by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jan 30, 2026 | Newsletter, Food Law & Policy, Commentary
Over the past decade, FLPC has tracked state food waste policies to help us share with our partners and policymakers the ways that states are taking action to reduce food waste. States have such an important role to play in this space, especially because they oversee...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Oct 16, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
The 10th Anniversary of the Food Law Student Leadership Summit was held on Friday, October 3rd, and Saturday, October 4th, at the Harvard Law School campus. It was an incredible time engaging with faculty, panelists, and students from across the country. A heartfelt...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Aug 25, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, News
Labels on food are confusing for all kinds of reasons. Here’s what they mean. By Christina Couch. Originally published in The New York Times on August 19, 2025. Emily Broad Leib is quoted in this article. When you open your fridge, how often do you check the dates on...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Aug 21, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
By: Bianca Hsieh, Food Law and Policy Clinic Student With continued national attention on reducing food loss and waste, ReFED and the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic are tracking and analyzing food waste legislation. Their biannual updates to the Food...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jun 25, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) at Harvard Law School has just unveiled a groundbreaking new resource: the Food Loss and Waste (FLW) Policy Hub website. This isn’t just another website; it’s a comprehensive, policy-driven platform designed to...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Apr 30, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
By Regan Plekenpol, Policy Analyst Around the world, food loss and waste (FLW) pose enormous challenges to food security, environmental sustainability, and economic resilience. As millions go hungry and landfills swell with edible food, it’s clear that thoughtful...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Apr 23, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Linda Liu, FLPC Student As I walked through the doors of the Ho Chi Minh City Airport into the roiling heat and saw the smoggy horizon, I felt a curious sense of déjà vu. I recalled clearly the smog-filled skies, the motorbike-crowded streets, and the friendly...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Mar 26, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
[Boston, MA – March 26, 2025] — A new issue brief from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) and The Global FoodBanking Network emphasizes the urgent need for robust policy frameworks to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of voluntary...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Mar 24, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
By Balca Alaybek, Grace Mika, John A. Aitken, Rob Hartman, Julia Painter, Emily M. Broad Leib, Regan Plekenpol, Joseph S. Beckmann, Laura Leets, and Amber Sprenger. Originally published on MDPI on March 17, 2025. Food waste is a major contributor to climate change and...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Mar 20, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Bianca Hsieh, FLPC Student. Originally published on ReFED on March 19, 2025. With the continued national attention on reducing food loss and waste, ReFED and the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic are tracking and analyzing food waste...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Mar 5, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) has submitted comments to USDA FSIS and FDA, urging federal standardization of food date labels to reduce food waste, improve food recovery, and streamline industry practices. Concerns stem from the current...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 27, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, News
In a time of elevated food prices, more U.S. consumers are discarding edible food prematurely due to misperceptions of food date labels. Thursday, February 27, 2025 – U.S. consumers report discarding food near or past the label date even more often than they did...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 12, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, News
Pioneers in the Fight Against Food Waste Evaluates Promising Waste Deterrence Policies in South Korea, France, and Peru For Immediate ReleaseFebruary 12, 2025 – The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) and The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN),...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jan 24, 2025 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
April Love joined the Food Law and Policy Clinic in January 2024 as a Clinical Instructor. Prior to joining FLPC, she served as the Policy Analyst for the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center at Alcorn State University (The Policy...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Dec 9, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Jayce Jimenez, FLPC Student Fall 2024 Nearly 40% of food in the U.S. goes unsold or uneaten. Much of this food ends up in landfills, generating hundreds of millions of metric tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions per year. One way that states can address...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Nov 18, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Susan Elizabeth Turek. Originally published in The Cool Down on November 18, 2024. FLPC’s Emily Broad Leib was interviewed for this story. California is ready to say goodbye to a common labeling phrase at the grocery store that causes residents to waste major...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Nov 13, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Jennifer Weeks, FLPC Student, Fall 2024 The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the critical job of ensuring the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products in the U.S. While FSIS has...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Oct 21, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Abigail Buta. Originally published in FoodTank on October 16, 2024. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill to standardize food date labels and ban the use of “sell by” dates. California is the first state in the nation to require clear standards to...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Oct 3, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Isabel Yin, FLPC Fall 2024 Student On July 18, California’s legislature filed AJR 10, a resolution advocating for the federal government to enact the Food Date Labeling Act of 2023 (FDLA), with the Secretary of State. The resolution cited several statistics that...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Sep 30, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
B Tina Deines. Originally published in The Cool Down on September 27, 2024 Food banks across the world are rescuing food from farmers before it gets thrown out, helping people in need and reducing planet-warming pollution. Scientific American summarized The...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Sep 30, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
Originally published in Food Tank. During a Summit hosted by Food Tank and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) during Climate Week NYC, panelists connected the dots between ecosystem health, food waste, and policy levers that can be utilized to protect the...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Sep 23, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Frida Garza. Originally published in Grist on September 16, 2024. An international team of researchers found that global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, rose faster than ever in the three years ending in 2022. In a new report from the...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Sep 12, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Geoff Nudelman, originally published in Sustainable Brands on September 9, 2024. Massachusetts-based food-waste tech provider Divert has launched a first-of-its-kind policy tracker that documents new and pending food-waste legislation across the US....
