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Tag: Food Law and Policy Clinic (page 2 of 3)

FLPC Releases Toolkit to Promote Food Waste Reduction

November 4, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

food-waste-toolkit-coverToday the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) releases Keeping Food Out of the Landfill: Policy Ideas for States and Localities. This toolkit provides comprehensive information on eight different policy areas that states and localities can consider as they ramp up efforts to reduce food waste. There are great opportunities for food waste reduction at the federal level, but much can be done by states and localities, whose involvement in finding solutions to food waste and food recovery is vital. The toolkit includes recommendations for each of the policy areas, which can be utilized by legislators, advocates, food donors, and food recovery organizations to call for policy changes.

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Screening Toolkit for Not Really Expired is Now Available

October 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

expired-screening-guide-coverThe Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), in partnership with Racing Horse Productions, has released a screening toolkit for the short film EXPIRED? Food Waste in America. Expired? was released in February 2016 and explores how misleading date labels on food products contribute to food waste in America.

By now, Expired? has more than 16,800 views on Vimeo. But this impactful documentary has the power to engage and inform millions on the critical issue facing the United States. With that in mind, FLPC has released a screening toolkit to encourage food waste warriors at every level to reach even more people.

The screening toolkit contains helpful advice for preparing to screen the documentary for the public, discussion questions and talking points to get the conversation started, advice on how to take action to combat food waste and reform  expiration date labels, and additional resources from other leaders in the food waste reduction movement.

The U.S. alone wastes 160 billion pounds of food, or nearly 40% of food produced in this country, annually.

We hope the screening toolkit will encourage colleges and universities, high schools, libraries, food policy councils, health departments, advocates to hold screening of Expired? to help raise awareness on the need to reform our expiration date labeling system and reduce the amount of safe and wholesome food wasted in the U.S.

Download a copy of the Expired? Food Waste in America screening toolkit.

FLPC and NRDC Release New Fact Sheet on Food Donation

September 30, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Food donation provides a critical link between organizations with wholesome surplus foods and the 42 million Americans who are food-insecure today. Yet while there are strong federal and state protections, many food manufacturers, retailers, and restaurants cite fear of liability as one of the main barriers to donating food. The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently created a fact sheet with recommendations to strengthen the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, passed by Congress in 1996, encourages donations through a broad range of protections for food donors, but many seem unaware of these protections. FLPC and NRDC first looked at the challenges impacting use of the Act in 2015’s Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donation: A Legal Guide. This newly released fact sheet strengthens the suggestions made in the legal guide, explaining five ways the law should be updated and implemented to expand and strengthen the protections—and ensure they better align with the current food-recovery landscape:

  1. Assign an executive agency, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to oversee implementation and interpretation of the law.
  2. Extend protections to nonprofits that sell food at a discounted price, as well as their donors.
  3. Extend protections to donations made by food service establishments and retailers directly to individuals.
  4. Limit labeling requirement to comply with safety-related federal, state, and local laws, but not immaterial errors such as incorrect weight.
  5. Explicitly extend protections to past-dated food.

Read the “Recommendations to Strengthen the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act” fact sheet.

Harvard Law School partners with Food For Free

September 26, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

Harvard Law waste reduction ‘exemplary’ during Commencement in 2016

Credit: Elizabeth Marble Caton

Kicking off the semester sustainably, Harvard Law School launched its first formal food donation program, in partnership with Food For Free, a local nonprofit that recovers wasted food from companies across Cambridge and Boston to redistribute to the area’s hungry. HLS will set aside excess prepackaged and retail foods from its dining halls for weekly pickup by Food For Free.

Food recovery and wasted food have long been a focus at HLS. In May 2016, HLS piloted its first food donation at a zero-waste Commencement lunch and was able to recover 900 meals that were distributed by Food For Free to local food pantries and shelters. This initiative was made possible through collaboration with Restaurant Associates (RA), HLS’s food services provider, HLS’s Sustainability Manager, and guidance from the HLS Food Law and Policy Clinic.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic is tackling food waste through work on date labeling policies, food donation policies and liabilities, and through education efforts like their recent Reduce Recover: Save Food for People conference in June.

Across campus, Harvard University Dining Services, which serves all 14 undergraduate dining halls and the Harvard Business School is also partnering with Food for Free to redistribute prepared and prepackaged foods. These efforts align with Harvard’s commitment to build and operate a healthier, more sustainable campus. As outlined in the Harvard Sustainability Plan, Harvard has a University-wide goal to reduce waste 50% per capita by 2020, and the Office for Sustainability is in the process of creating Sustainable and Healthful Food Standards, which will address food waste.

While the partnership between HLS and Food For Free will initially focus on the donation of just prepackaged and retail foods, they are looking forward to expanding donations to include all prepared foods that are safe to donate from the cafeteria and catering services on campus. Elizabeth Marble Caton, the Sustainability Manager at HLS, completed a pilot study that found that the wasted food generated through Restaurant Associates’ catered events on campus is roughly 40 percent or .59 pounds of food per attendee. “We are eager to recover this wasted food and redistribute it to those in our community that are in need,” said Marble Caton.

