As agriculture and food continue to change and advance through the rapid adoption of new technologies, the federal regulations that govern them keep evolving, too.
Now a new College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) course will help students navigate the shifting sands of federal regulations. Students will study federal laws and how they apply to both conventional products, such as pesticides, and those created by new technologies, such as genetic engineering, gene editing, cloning and the production of novel proteins in microorganisms and plants.
Food Science 4940, Federal Regulation of Food and Agriculture, will be offered in fall 2019 only. The three-credit course will meet Tuesdays from 2:30-4:25 p.m. and Thursdays from 3:35-4:25 p.m. The format will be a combination of lectures, discussions and student presentations.
“The intent of the course is to help students understand how federal regulations will impact their careers in food and agriculture,” said Greg Jaffe, the associate director of legal affairs at the Cornell Alliance for Science and a visiting professor of practice who will lead the course. “It is critical that students understand the regulatory and policy environments in which food and agriculture operate, how those policies will affect their work and how they can interact with policymakers and regulators to shape the regulatory environment and ensure evidence-based policymaking in the future.”
As an attorney with more than 30 years of experience in federal regulations pertaining to food and the environment, Jaffe has dedicated his career to understanding and explaining how regulatory oversight comes into play throughout the entire food production process, from initial research to consumer purchase.
