meals, integrated into healthcare, with strong support for Medicare/Medicaid coverage. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e5v_bj65 The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University Food is Medicine Institute Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic  #FoodIsMedicine #Nutrition #Healthcare #PublicHealth #HealthPolicy #HealthEquity

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University of Law is seeking applications for a Food and Agriculture Law Graduate Fellow position for the 2025-2026 academic year. This role offers an opportunity for law students to work part-time in the Food and Farm Business Law Clinic and the Pace Food Law Center while pursuing an LLM in Environmental Law.   The focus of the fellowship will be assisting with the Food and Farm Business Law Clinic’s client work and programming. The Clinic provides pro bono transactional legal services to small farms, food businesses, and related nonprofit organizations.   Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eJnDP2Vr

Join us today for a conversation about the book "Ruin Their Crops on the Ground", the first and definitive history of the use of food in United States law and politics as a weapon of conquest and control. The book talk will feature author and Second Century Chair Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, Andrea Freeman, in discussion with Aziza Ahmed, Daniel P.S. Paul Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. The discussion will focus on the concept of “food oppression”, and how the weaponization of food has contributed to racial and social inequality, targeted marketing of unhealthy food to marginalized communities, and jarring health disparities along racial lines. Time: 12:20 p.m. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/edFQyD74

Opportunity Alert! Are you a recent law school graduate or post-graduate degree holder passionate about community-driven change? The Mississippi Delta Fellowship 2025 offers a unique chance to work at the intersection of law, policy, and development in the Mississippi Delta. Hosted by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and supported by Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, this Fellowship empowers changemakers to drive impact in health, food systems, education, and economic development. Apply by March 24, 2025: https://lnkd.in/eaFJRYAr Emily Broad Leib Gray E. Norton

The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) has submitted comments to USDA-FSIS and FDA, urging federal standardization of food date labels to reduce food waste, improve food recovery, and streamline industry practices. Concerns stem from the current inconsistent state-by-state regulations, which contribute to: Consumer Confusion: Varying date label phrases lead to misunderstanding, unnecessary disposal of edible food, and potential health risks. Supply Chain Issues: Non-standardized labels create logistical complexities for businesses. Financial Burdens: Inconsistent regulations increase costs for businesses, food recovery organizations, and food-insecure families. Read our recommendations and Comments: https://lnkd.in/eNfkzrhN Akif Khan Emily Broad Leib

Opportunity Alert! Are you a recent law school graduate or post-graduate degree holder passionate about community-driven change? The Mississippi Delta Fellowship 2025 offers a unique chance to work at the intersection of law, policy, and development in the Mississippi Delta. Hosted by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and supported by Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, this Fellowship empowers changemakers to drive impact in health, food systems, education, and economic development. Apply by March 24, 2025: https://lnkd.in/eaFJRYAr Emily Broad Leib Gray E. Norton

Food systems transformation is a relatively new area in China's climate space. What opportunities are there to explore vis-a-vis the complexity of food systems stakeholders and political and cultural nuances of changing the food systems in a country of 1.4 billion? Yi/艺/藝 Jian/简/簡, Senior Fellow, U.S.-China Food Systems, founded the first civil society organization and national summit focusing on China's food systems and has been on the forefront in breaking new grounds in the space. He speaks this evening on "Food Systems Transformation in China: Sharing insights into potentials of food systems transformation in China's climate space," as part of the Salata Scholar's Seminar. Register to attend: https://lnkd.in/eNnNPPZ7 Date: March 4, 2025 Time: 6 p.m. Venue: HUCE 440, 26 Oxford Street, 4th Floor of Museum of Comparative Zoology

🌟 What excellent examples of how public policies are critical to the creation of a sustainable food system! ✅ Check out "Promoting Food Donation: Food Safety for Donation Law and Policy" (https://lnkd.in/erx7zXBG) that I co-wrote with staff at Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic back in 2022. Much has changed since then, but the opportunities presented in the report to reduce #foodwaste through #fooddonation has not. #sustainablefood #foodsystem #foodsafety