Eliminate Laws That Cause Healthy Food to Go to Waste

September 22, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via New York Times

Emily Broad LeibEmily Broad Leib is an assistant clinical law professor, director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, and deputy director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. She is on Twitter.

Multiple policies could be implemented to address food waste and its impacts on the environment, food security, and our climate. In particular, we should eliminate laws that cause healthy food to go to waste, incentivize food donation and, when needed, enact penalties for senseless food waste.

Let’s start with consumer confusion, and the misguided laws regarding food date labels. Eighty four percent of consumers report they frequently throw food away after the sell-by date has passed, despite date labels being indicators of freshness, not safety. What’s more, in the absence of federal law on date labels, no two states have the same date label rules. Several states even restrict or ban the sale or donation of past-date foods. Federal legislation is needed to eliminate state laws that require past-date — but still safe — foods to be wasted, and to standardize date labels so they are clearer to consumers.

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Harvard Law School to Launch Pilot Food Donation Program with Food For Free in Effort to Reduce Food Waste and Enhance Food Recovery

September 6, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

We are thrilled to announce that Harvard Law School will join the growing list of colleges and universities in Massachusetts and around the nation that donate excess foods to those in need, thanks to a new partnership with Cambridge-based Food For Free, a leading food recovery organization committed to rescuing food that might otherwise go to waste.

Starting September 7, 2016, wholesome, excess pre-packaged and retail foods from the Law School’s dining hall will be set aside for pick up each week from Food For Free, who will then distribute the food to various food pantries, shelters, day care centers, after-school programs, clinics, and drop-in centers in the Boston/Cambridge metro area.

Reducing food waste is a priority of the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School (FLPC), which is a national leader on providing research and cutting edge policy recommendations to reduce the waste of healthy, wholesome foods. This summer, FLPC co-hosted (with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and Recycling Works in Massachusetts) a national conference on reducing food waste. The Reduce and Recover: Save Food for People conference convened more than 350 entrepreneurs, practitioners, policymakers, and enthusiasts from around the country to further a public dialogue on reaching the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national food waste reduction goal of 50% by 2030. The event was held at Harvard Law School, and FLPC worked closely with Harvard Law School’s catering vendor, Restaurant Associates, as well as Sustainable America, an environmental nonprofit, to source rescued food so that almost all of the meals served at the conference—nearly 1,000 meals in total—were made from rescued food.

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FLPC, in partnership with the Food Recovery Project, Launches “Leftovers for Livestock: A Legal Guide for Using Excess Food as Animal Feed”

August 8, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Leftovers for Livestock_coverIn the United States, approximately 63 million tons of food is wasted every year. The natural resources used to produce that food, including water, fertilizer, and land, are also lost as a consequence of this alarming amount of waste. Furthermore, this wasted food typically ends up in landfills where, as it breaks down, it leads to significant emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 56 times the atmospheric warming power of carbon dioxide. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in its Food Recovery Hierarchy, prioritizes recovery opportunities for reducing food waste. According to the hierarchy, wholesome, edible food should be kept in the human food supply if possible. When that is not possible, it should be used as feed for animals. Given the significant environmental impact of food in landfills, many businesses, nonprofit organizations, and policymakers have seen a renewed interest in the use of food scraps as animal feed.

In Leftovers for Livestock: A Legal Guide for Using Excess Food as Animal Feed, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Food Recovery Project at the University of Arkansas provide the first-ever catalogue of the different state regulations and requirements for feeding food scraps to animals. Leftovers for Livestock serves as an important resource for businesses with food scraps that could go to animals, livestock farmers, and other interested stakeholders.

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Food Law clinic sponsors conference focused on food waste, consumer education

July 29, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

Reduce-and-Recover-Conference-Book-Cover-2016“$1.3 billion per year is spent on sending food to landfills.”

“Food waste makes up 21% of landfill waste in the United States”

“As much as 40 percent of food produced in America gets thrown out.”

“This month you’ll toss 24 pounds of food in the trash.”

Food recovery entrepreneurs, farmers, business persons, academics, government officials and many others converged at Harvard Law School for two days of learning, strategizing, and networking to address the growing issue of food waste.

The conference, “Reduce and Recover: Save Food for People,” held June 28 and 29, was sponsored by the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), with support from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts.

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FLPC Director Testifies in Front of House Agriculture Committee

May 31, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

On Wednesday, May 26, 2016, the Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, Emily Broad Leib, provided testimony at House Agriculture Committee Hearing on Food Waste from Field to Table. Members of the House Agriculture Committee heard from a variety of witnesses from industry, academia and the private sector who shared their efforts and initiatives in place to address the issue of food waste across the food chain.

View video of the hearing:

Read the full text of Emily Broad Leib’s testimony here.

Tommy Tobin, channeling a passion for food into service and scholarship

May 24, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

042816_Tobin_088_354581_54294.op

Credit: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Growing up in the South, Tommy Tobin was part of a family that loved food.

“We liked to eat a lot,” said Tobin, who graduates in May with degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School and a plan to build his career around food law and policy.

