Food Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Why, What and How We Eat: Law

"The health of the American soil, the purity of its water, the biodiversity and the very look of its landscape owe in no small part to impenetrable titles, programs and formulae buried deep in the farm bill." --Michael Pollan

• Animal Welfare Act: The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law in 1966. While its original intent was to regulate the care and use of animals in the laboratory, it has become the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers.

• Humane Methods of Slaughter Act: Originally passed in 1958, the law that is enforced today by theUSDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was passed as the Humane Slaughter Act of 1978. This Act requires the proper treatment and humane handling of all food animals slaughtered in USDA inspected slaughter plants.

• Twenty-eight Hour Law:  Requires that animals being transported across state lines (by truck, rail carrier, express carrier, or common carrier) may not be confined for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for food, water, and rest. The law is also known as the "Cruelty to Animals Act," the "Live Stock Transportation Act," and the "Food and Rest Law."

Some of the major databases for law-related articles in PDF format:

• Fortin, N. D. (2009). Food regulation: Law, science, policy, and practice. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

• Governing food security: Law, politics, and the right to food (2010). Hadiprayitno I. and Hospes O. (Eds.) Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Pub.

• O'Sullivan, S. (2012). Animals, equality and democracy. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Santilli, J. (2011). Agrobiodiversity and the law regulating genetic resources, food security and cultural diversity. Earthscan/James & James. 

• Schneider, S. A. (2011). Food, farming, and sustainability: Readings in agricultural law. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.