Today on Repast, Michael, Diana, and Professors Amy Cohen and Susan Schneider look at the new Trump administration and food policy, discussing background policies, underlying trends, and state initiatives. The four discuss the complex political and cultural dynamics in food policy, agricultural policy and the USDA, nutrition initiatives and the FDA, and trade policy and international food law. They talk about the role of misinformation, big tech, the need for strong leadership, left-right alliances, and the transactional nature of the administration, among other things.

This podcast was recorded on January 24, 2025, before the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Secretary of Agriculture was named.

Amy Cohen is Professor and Robert J. Reinstein Chair in Law at Temple University School of Law.

Susan Schneider is the William H. Enfield Professor of Law at the Arkansas School of Law and the Director of the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law.

Michael T. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

Diana Winters is the Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

You can find Amy Cohen and Mathilde Cohen’s article titled “The 'Second Amendment of Food': Some Reflections on American Liberalism,” here.

As always, you can send questions or comments to Diana Winters at winters@law.ucla.edu.

In this episode, recorded in late December 2024, Michael and Diana talk with Dr. Darin Detweiler, a prominent food safety academic, advisor, advocate, and author. Dr. Detwiler has significantly influenced food safety policies through roles with the USDA, FDA, and others. He is a Professor at Northeastern University, an adjunct professor of food law at Michigan State University, and Founder and CEO of Detwiler Consulting Group. His career, spanning over 30 years, is highlighted in the Emmy Award-winning 2023 Netflix documentary "Poisoned: The Dirty Truth about Your Food."

In addition to traveling around the world as a keynote speaker, Dr. Detwiler’s work and insights appear regularly in various publications, news outlets, and podcasts, as well as his books: “Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions” and “Building the Future of Food Safety Technology: Blockchain and Beyond.” Notably, he is the recipient of the International Association for Food Protection’s 2022 Control of Foodborne Illness Award as well as their 2018 Distinguished Service Award for dedicated and exceptional contributions to the reduction of risks of foodborne illness.

Here, Dr. Detwiler discusses the recent spate of foodborne illness outbreaks, and he looks to the past to predict, and make recommendations for, the future.

You can find more information on Dr. Detwiler here.

You can read about the documentary Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food here.

Michael T. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

Diana Winters is the Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

In this episode, Michael and Diana talk with Nicola Twilley, the author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves (Penguin Press, June 2024), and co-host of the award-winning Gastropod podcast, which looks at food through the lens of history and science. They discuss supply chains, how refrigerated beef changed America, and the trade-offs of refrigeration, among other things.

Nicola Twilley is an author and podcast host, and you can find more information on her here.

Michael T. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

Diana Winters is the Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

You can buy Frostbite here.

You can listen to Nicky’s podcast, Gastropod, here.

You can find Nicky’s latest articles in The New Yorker here.