need help! more food and the law issues

March 8, 2008 at 12:00 pm · Filed under eating, law, posner, thinking

I apologize for my discontinuation of posts about food and the law. I will go back and update soon, especially what we had to eat. But right now I need some help! This week is the last meeting of food and the law, unless we can come up with some other topics for OB-S. I already sent him the Posner opinion about the horse meat, which he never responded to. What are some other food and the law issues? We’ve done taxing fat, tort liability, bio-engineered food, the problem with corn, and now we’re doing packaging and labeling. If you can  help suggest something and he agrees, I will try to get you into the meeting. Is that good incentive?

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2 Comments

  1. the editor said,

    March 8, 2008 @ 4:33 pm

    I have to think about it a little more, but I’d be interested in the special Wisconsin butter-related laws. I understand that restaurants there are _required_ to serve butter, and attempting to pass off margarine as butter is a violation of state law. See Wisc. Stat. §97.18(4): The serving of colored oleomargarine or margarine at a public eating place as a substitute for table butter is prohibited unless it is ordered by the customer.”

    and (5): “The serving of oleomargarine or margarine to students, patients or inmates of any state institutions as a substitute for table butter is prohibited, except that such substitution may be ordered by the institution superintendent when necessary for the health of a specific patient or inmate, if directed by the physician in charge of the patient or inmate.”

    USDA Dairy law is also very complicated and historical, since there are baroque milk price controls and regional schemes. I don’t know too much about it, other than it’s completely market-distorting and bizarre.

  2. maya said,

    March 8, 2008 @ 11:12 pm

    Wow, those laws are indeed bizarre. I’ll mention that to OB-S this week. I also heard from several of my classmates tonight that they’ve suggested articles on fair trade coffee. But this butter thing sounds way more interesting, not to mention that he’ll make foods with tons of butter in them, and that would be awesome.

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