When a severe speech impediment left him struggling to be understood, food became a way for Tobin to connect with others. In high school he volunteered at a food bank and with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and watched his actions speak volumes.

“I didn’t need to speak, I could just do,” said Tobin. “And speaking through service became a theme for me.”

That commitment to service continued in college. At Stanford University he led the Stanford Project on Hunger to help reduce food waste in the dining halls and to support a nearby homeless shelter. After graduating, in 2010, he served as an intern with the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, working on reducing food waste around the country.

Tobin spent a year in Ireland doing graduate work in food business. Back in the United States, he applied to the Master in Public Policy program at HKS.

“Harvard’s a wonderful place to go to study food,” Tobin said. “People all over this University work on food issues.” Not least at the Law School, which has a clinic devoted to food law and policy. Before long, Tobin was cross-registered in HLS classes. Then he was applying. Then he was accepted.

“To actually get in was incredible.”

Tobin’s passion for food justice is matched by his fascination with language, which developed in part when his speech issues forced him to scour the thesaurus for word substitutes. “I became really interested in the phrasing of things,” he said.

His passions merged at Harvard, where he led the Harvard Food Law Society, joined the Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, and held editing posts with both the Harvard Journal on Legislation and the Harvard Law and Policy Review.

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FLPC Releases Report on Consumer Perceptions of Food Date Labels

May 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Date Labels Survey Infographic-01

Today, at the Food Waste Summit hosted by the National Consumers League (NCL) and Keystone Policy Center, FLPC, NCL, and Johns Hopkins University Center for Livable Future released their findings from a national survey on consumer perception of date labels in the report Consumer Perceptions of Date Labels: National Survey.  The survey aimed to understand the extent to which consumers are confused about date labels, whether they throw away food after the date passes, perceptions about whether labels are federally regulated, and which labels most clearly communicate quality and safety, for purposes of standardizing the language Many people throw away food once the date passes because they think the date is an indicator of safety, but in fact for most foods the date is a manufacturer’s best guess as to how long the product will be at its peak quality. With only a few exceptions, food will remain wholesome and safe to eat long past its expiration date. The survey, and subsequent report, confirms widespread consumer confusion over food date labeling and how it likely contributes to to the 40% of food wasted in the U.S. each year.

Excerpt from the report:

“More than one third of the population (37%) says they always or usually throw away food because it is close to or past the date that appears on the package. 84% of consumers throw out food based on date labels at least occasionally.”

As efforts are underway in Congress to standardize date labels that indicate quality versus safety, the reports also provides useful data on which date labels consumers perceive most strongly as communicating quality and which most strongly communicate food safety.

Read Consumer Perceptions of Date Labels: National Survey in full.

FLPC, in partnership with the Food Recovery Project, Launches Updated Legal Guide on the Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donations

April 26, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Tax Deduction for Food Donation coverThe Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, in partnership with the Food Recovery Project at the University of Arkansas, is pleased to published an updated version of “Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donation: A Legal Guide,” to reflect the significant changes Congress made as part of the fiscal year 2016 omnibus budget that increase tax incentives for food donations and prevent food waste. This guide, originally published in November 2015, provides an important resource for food businesses and food recovery organizations to determine whether a food donor is eligible to receive the enhanced deduction.

An estimated 40 percent of food produced in the United States goes uneaten; at the same time, more than 14 percent of U.S. households are food insecure at some point during the year. Diverting a fraction of the wholesome food that currently goes to waste in this country could effectively end food insecurity for all Americans.

The extension and modification of the charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory included in the 2016 omnibus budget contains four significant changes: 1) a permanent extension of the enhanced tax deduction for food donations; 2) increases the deduction’s cap to 15% of the donor’s net income; 3) provides certain taxpayers a new optional formula for calculating the enhanced deduction; and 4) provides a formula for determining the fair market value (FMV) of food inventory. Each of these are reflected in the updated legal guide and explained in detail in FLPC’s previous blog post.

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EXPIRED in Washington, D.C.

April 25, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

By Katie Sandson,  J.D. ’17

2016-04-05_Date_Labeling_002_s

Image provided by Senator Richard Blumenthal’s office

I have been a clinical student in the Food Law and Policy clinic since January 2016. As a continuing clinical student this semester, I have been working on FLPC’s food waste and food recovery initiatives, including work on the clinic’s expiration date project. As part of its efforts to standardize date labels at the federal level, FLPC has drawn attention to this problem through the creation and promotion of a short film, EXPIRED? Food Waste in America. The film tells the story of how a restrictive date labeling rule in Montana has required countless gallons of wholesome milk to be needlessly discarded once the milk reaches a labeled date that has no basis in safety or science. Montana’s rule is just one example of similarly restrictive rules in place throughout the country.

Throughout the semester, I have worked to promote the film and raise awareness about the connection between date labels and food waste. Two weeks ago, I traveled to Washington, D.C. with the clinic to attend a number of events related to our date labeling projects, including two screenings of the EXPIRED film in two very different settings. On Sunday, I helped give a presentation on date labels at the National Food Recovery Dialogue hosted by the Food Recovery Network. On Tuesday, FLPC’s director Emily Broad Leib and clinical fellow Christina Rice participated in a panel on date labels hosted by Senator Richard Blumenthal’s Office. Senator Blumenthal has announced plans to introduce legislation to standardize date labels at the federal level, an effort FLPC has supported throughout the process.

