First Annual HLS-UCLA Food Law and Policy Conference

Transparency in the Global Food System: How Much Information and to What Ends?
The Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law and The Food Law Lab at Harvard Law School partnered to host the UCLA-Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Conference, a joint annual conference which will focus on transparency issues in the food system from a legal perspective.
The first of these conferences, “Transparency in the Global Food System: What Information and to What Ends?” was held on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25, 2014 at the UCLA Faculty Center.
Event Description:
Every day brings increasing media coverage, intensified citizen concern and political focus to the problems of our food system, accompanied by a building consensus on the need to address the known challenges. But, the factors shaping our current food system and their implications are often opaque and difficult to analyze, due to both the complexity and lack of transparency in our system. This conference examined these issues: the meaning of transparency in food law and policy, how consumers use and misuse information about the food system, and the limits of information as a policy tool.
Dr. David A. Kessler, former Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration and currently a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, delivered the conference keynote address on October 24th. In addition, as part of UCLA Food Day events, a screening and panel discussion of the documentary Food Chains was held in the evening following the conference. An academic workshop closed the conference on Saturday, October 25th with a discussion of the future of food law teaching and scholarship.
Agenda:
Friday, October 24, 2014 | 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. David A. Kessler, former Commissioner of the United States FDA and current Professor at University of California, San Francisco Medical School
Panel 1: What We Talk About When We Talk About Transparency: The Meaning of“Transparency” In the Modern Food System
Moderator: Michael Roberts, Executive Director, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law
Panelists explored new frontiers in information provision currently being debated as well as identifying current food transparency gaps.
Panel 2: Information to What End: The Role of the Consumer in Driving System Change
Moderator: Margot Pollans, Teaching Fellow, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law
This panel explored the interaction between information and regulation, and the ability of consumers to use and respond to increased information about their food.
Panel 3: Can More Transparency Help Fix a Broken Food System?
Moderator: Kim Kessler, Policy and Special Programs Director, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law
This panel addressed the interaction between increased transparency and norms around food production and distribution, with the central question of whether raising the bar on transparency and information can have a direct impact on issues of equity in the food system.
Friday, October 24, 2014 | 3:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
In collaboration with UCLA Campus Food Day events conference registrations are invited to a private UCLA Campus Food Day Screening of documentary Food Chains. A film by award-winning documentary film maker Sanjay Rawal, Food Chains explores American agriculture from wage theft to modern-day slavery and exposes the powers that propagate these conditions.
The screening was followed by discussion and Q&A with a distinguished panel of experts.
Saturday, October 25, 2014 | 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Academic Workshop
Moderator: Margot Pollans, Teaching Fellow, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law
This workshop brought together law school faculty to discuss the future of food law teaching and scholarship.
To learn more about Resnick program information and events, please visit www.law.ucla.edu/Resnick. For any questions, or to be added to our mailing list for future events and opportunities, please email resnickprogram@law.ucla.edu.
To learn more about Food Law Lab program information and events, please visit us online at petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/research/food-law-lab. For any questions about the Food Law Lab, please email thefoodlawlab@law.harvard.edu.