Safe and healthy foods are a partnership priority for FAO and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law


© FAO/Riccardo De Luca

13/01/2023 - 

Rome, Italy. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law have renewed their partnership through the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding with an aim of strengthening policies and legal frameworks to ensure food is safe and healthy for all.

The new agreement builds upon the FAO-UCLA partnership established in 2019 and recommits to actions for achieving Better Nutrition to "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition in all its forms, including promoting nutritious food and increasing access to healthy diets" as envisaged in FAO's 2022-2031 Strategic Framework. The FAO and UCLA School of Law partnership will take action under the Vision and Strategy for FAO's Work in Nutrition, which calls on developing capacities to support FAO Members and stakeholders in implementing policies and laws, practices, investments and innovative actions at scale across agrifood systems to enable healthy diets for all,and will leverage the research and scholarship expertise of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law. Specifically, FAO and the Resnick Center are supporting FAO Members to achieve this goal through development, outreach and implementation of regulatory solutions to foster different areas of food policy and legislation, including

  • food safety and quality legislation;
  • food fraud policy and legislation;
  • agrifood systems policy and legislation;
  • digital agriculture and e-commerce of food and agriculture products;
  • food information; and
  • other exchange and cooperation programmes related to food law.

Blaise Kuemlangan, Chief of Development Law Service at FAO, recognizes the value of partnerships in providing expertise in the development of neutral, independent legal instruments, necessary for achieving sustainable agrifood security. "With UCLA, we are proud to have worked together on the International and national regulatory strategies to counter food fraud, an important background paper for FAO Members that explores the different dimensions of food fraud, including complexities of food fraud: challenges for international and national regulation; international regulatory frameworks; and strategies to regulate food fraud at the national level."

Michael Roberts, Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA agrees: "The Resnick Center is honored and excited to use its law and policy expertise to elevate this partnership to a new strategic level. We will work to help FAO advance its outreach to developing countries and to reach sustainable development goals, and forward the Center's mission to improve health and quality of life for humans and the planet."

Under the new agreement, FAO and UCLA Law are strengthening actions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (SDG 16) and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).