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The Importance of Food Policy Councils

April 6, 2016 / / 0 Comments

A conversation with Emily Broad Leib of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Via Lucky Peach

Emily Broad Leib is the co-founder and director of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic. The clinic pairs Harvard law students with nonprofits and government agencies working to increase access to healthy food and assist farmers engaged in sustainable agriculture.

Emily’s work began in Mississippi, which has one of the highest rates of poverty and obesity in the country. While a fellow in the Mississippi Delta, Emily worked on simplifying and clarifying laws that prevented small-scale farmers from selling their produce in farmers’ markets and helped start the Mississippi Food Policy Council. I spoke with her about food-policy councils, small farmers, food waste, and using food as a lens for understanding a community’s wider health problems.

Why do you focus on food?

When I was in law school, my main focus was in human rights. I didn’t know anything about food, really, before I went on my fellowship to Mississippi. There, I realized that there are two major social issues facing this country where food is closely linked. One is health. We have a huge issue with obesity and diet-related disease.

The other is environment and climate change. We know that food and agriculture both contribute to climate change and we will need to have really clear mitigation plans for how to address this.

How does a food-policy council address those issues?

A food-policy council is a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds—government officials, parents, doctors, teachers, and nonprofit organizations—coming together to try to figure out how they can make local food laws better for local food systems, health, or environment. There are actually more than two hundred in North America now.

Most of them are formed when people come together and say, Our government isn’t prioritizing this but we have a lot of ideas about what needs to change. If we come together as a coalition to make decisions and set our priorities, then we can have an impact. With theMississippi Food Policy Council, for example, we changed six laws in four years . We were able to work with a food-policy council and other nonprofits to get the sales tax eliminated at farmers’ markets. Most states have eliminated sales tax on groceries, but Mississippi still has that tax. At a grocery store, it’s easy to collect that sales tax, but for farmers it was a huge barrier to entry.

Beyond Mississippi, we’ve worked with the Navajo Nation, which has a host of food-related issues: diabetes, diet-related diseases, and minimal access to healthy food. As lawyers, the project is interesting because finding a solution requires navigating legal challenges related to Navajo sovereignty. There’s been a push for a Navajo farm-to-school program, for example, but it’s been held up by the different agencies—state governments, the federal government, and the Board of Indian Affairs—that run different schools. That makes it is hard to set one general policy.

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Law Professors Form Innovative Academic Organization To Promote Field Of Food Law And Policy

March 30, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Over the past decade, the field of Food Law and Policy has grown by leaps and bounds in law schools across the country. On a variety of metrics, the field is strong and growing, with more than 20 of the top 100 law schools offering courses in the field, and 30 clinics at 23 schools conducting related clinical work. But until now, Food Law and Policy has had no dedicated academic association to serve as a forum for individuals and institutions involved in its teaching and scholarship.

The Academy of Food Law and Policy (AFLP) is a newly-formed academic organization created to address this need. AFLP’s founding Board of Trustees includes Emily Broad Leib, Harvard Law School; Peter Barton Hutt, Covington and Burling (Adjunct Faculty, Harvard Law School); Neil Hamilton, Drake University Law School; Baylen Linnekin, Adjunct Faculty, George Mason Law School; Michael Roberts, UCLA School of Law; Susan Schneider, University of Arkansas School of Law; and Margaret Sova McCabe, University of New Hampshire School of Law. Founding institutional members include Harvard Law School, UCLA School of Law, University of Arkansas School of Law, and Drake Law School.

“As the first food law and policy clinic in the U.S., the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic has great interest in supporting other faculty and law schools in entering the field of food law and policy. I have worked with the other members of the Board of Trustees to establish the Academy of Food Law and Policy in order to provide a space for sharing ideas, knowledge and research, and nurturing social exchange among food law and policy colleagues. I look forward to working with the Board and members to build this into a vibrant organization that serves the needs of the growing community of food law and policy faculty and programs.” – Emily Broad Leib, Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and Founding Member of the Academy of Food Law and Policy.

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“The clinic broadened my horizons”

March 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments

By Alexander Leone, J.D. ’16 

The Food Law and Policy Clinic is renowned for its groundbreaking work on a variety of issues, including a report it released with the Natural Resources Defense Council on the staggering amount of food we waste in the United States. As someone who has been interested in food since college—and in the countless ways it affects both body and mind and our natural world—the Clinic was on my radar even before I chose to attend Harvard Law School.

Alexander Leone, J.D. ’16

During my time in the Clinic, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on two projects that mirrored perfectly my deepest food policy concerns: the ways in which our food system affects, or disserves, society’s most vulnerable; and how our food production practices affect, or destroy, the environment.

First, I worked with an attorney and fellow student to draft a letter to federal legislators on what standards should govern what millions of children, particularly low-income children, eat for their school meals. That letter ultimately became a Clinic policy brief, which “urges Congress to continue progress towards making nutritious, healthy, and delicious school meals available to all children.” Second, I analyzed novel ways in which the tort system could be used to deter the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture, a practice that has been linked to the antibiotic resistance crisis that threatens the future of modern medicine.

