Reconfiguring Children in Food Law as an Essential Subset: Review of Food Nutrition Facts Labels

Abstract

It is troubling not to find much evidence in modern food law that distinguishes children more than early literature on food safety regulation did. We certainly fall behind science in this respect, especially if we consider how modern food law in the United States emerged. It is a product from both Food and Drug Law and Agricultural Law in response to litigations, pop culture, and public demand. It developed as responses to public outcry rather than from a microscopic perspective of progressively protecting children as a specific population group. The body offood law is written as a general superset of law, but it fails to incubate and include the necessary subsets of law to ensure appropriate enforcement and implementation of child protection. Legal experts should keep in mind the importance of 'gaz[ing] inward, to the world that she makes with the [child] as they work together' while acknowledging children as rights holders. This is often an overlooked value in food law and a common mistake made as we conveniently presume services only reach children through parents or legalguardians. Currently, we draft and implement food regulations and design foodnutrients fact labels as they would be read by adults and caregivers, which should lead us to think about how we have left children in the shadows.