Producers/Manufacturers

We have extensive experience working with new entrants to the food industry and experienced players who are bringing new products and/or business concepts to market. We provide guidance and assistance for Start-Up issues ranging from equipment procurement and capitalization to market penetration and mid-to long-term planning. We can also help you identify facility requirements and the licenses needed to open your business.

We handle food producers’ licensure needs at the federal and state levels for locations throughout America. We also handle FDA Bioterrorism-notification requirements and Customs requirements for importers.

Additionally, we work with clients to secure all required operating and collateral licenses associated with their businesses, including local health, safety, and occupational permits.

With technology changing at breakneck speed, we understand that process innovation can be critical to market success. From initial design through HACCP program development and implementation, we assist clients with creating their new processing methods to assure compliance and enhance their prospects for market success.

We understand that a brand is more than a label. From formulation through packaging, we assist clients with the creation of their new food products to assure compliance and enhance the prospects for market success. Our regulatory guidance for brand development encompasses compliance with federal product formulation and labeling requirements, as well as state brand registrations and practical, experience-based input on brand development.

Preparation and negotiation of key contracts are vital to success in the food industry. Our services in this area include drafting private label production contracts, import agreements, ingredient/commodity supply contracts, and processing and distribution agreements with licensed processors and wholesale distributors.

Because it is a regulated industry, food suppliers must produce and maintain records that are accurate and complete. Suppliers are obligated to meet their federal and state record-keeping responsibilities; failure to do so can jeopardize a supplier’s licensure, which directly impacts the ability to remain in business in the event of an audit or inspection. We provide comprehensive assistance with mandatory record-keeping responsibilities.

Because it is a heavily regulated industry, food processors must produce and maintain accurate and complete records. Moreover, because it is a taxed industry, processors are obligated to meet their federal and state taxation responsibilities; failure to do so can jeopardize licensure, which directly impacts the ability to remain in business. We provide comprehensive assistance with taxation and record-keeping responsibilities.

In today’s world, with the unprecedented proliferation of brands and industry members, the ability to distinguish a particular supplier or a specific brand is fundamental to success. While advancing technology presents extraordinary new opportunities for marketing and promotion, the regulatory restrictions applicable to a fair marketplace generally, and the food industry in particular, produce concomitant compliance risks. Our Food Law Team provides specific advice regarding marketing, advertising, and promotional activities, including regulated claim assertions, issues relating to social media marketing, stealth and guerilla marketing, and the tensions that often arise between protected commercial speech that may generate claims of consumer confusion based on allegedly unfair or misleading content.

Unlike most other consumer products, food presents industry members with huge compliance challenges because of variances among state laws and regulations. For interested parties with no prior experience in the food industry – as is often the case with Merger and Acquisition activity involving private investment funds or financial institutions for whom commercializing food is not a primary endeavor – food safety and trade practice laws can be especially bewildering to comprehend, and difficult to follow. Equally challenging are the myriad administrative, logistical, and public relations requirements needed to effectively withdraw or recall a product from the marketplace. We counsel clients on trade practice and compliance issues at the federal and state levels on matters ranging from M&A guidelines and product recalls to distributor and retailer relations.

Legislative change is rarely easy, but sometimes it is vital to development and growth. We work with food suppliers to design and implement strategic public relations and legislative lobbying campaigns, including the drafting of proposed legislation and regulatory rulemaking. 

In a regulated industry, the risks of regulatory enforcement always are substantial. Whether in the form of an audit, subpoena for records, or institution of formal administrative proceedings, our Food Law Team’s professionals are experienced in protecting clients’ rights and defending their interests against administrative actions at the federal or state levels.

Disputes can arise from any number of sources: government agencies, members of the public, and even other food industry members. Whether those disputes ripen into litigation often depends on the initial actions and reactions of the relevant parties. Our experience proves that skilled communication and strategic planning often can avert litigation, saving all parties time, effort, and expense. Our unique combination of lawyers and former regulators allows us to offer food industry clients unparalleled mediation capabilities that can identify key issues, overcome inter-company obstacles, and resolve disputes before control is ceded from the parties to the courts. When mediation is not an option, our trial lawyers have decades of experience with litigation and arbitration, including intellectual property protection, fraudulent or misleading marketing claims, and product liability matters. 

We use the experience and knowledge of our Food Law Team’s attorneys and former regulators to develop tailored education and training programs that emphasize best practices while encouraging compliance. Whether in the format of a live presentation before an in-house classroom audience or a company-wide online webinar, we can devise programs that add value by increasing employee education about food industry trade practice DOs and DON’Ts while reducing both compliance and liability risks.

Our attorneys and former regulators stay current on industry developments and work to identify developing trends ahead of the market curve. That process can be invaluable for suppliers who seek a competitive and strategic edge. We offer such clients leading-edge industry research and reports that provide critical information and insights needed to make important mid- and long-range business decisions. Our Team brings complex information together and makes it understandable so our clients can stay ahead of emerging trends, and current with constantly changing regulatory landscapes.