My projects not only developed my research and writing skills, but enlightened me as to different ways in which to research and write. Contacting and conference calling with a variety of different stakeholders in the legislative process taught me perspectives that I wouldn’t find in a case book. The need to use creativity and analogy to craft arguments at the frontiers of existing legal doctrine sharpened my intellect in a manner unlike a traditional law school class. And I have hope that the efforts of the Clinic will concretely affect food policy—perhaps, for example, through persuasion of lawmakers who will determine what millions of children will be eating during school.

The Clinic also broadened my horizons at Harvard Law School: It led directly to my participation as president of the Harvard Food Law Society. The Clinic sharpened my knowledge of American food law and policy and prepared me to lead an organization that, primarily through educational talks and its annual conference, seeks to advance food justice in our community and society.

Film as Advocacy in the Food Law and Policy Clinic

March 8, 2016 / / 0 Comments

By Katherine Sandson, J.D. ’17

When I enrolled in the Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) during the January term, I was assigned to work on the clinic’s food waste and food recovery projects. These projects included a short film, entitled Expired? Food Waste in America, that the clinic was producing in conjunction with Racing Horse Productions. The film explores the effects of an administrative rule in Montana that prevents milk from being sold after its labeled date, which must be no more than twelve days following pasteurization, even though milk is safe for consumption far longer. FLPC produced the film to provide one example of how the lack of uniform, federal standards for date labeling in the U.S. contributes to the 160 billion pounds of food waste generated by Americans each year.

By the time I joined the clinic, the film itself was nearly complete. While past clinical students had worked on producing the script, conducting interviews, and editing the film, I spent time preparing for the film’s release. This work included drafting and editing op-eds to accompany the short film in online news outlets, providing feedback on the content of the film’s website, and drafting guidance materials to help people run screenings of the film. During the spring semester, now that the film has been released, I have continued to help brainstorm and execute additional strategies for getting the film out to a broader audience.

Prior to joining FLPC, I would not have categorized most of this work as legal in nature. Through my work on this film, however, I have come to appreciate the value of media advocacy as a complement to legislative or policy advocacy. The release of this film was timed to coincide with the announcement that a bill that would standardize date labeling at the federal level will soon be introduced in the Senate. This bill has the potential to significantly reduce food waste, but it will require support to get passed, and mediums like film can help create that support. Moreover, legislation, once in effect, does not operate in a vacuum. Because food—everything from how we shop for food to how we store and dispose of it—is so cultural and habitual, education and awareness of what date labels mean and how they relate to food safety will likely be important to maximizing the effectiveness of any date labeling legislation that is passed.

Over the past few months, I have learned that non-legal tools like film can play an important role in supporting legislative and policy efforts by generating conversation and awareness. The Expired film, for example, tells one story, accompanied by vivid images, that illustrates a larger problem in only a few minutes. As a result, the clinic sees it as an important tool for raising public awareness about the connection between date labeling and food waste, in advance of the upcoming federal legislation and related efforts at the state or local levels.

Through my work to promote this film, I have gained a detailed understanding of the current legal framework for regulating date labels, and of the framework FLPC would like to see put in place. Perhaps more importantly, I have also learned to break down these legal frameworks for non-legal audiences. I am grateful for the opportunity to work on a project that has expanded my ideas about what legal skills and legal advocacy look like.

Food Law and Policy Clinic releases short film on food waste in America

February 15, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

Every year, 40% of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten, leading to 160 billion pounds of wasted food.

The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), in partnership with Racing Horse Productions, has released a short film, “EXPIRED? Food Waste in America,” that explores how the variety of date labels on food products contributes to food waste in America.

The film profiles the effects of a Montana state law that requires all milk to be labeled with a sell-by date no later than twelve days after pasteurization. After the sell-by date passes, the milk may not be sold or donated. As a result of the law, thousands of gallons of milk have been thrown away and milk prices in the state have risen.

As the film shows, however, milk remains safe to drink beyond twelve days.  In most states milk is dated up to 21 or even 28 days after pasteurization, but as long as the milk has been pasteurized, even spoiled milk is unlikely to make people sick.

The film highlights the Montana law as an extreme example of a national problem.

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Is that milk past its ‘sell by’ date? Drink it anyway.

February 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Los Angeles Times

An Op Ed by Emily Broad Leib,
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Food Law and Policy Clinic

1

My father used to keep food in the refrigerator for days, even weeks after the “best by” date, so long as it looked and smelled OK. My mom, by contrast, went out to buy a new carton of milk as soon as the date passed. Often there would be two containers of milk in our refrigerator: the half-empty one my dad was committed to finishing, and the new one my mom had purchased, out of fear that she might get sick if she drank my dad’s past-date milk.

Scenes such as this play out in households across the country. One person dutifully follows best-by, sell-by and use-by date labels on packaged and processed food while another jeers at them. According to one study, more than 90% of consumers report throwing away past-date food because of food safety fears. But the truth is that these dates are not intended to communicate safety information. Instead, they signal a manufacturer’s estimate of how long food will taste its best. Sometimes the dates are set based on consumer taste tests, but often they’re just a guess.

