McDonough Addresses Food Liability Issues

SHB Partner Madeleine McDonough  (KC -- Pharmaceutical and Medical Device) provided a comprehensive food law update during DRI's recent food liability seminar in Chicago, Ill.  According to Madeleine, future trends will likely involve a continuing emphasis on youth marketing issues and obesity, "factory farming," water scarcity, nanotechnology, and global climate change.  She stressed that the most successful litigation prevention and preparation strategies include (1) the adoption of best practices in production, labeling and marketing; (2) the creation of effective crisis management plans; (3) the development of comprehensive electronic discovery and document retention plans; (4) the use of contracts to allocate risks; and (5) the ongoing monitoring of and participation in regulatory and legislative initiatives.  The seminar also featured presentations on food-borne illness claims, state and federal food labeling requirements, product recalls, and assessing the value of food and beverage cases.