The Food Law Center of Mitchell Hamline’s Health Law Institute presents:
This symposium provided attendees with needed updates for your food law practice from food law experts – regulatory lawyers, litigators (plaintiff and defendant) and scholars. We heard informative, practical approaches to recent US Supreme Court decisions, FDA reorganization, litigation and regulatory updates with a deep dive into state packaging laws.
This event was approved for 3.25 CLE credits and is co-hosted by Mitchell Hamline’s Food Law Center and the MSBA’s Food, Drug & Device Law Section.
Email the Health Law Institute for the on-demand CLE.
Agenda
- 9:00 – 9:05 am – Welcome – David Graham, Senior Counsel, Gardner Law and Chair of the Food Law Center
- 9:05 – 9:30 am – Implications of 2023-2024 Term SCOTUS Decisions
- Jason Marisam, Associate Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- 9:30 – 10:20 – Litigation Update
- Cathy Smith, Attorney, Gustafson Gluek PLLC
- Tyler Young, Partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
- 10:20 – 10:40 – FDA Reorganization – Status and Implications
- Sharon Mayl, Partner, DLA Piper
- 10:40 – 10:55 – BREAK
- 10:55 -11:45 – Regulatory Update
- Anthony (Tony) Pavel, Partner, Keller & Heckerman
- Emily Zambrana, Senior Principal Legal Counsel, Whole Foods Market
- 11:45 – 12:30 – State Packaging Laws
- Steve Toeniskoetter, Associate General Counsel, Regulatory, Niagara Bottling, LLC
- Danielle Quist, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Counsel, International Dairy Foods Association
- Michelle Schuld, Director & Managing Counsel, Food Safety & Regulatory, The J.M. Smucker Co.
Speaker Details
- David Graham, Senior Counsel, Gardner Law and Chair of the Food Law Center
- David Graham focuses on product liability, health law and food law litigation and counseling. He also works with clients in the food, cannabis, and psychedelics industries with regulatory matters, labeling and advertising, recalls, and food borne illness investigations and defense. David’s focus in the health care area is defending entities in false claims act cases and other allegations of fraud. David teaches Food Law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, the University of Minnesota School of Law, and is the chair of the Mitchell Hamline Food Law Center. Learn more about Graham.
- Jason Marisam, Associate Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- Jason Marisam is an associate professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. His research focuses on administrative law and election law. In 2021, Minnesota Lawyer honored him as an Attorney of the Year for his work on the 2020 election, when he was an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota. His administrative law scholarship has appeared in many law journals, including the Administrative Law Review.
- Sharon Lindan Mayl, Partner, DLA Piper
- Sharon Lindan Mayl is a Partner at DLA Piper in Washington DC. Sharon applies her decades of senior level experience at FDA to assist her clients in the areas of food safety, food labelling, product development, imports, third-party audits, dietary supplements, and cannabis. At FDA, Sharon served as Senior Advisor for Policy in Office of the Commissioner, playing a leading role in implementing many significant food regulations and strategic initiatives, including the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Sharon earned her BA at Cornell University and her JD at Harvard Law School.
- Anthony (Tony) Pavel, Partner, Keller & Heckerman
- Anthony (Tony) Pavel guides clients through a comprehensive array of food and drug regulatory matters with his extensive knowledge of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations related to food (including animal food and pet food), food additives and ingredients, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. In addition to FDA matters, Tony assists clients with issues related to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other regulatory bodies around the world. Tony counsels clients in obtaining the authorization of new food ingredients, complying with manufacturing requirements, promotional and labeling claims, and regulatory compliance within the global supply chain. Clients seek his advice in navigating self determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) positions and submitting GRAS Notices, New Dietary Ingredient Notifications (NDINs), food additive petitions (FAPs), and color additive petitions (CAPs) to FDA. He also helps clients navigate recall and market withdrawal strategies, import detentions, seizures, and alleged food tampering. Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Tony was in private practice at a major international law firm, followed by in-house positions leading a global food law team at a major food, agricultural, and industrial products producer and Deputy General Counsel, Global Food Law for a consumer biology startup. Tony’s in-house corporate experience helped shape his approach to practical, actionable advice and effective solutions for clients. Tony is frequently invited to speak at domestic and global conferences on food ingredients, food additives, and related policy matters. Read his full bio.
- Danielle Quist, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Counsel, International Dairy Foods Association
- Danielle Quist leads IDFA’s work on packaging and circularity, chemical safety, environmental marketing, and sustainability, where she advocates industry positions and monitors regulatory issues impacting dairy processors at the state and federal level. She has more than 25 years of legal experience and serves as IDFA’s legal counsel. Before coming to IDFA, Quist worked as senior counsel for public policy at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), where she co-led AFBF’s legal advocacy program, advised lobbyists on policy matters, and lobbied federal agencies on behalf of farmers and ranchers for almost 14 years. Before that, Quist worked on Capitol Hill as a counsel on the House Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs for former Congressman Doug Ose (CA). Previously, she was an associate at Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP, and served as a law clerk to Judge Eugene Sullivan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Quist earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and her undergraduate degree from Columbia College of Columbia University in New York City. She is a member of the D.C. and New York Bars. Originally from southern California and New Mexico, she speaks Spanish.
- Michelle Schuld, Director & Managing Counsel, Food Safety & Regulatory, The J.M. Smucker Co.
- Michelle is an in-house attorney with The J. M. Smucker Company, producer of iconic food products for people and pets including Jif®, Uncrustables®, Folgers®, Twinkies®, and Milk-Bone®. She has been with Smucker for 11 years, and is currently the Director & Managing Counsel, Food Safety & Regulatory. In this role, Michelle oversees the company’s regulatory function, and provides legal guidance on product labeling, formulation, packaging, and emerging state and federal issues impacting food manufacturers. She also partners with the company’s Quality Assurance and Operations teams on food safety and FDA compliance, including inspections, FSMA, and FSVP. Prior to joining Smucker, Michelle spent 6 years as an associate with the law firm of Black McCuskey, Souers, & Arbaugh.
- Catherine Smith, Attorney, Gustafson Gluek PLLC
- Cathy Smith is a partner at Gustafson Gluek in Minneapolis, MN and has been practicing in the area of complex class action litigation since 2005. She handles various antitrust and consumer class action cases on behalf of the plaintiffs who were injured by actions in violation of the state and federal antitrust laws and consumer protections laws and also is heavily active in the pro bono work through the Minnesota Federal Pro Se Project which is a program the firm helped launch in 2008 with the Federal Bar Association. She is a graduate of Korea University and University of Minnesota Law School who has since made Minneapolis her home.
- Steve Toeniskoetter, Associate General Counsel, Regulatory, Niagara Bottling, LLC
- Steve Toeniskoetter is is Associate General Counsel for Regulatory at Niagara Bottling, a large family owned bottled water and beverage manufacturer based out of Southern California. His role encompasses food law, EPR and packaging laws, government relations, and other regulatory law matters. Prior to joining Niagara, Steve spent a number of years at Hormel Foods handling food law and litigation and before that was a food law and litigation attorney at Faegre Baker Daniels.
- Emily Zambrana, Senior Principal Legal Counsel, Whole Foods Market
- Emily Zambrana is in-house legal counsel for Whole Foods Market, where she specializes in advising on labeling and related regulatory issues for food, cosmetic, and other consumer products. Prior to joining Whole Foods, Emily worked at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, where she defended food and agribusiness companies in false advertising class actions and other product liability lawsuits, and advised food and beverage companies on product labeling and advertising. Prior to joining Faegre, Emily clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for Judge Richard Suhrheinrich. Emily graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.