In 2013, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council published a report, “The Dating Game,” that tied food waste to date labels, and revealed that the dates are not federally regulated and do not indicate food safety. The Food and Drug Administration, which has the power to regulate date labels, has chosen not to, precisely because they are not related to safety. Food scientists say that not a single food safety outbreak in the U.S. has been traced to a food being consumed past date. (What are outbreaks traced to? Generally, to pathogens that may have contaminated the food during processing, or to “temperature abuse” such as leaving raw chicken in a hot car, or to air exposure that encourages mold. These are not problems that date labels currently address.)

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Food Sovereignty in Navajo Nation

February 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic
By Jevhon Rivers, J.D. ’17

20160114_134252I spent two weeks in the Navajo Nation as a Continuing Clinical student for the Food Law and Policy Clinic. I had been working on food sovereignty research for a partner in the area during the Fall, but could not comprehend the true depth of the challenges facing the Navajo Nation nor the passion and knowledge of its food advocates until I had the opportunity to visit it myself. During my time there, I was able to see advocates and government representatives working together to solve the complex food issues on the Navajo Nation, while also getting to see the work organizations are already doing, specifically to address chronic illness and increase food access.

In Window Rock, Arizona, the seat of government for the Navajo Nation Council, I had the opportunity to join a coalition of diverse advocates working toward food sovereignty. Indeed, the Nation seems to be on the precipice of real reform. I attended a committee meeting and a work session of the Health, Education and Human Services Committee (HEHSC) where representatives used the Good Laws, Good Food toolkit, created by FLPC and partners, as a jumping off point. Through these sessions and later meetings with other food advocates and coalition partners, I met key officials that lent insight into the work being done in education, food assistance, and agriculture among others.

During my stay, I was hosted by a partner organization, Community Outreach Patient Empowerment (COPE), a sister organization of Partners in Health (PIH) that works with the Navajo Nation to address chronic illness through education and outreach. Sonlatsa Jim-Martin, the COPE REACH Coalition Coordinator, invited me to participate in a wealth of events and experiences throughout my stay. I was able to get involved in a number of different projects with which COPE is affiliated. I spent one weekend with the Navajo Community Health Outreach (NCHO) Youth Leadership, working with young leaders who serve as public health champions in their communities. Not only did I have the privilege of learning about the role of food in Navajo traditions and culture but I got to witness the variety of public health projects they were creating, such as a campaign to share traditional wisdom on food in local chapter houses.

Later in my stay, I went with the COPE team to a clinic on the opposite end of the reservation to check in with the FVRx program at Monument Valley Clinic. FVRx, or the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, was developed by Wholesome Wave, and enables community healthcare workers to provide health and nutrition counseling coupled with prescriptions for fruits and vegetables that can be redeemed at local stores. Along with store owners and community members, the COPE team planned not only how they would recruit eligible mothers and children, but how they could adjust the education component and vendor partners to best serve their patients. On the way, we stopped at several food vendors as part of COPE’s Healthy Stores Initiative, to give them equipment to facilitate the sale of produce and provide them strategies to make the most of selling healthy food.

My time in the Navajo Nation not only provided an enriching complement to the research I had completed in the Fall, but gave me greater insight into the inspiring power of food to bring people together in inspiring and unexpected ways.

Food Law Clinic urges Congress to continue progress towards making nutritious meals available to all children

January 20, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

FLPC_Child-Nutrition-Reauthorization-Policy-Brief-Jan-2016As Congress prepares to consider the 2016 child nutrition act, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic released a policy brief recommending changes to the act to support healthy school meals.

The centerpiece of federal child nutrition policy, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (CNR), is up for review every five years and establishes the funding and policy for key programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, serving 30 million children.

Harvard Law’s Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) offers five specific recommendations for how the next CNR can strengthen key provisions for child nutrition:

  • Increase participation in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs;
  • Preserve the advances in nutrition standards mandated in the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HFFKA) and subsequent regulations;
  • Increase reimbursement rates for meals;
  • Expand funding for farm-to-school programs; and
  • Provide grants for school kitchen equipment, infrastructure, and staff training programs

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FLPC Director Speaks about Food Labels on 99% Invisible Podcast

January 15, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Emily Broad Leib, director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic, can be heard on the January 12, 2016 episode of the radio show, 99% Invisible.

The episode, titled “Best Enjoyed By,” examines the related issues of expiration labels for food products and the increase of food waste nationally, and the history of food labeling. The episode also refers to 2013’s “The Dating Game: How Confusing Date Labels Lead to Food Waste in America,” a report on date labels by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Emily Broad Leib is joined on the show by Doug Rauch, founder of The Daily Table.

