UCLA Establishes Food Law Program

By City News Service

A $4 million gift to the UCLA School of Law will go toward establishing a program to study and improve food law and policy, it was announced Friday.

The Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, said to be the first program of its kind at a major law school, will explore ways to hasten improvements in food safety, distribution and access, according to UCLA.

The gift from the Resnick Family Foundation provides for as much as another $3 million in matching endowment funds.

Lynda and Stewart Resnick ,who own such companies as POM Wonderful, Teleflora and FIJI Water, are longtime supporters of UCLA.

"Our goal with this donation is to help consumers better understand exactly what they're eating,'' Stewart Resnick said. "It's also an opportunity to improve the clarity and accuracy of food labeling and broaden access to healthy food options. I'm very optimistic that this program can save lives.''

The law school will collaborate with UCLA's medical, public health, public policy and sustainability programs to provide an interdisciplinary approach to developing effective, consumer-oriented food law and policy.

The program will study central issues relating to food, including clarity and accuracy in food labeling, food safety, access to healthy food for all segments of the population, and the effect of food production on natural resources, according to UCLA School of Law Dean Rachel F. Moran.

"By providing an overarching structure for the study, governance and reform of food law and policy, with an emphasis on the issues that concern consumers most, this gift—and the Resnick Program it creates—will make a tangible difference for consumers across the globe,'' Moran said.

The Los Angeles couple contributed $15 million to the construction of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which opened in June 2008. Three years earlier, UCLA's Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital was named in honor of their support for the university's medical care programs. In 2002, the Resnicks received the UCLA Medal, the university's highest honor, in recognition of their contributions to the campus. Stewart Resnick was honored with UCLA School of Law's Alumni of the Year Award in 2005.

"We grow more food in California than anywhere else, and the emphasis on health and wellness here ideally positions UCLA to take a leadership position,'' he said. "The rise of the global food trade has generated a modern food system that is different than anything the world has ever experienced. From the farm to the fork, this system has given rise to profound health, social, and cultural consequences.''