The importance of Food Safety Lawyers

The Importance of Food Safety Lawyers What is Food Law? Food law is an ensemble of legal provisions governing the production, distribution and consumption of food. It aims to protect the end user in the food chain, i.e. the consumer from adulteration and manipulation of quality and quantity of food produced, processed and delivered. The laws also cover usage of pesticides, tariffs on import of agricultural imports and issues of cleanliness and sanitation across all contact points where exists the possibilities of food contamination.

What is Food Safety?

Produced and processed food, medicines and drugs have the potential of affecting us in more ways than intended if proper safety precautions mandated in the Food Law are not enforced at different stages. Raw vegetables produced in the fields have the possibility of getting contaminated with excessive synthetic fertilizers or toxic pesticides which can cause great harm upon consumption. Farmers and raw material producers should be aware of laws defining permissible limits regarding quantity and quality of manures and pesticides applied. Storage and processing units are governed by laws regarding temperature conditions applicable and sanitization procedures and handling mechanisms to minimize risk of infections. Restaurants are also covered by laws relating to kitchen health and hygiene. All these laws cumulatively account for food safety.

Whom do Food Safety Lawyers work for?

From compliance and regulation purposes, food safety lawyers work for food producers, distributors, retailers and Government agencies. From quality control purposes, food safety lawyers also appear on behalf of affected customers having grievances on the quality of served food or having fallen ill upon consumption. The domain of food law is largely administrative and is based upon compliance. Food lawyers also function as lobbyists to highlight issues to their legislators on behalf of their clients.

What is the Role of FDA? Food safety in the United States is regulated by the US Food and Drug administration which functions as the regulatory authority on Food Safety Laws. The FDA was created in 1938 through the United States Food Drug and Cosmetics Act. It covers the domain of food, food supplements and dietary additives. The FDA also covers the cosmetics and drug manufacturing industry. In addition to protecting food consumers from natural diseases originating from the food production and distribution chain, the FDA is also mandated to protect citizens from bio-terrorism, i.e. intentional contamination of food products to cause mass damage to public health and safety.