FLPC releases Child Nutrition Reauthorization Policy Brief, urges Congress to continue progress towards making nutritious, healthy, and delicious school meals available to all children

January 7, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

CNR Policy BriefThe Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act (CNR) is the centerpiece of federal child nutrition policy. Following a fall legislative session in which progress on the CNR repeatedly stalled, Senate Agriculture Committee leaders promise that it will be a top priority as Congress returns this week. The CNR takes place every five years and establishes the funding and policy for key programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The last CNR, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), expired on September 30, 2015. Through a continuing resolution, the Act continued in its current form and is now up for reauthorization. The HHFKA marked a breakthrough in improving the nutritional quality of federally-supported child nutrition programs; among other things, it updated school meal nutrition standards for the first time in over 15 years.

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Summit convenes future leaders in the emerging field of food law and policy

December 14, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Via HLS News

As more and more people are becoming deeply concerned about what they’re eating and what it means for our health, the economy, the environment, and social justice, participants in a recent gathering at Harvard Law School hope to spark the growth of a nationwide student network for making significant contributions to the emerging field of food law and policy.

Food Law Student Leadership Summit PosterThe first Food Law Student Leadership Summit brought together 100 law students from 50 law schools from around the country for a weekend-long meeting with national experts in the food law field. The Summit, which took place from October 2-4 at Harvard Law School, was hosted by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), a division of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (HLS).

“The Food Law Student Leadership Summit was conceived as a way to convene interested law students from around the country to learn from national experts about a variety of key food law issues; develop strategies to start or expand student food law organizations; and build a national network of colleagues,” said Emily Broad Leib, director of FLPC and assistant clinical professor of law at Harvard. “Additionally, we wanted to learn how the Food Law and Policy Clinic, and Harvard Law School, can play a role in supporting a food law student network by providing information and resources.”

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Food Recovery Act Introduced in Congress Includes key policy recommendations from the Food Law and Policy Clinic

December 10, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic

Today, Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree introduced the Food Recovery Act, a groundbreaking comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at reducing food waste and promoting food recovery. The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) enthusiastically supports Congresswoman Pingree’s bill, which incorporates many of the key policy changes recommended by FLPC. FLPC staff and students believe that food waste is one of the most pressing environmental, social, and moral challenges facing our food system. The Food Recovery Act includes valuable reforms in key areas in order to increase food recovery in our nation.

First, the Food Recovery Act includes various provisions to encourage farms, groceries, restaurants and institutions to donate excess food to food recovery nonprofits. The legislation strengthens federal tax incentives that can increase food donations and recovery efforts by offsetting the costs associated with food donation.

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CHLPI Clinics Travel to the 9th Annual Southern Obesity Summit

November 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Via Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
By Michelle Maley, J.D. ’16 and Olivia Smith, J.D. ’17

On November 15, we traveled as representatives of the Harvard Health and Food Law and Policy Clinics to Jackson, Mississippi for the 9th Annual Southern Obesity Summit. The Summit is the largest regional event that focuses on obesity prevention in the United States. It draws participants from 16 Southern States as well as advocates from around the country. Attendees included policymakers, community-based organizations, health care providers, and members of other public health organizations.Southern Obesity Summit 2015 Logo

The three-day Summit kicked off at the Mississippi Museum of Art with a delicious meal featuring local Mississippi foods prepared by the Museum’s Executive Chef Nick Wallace. The next two days consisted of panels and work groups, which were interspersed with dance parties and other fun activities to get everyone moving. The panels and work groups covered topics such as school foods and nutrition, food access, obesity research, and physical activity. Ona Balkus, a senior clinical fellow with the Food Law and Policy Clinic, presented about procurement of local foods, describing its importance and its potential for promoting sustainable, healthy food systems. Katie Garfield, a clinical fellow with the Health Law and Policy Clinic, also presented about the Clinic’s exciting work with food banks and food pantries as supporters of health promotion in their communities.

For us first-time students in the Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Summit gave us an exciting opportunity to hear from many influential stakeholders whose innovative initiatives are already addressing the obesity crisis. We were able to learn about programs focused on food-related health outcomes in schools, health care facilities, and the community as a whole. Many of these efforts have informed and are often at the forefront of our clinic research, which strives to provide guidance for communities that want to improve the quality of their food systems. Specifically, we are working this semester to update the FLPC’s Good Laws, Good Food local food policy toolkit, which provides a menu of policy options to communities working to improve their food systems. The Summit provided a plethora of ideas and innovations to incorporate into the updated toolkit to share with other communities around the country. We enjoyed being able to connect with individuals who serve as champions in their respective fields, as it is these individuals that we hope to reach through our work and learn from in the process.

FLPC, in partnership with the Food Recovery Project, Launches Legal Guide on the Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donations

November 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Via Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

Tax Deduction for Food Donation report 2015An estimated 40 percent of food produced in the United States goes uneaten; at the same time, more than 14 percent of U.S. households are food insecure at some point during the year. Diverting a fraction of the wholesome food that currently goes to waste in this country could effectively end food insecurity for all Americans.

The federal government has recognized the importance of food donation and provides an enhanced tax deduction to incentivize certain businesses to donate food. In “Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donation: A Legal Guide,” the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Food Recovery Project at University of Arkansas School of Law provide an important resource for food businesses and food recovery organizations to determine whether a food donor is eligible to receive the enhanced deduction.