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Aug 28, 2024 | Food Law & Policy
By: Josephine Dudzik and Denae Romero (FLPC 2024 Summer Interns) In June of 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration released its National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, which provides a list of planned activities for the U.S. to meet...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Aug 14, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
Redistributing food before it’s tossed or wasted doesn’t just fight hunger — it also fights climate change. By Frida Garza, originally published in Grist on August 14, 2024. The latest annual impact report from the Global Foodbanking Network — a...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Aug 13, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
The tool empowers stakeholders to influence in-progress food waste legislation August 13, 2024 Divert, Inc., an impact technology company on a mission to Protect the Value of Food™, announced today the release of the Food Waste Legislative Tracker to provide...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jul 22, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
Written By Avani Rai, and originally published in The Harvard Undergraduate Law Review’s Spring 2024 Edition. Emily M. Broad Leib is a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, and Founding Director of...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jul 2, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
By Denae Romero, FLPC Intern, Summer 2024 On June 12 at the ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit in Baltimore, MD, the USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack announced the finished version of the “National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics” (the...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | May 13, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Heather Latino, Clinical Instructor 2023 was a momentous year for food waste policy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its report finding that wasted food decaying in landfills is responsible for an alarming 58% of all municipal landfill...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | May 3, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Boston, MA: May 3, 2024 – Earlier this week, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow of the Senate Agriculture Committee released a detailed section-by-section proposal for the Farm Bill. The proposal includes several bipartisan food waste provisions...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Apr 24, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and The Global FoodBanking Network offer comprehensive policy opportunities for national governments FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Boston, MA. (April 24, 2024) – Food loss and waste (FLW) occurs at every stage of the supply...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Apr 16, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Caitlin Colangelo, FLPC 2L Student On March 19-20, 2024, I attended a Fly-In advocacy event with the Zero Food Waste Coalition (ZFWC) in Washington, DC with another clinical student and a clinic fellow. The goal of the ZFWC is to build momentum on food waste...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Apr 9, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Catherine Boudreau. Originally published in Business Insider on March 28, 2024. Nearly 60 types of date labels appear on food and drinks in US stores. The confusion leads to the average family of four losing about $1,500 a year to uneaten food. Before tossing that...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 27, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By Mady Womack, FLPC Clinic Student, Fall 2023 I was initially drawn to the Clinic because I was involved with establishing a food pantry on my undergraduate campus. Agriculture is also a crucial part of the economy in my home state of Kansas, so I wanted to learn...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 27, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
More than 40% of produce in the country is lost or wasted but new research highlights how it could be a key tool in fighting rising food insecurity. One charity is leading the charge By Constance Malleret in Rio De Janerio. Originally published in The Guardian on Feb....
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 26, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
02/26/24. By Frank Yianna. Originally published in Agri-Pulse. Roughly nine years ago, while serving as Vice President for Food Safety at the world’s largest food retailer, I surveyed how many different date labels were used by food producers to convey that food was...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 20, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News
The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic & The Global FoodBanking Network identify policies to help Brazil address food waste, hunger, and mitigate climate change. February 20, 2024 (Brazil) —The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Feb 12, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary
Late last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. The draft strategy...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jan 25, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, News, Students Speaking On...
By Kristen McEnroe ’24. Originally published on HLS Clinic Stories on Jan. 25, 2024 Like so many others, my entry into the workforce thrust me into the food and beverage industry. From flipping burgers at a snack bar at the age of 16 to being a barista at a local...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Jan 25, 2024 | Food Law & Policy, Commentary, Students Speaking On...
By: Hudson Bennett, Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) Student, Fall 2023 In November, four members of the Global Food Donation Policy Atlas team went to Mexico City to further our work in assisting organizations working to reduce food loss and waste in Mexico. We met...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Dec 12, 2023 | Food Law & Policy, News
By Alison Stine. Originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly on December 8, 2023. Fresh produce. Milk. Even leftover pizza. These are just a few of the food items one might find in the most unusual of places: in a refrigerator placed out on the street. In recent...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Nov 27, 2023 | Food Law & Policy, News
By David R. Martin and Michael Casey. Originally published by AP News on November 26, 2023 ELMSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — When Sean Rafferty got his start in the grocery business, anything that wasn’t sold got tossed out. But on a recent day, Rafferty, the store manager for...
by Adaobi Ezeokoli | Nov 27, 2023 | Food Law & Policy, News
Don’t automatically assume a date label on food has to do with safety. (Also: Don’t forget to freeze your leftover stuffing and pie.) By Zahra Hirji, and originally published by Bloomberg on Nov. 23, 2023 At Thanksgiving, food is the main event. But...
