LAW-53806 Comparative Food Law

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Food Law

Internet site:

Globalisation and Governance

Contents:

Experience has shown that students who have followed the food law course, especially those who have acquired a liking for regulatory affairs, desire to advance their knowledge in this field.
After the EU, the United States of America is the world' s largest importing and exporting market in food products. Therefore graduates who, either occupationally or as field of study and research, get involved in international food trade are likely to be confronted with American legal requirements as well as important differences between US and EU legal culture.
This course will introduce the student to the different regulatory approaches to food in the EU and the US. To this end students will study the methodology of comparative law and will receive a brief introduction to US law and US food law. EU largely belongs to the continental European civil law tradition with its emphasis on legislation while the USA are currently the most important representative of the Angelo-Saxon common law tradition with its emphasis on litigation (in the EU often referred to as ' claim culture' ). These different legal traditions leave their traces on the regulation of food as well. Topics to be explored in depth are:
- The institutional framework of food law and, in particular, the differences between FDA and EFSA;
- Premarket approval schemes for foods, in particular the differences between GRAS and novel foods;
- Food hygiene, particularly the different approaches to HACCP;
- Food labelling;
- Food safety issue, including EU and US approaches to traceabilty and recall;
- Nutrition policy, particularly the different approaches to obesity;
- Product liability;
- Case study: GMOs.
In the food law course, students have already encountered the ICT-cooperation between Wageningen University and the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign (USA) through our so-called transatlantic dialogue: an internet discussion between food law students on both sides of the ocean. Professor A Bryan Endres is willing to discuss topics with Wageningen students by video-conference-system. Most years Professor Margaret R Grossman (Bock Chair in Agricultural Law) visits the Law and Governance Group in Wageningen. If she is present in the right period, she will give lectures in this course.

Learning outcomes:

Competences
- students can find and work with both European and American sources of law;
- students can embed comparative legal methods into the design and execution of research. Knowledge
- students understand the basics of the structure and method of American law in general
- students understand the basics of the structure and method of American food law in particular
- students understand the relevance and method of comparative law
- students have a deepened understanding of food aw, food labelling law, food safety law, nutrition policy and its legal embedding, product liability law and its application to food
- students have a deepened understanding of the different approaches to and the legal aspects of the EU-US conflict over the use of GMOs in food.

Activities:

Lectures (live and through video-conference-system), group discussion, literature study, paper writing.

Examination:

Individual or group (to be decided depending on number of participants) legal comparative paper on food law, written or oral (to be decided depending on number of participants) exam.

Literature:

Reader.