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A Warm Welcome to CHLPI’s New Clinicians

September 21, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs extends a warm welcome to the new clinicians who have joined the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI): Clinical Fellows, Emma Clippinger and Christina Rice (Food Law and Policy Clinic), Jamille Fields (Health Law and Policy Clinic); and Senior Associate Director and Litigation Manager Kevin Costello (Health Law and Policy Clinic).

Emma Clippinger, Clinical Fellow, Food Law and Policy Clinic

Emma Clippinger
Clinical Fellow
Food Law and Policy Clinic

Emma Clippinger received her J.D. in 2015 from NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. During law school, she acquired a range of public interest experience–from representing low-income tenants in Brooklyn Housing Court to co-authoring a report on effective civil society engagement for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Emma was a member of the International Organizations Clinic and the Criminal Defense and Reentry Clinic. She also co-founded NYU’s Food Law student group and served as an Articles Editor on the Journal of International Law and Politics.

Christina Rice, Clinical Fellow, Food Law and Policy Clinic

Christina Rice
Clinical Fellow
Food Law and Policy Clinic

Christina Rice attended University of Arkansas School of Law Agricultural and Food Law LL.M. program. As a LL.M. candidate Christina explored a broad spectrum of food law and policy issues through a combination of academic study and project-based work. As a graduate and research assistant to Susan Schneider, Director of the LL.M. program, Christina researched various areas of food and agricultural law for scholarly articles, updated chapters in the Food, Farming, and Sustainability: Readings in Agricultural Law textbook and contributed to the American Agricultural Law Association annual food law updates. Christina is licensed to practice law in North Carolina. She received her J.D. from Charlotte School of Law in 2014.

Jamille Fields, Clinical Fellow, Health Law and Policy Clinic

Jamille Fields
Clinical Fellow
Health Law and Policy Clinic

Prior to joining the Health Law and Policy Clinic, Jamille Fields  spent two years as the Law Students for Reproductive Justice Fellow placed at the National Health Law Program’s (NHeLP) Washington, D.C. office.  At NHeLP, where Jamille also interned during law school, her work focused on increasing and defending access to reproductive health care, particularly for adolescents, and increasing access to care for women living with HIV. She also participated in monitoring ACA implementation and Medicaid defense advocacy. Jamille is a licensed bar member in the state of Missouri. She received her J.D. and Master of Public Health degrees from St. Louis University’s Schools of Law and of Public Health in 2013.

Kevin Costello, Litigation Manager, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

Kevin Costello
Senior Associate Director,
Litigation Manager,
Center for Health Law
and Policy Innovation

Kevin Costello is the Senior Associate Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) and directs the Center’s litigation efforts. Prior to coming to CHLPI, Kevin was in private practice for eight years, most recently as a principal at Klein Kavanagh Costello, LLP. Kevin’s practice involved complex litigation in the fields of housing, health care, civil rights, antitrust and consumer law. He has been appointed by federal courts across the country to represent classes in Multi-District Litigation, as well as in nationwide class action litigation. Mr. Costello is an honors graduate of both Boston College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He served as law clerk to both the Hon. Joseph H. Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Hon. Francis X. Spina of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Replacing “Kid Food” with “True Food” in School Cafeterias

August 26, 2015 / / 0 Comments

schoolfoodsconferenceVia the Center for Health Law and Policy Clinic

On June 10, the Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) co-hosted the first annual Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds conference at Harvard University to discuss how to improve the quality of food in schools. Those attending the conference held diverse roles from school administrators to health experts to parents to school food service workers. Many attendees discussed the importance of getting rid of “kid food” in schools and instead serving our children “true food,” a term coined by Minneapolis public schools to describe flavorful, nutritious menu items in lieu of the stigmatized “healthy food” term.

As a third-year law student that previously had only a rudimentary knowledge of school food, I left the conference feeling invigorated. I realized that everyone, including me, has a role in creating positive changes in the school food environment and that we can create change on multiple levels: at an individual school, within a school district, and through state and federal policies.

FLPC Director Emily Broad Leib focused her presentation on how federal policy change affects school food, highlighting the upcoming Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). The current CNR, the 2010 Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act, will expire in September 2015. Advocates are pushing for a wide variety of improvements to school food regulations, including: increased funding for reimbursable meals, food literacy programing, kitchen equipment grants, kitchen staff training, and farm to school grants.

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Food Law Student Leadership Summit

June 26, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic 

Food law and policy is a fast-growing field of interest among law students, legal professionals, and society at large. Communities around the country and the world are searching for ways to improve the environmental, public health, and social impacts of the food system. Law students and lawyers are uniquely situated to make significant contributions to this emerging field. In response, growing numbers of law schools now offer food law and policy courses, operate student food law organizations, have undertaken clinical work related to food policy, and have hosted conferences on various food law and policy topics.

The Food Law Student Leadership Summit is the first conference to convene law students from around the country who share a passion for food law and policy. Participants will hear from national experts about key food law and policy issues related to the environment, health, food safety, and food waste; develop strategies to start or expand student food law organizations; build a national network of food law and policy colleagues; and begin to develop coordinated strategies for addressing some of society’s most pressing food law and policy concerns.

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