Implementation of Food Laws to Ensure Food Safety

Food is governed and regulated by a complexity of food laws and regulations which can be implemented in all food processing units by the following processes:

Pest Control

Pest control plays an important role in food safety. Insects like flies and cockroaches are extremely troublesome and can contaminate food production and cause food borne diseases. Pest control monitoring and detection can prevent these pests from entering in food processing plants and establishments.

Cleaning and Disinfection

Implementation of food laws can be achieved by establishing disinfection programs such as proper disinfection and cleaning of food preparation areas. Proper cleaning of utensils, equipments and machineries in food processing plants can correct hygiene standards, eliminate food borne pathogens and reduce the risk of food borne diseases. 

Waste Management

Food waste attracts pests and food borne pathogens and thus causes food contamination. Food production units and food processing plants must have proper equipments to manage solid and liquid wastes and should maintain regular garbage collection and waste disposal and management. By ensuring such waste disposal procedures, food processing plants can reduce the risk of pest contamination and improve food safety compliance.

• Effective rules for waste disposal include:
• Removal of food scrapes on a daily basis
• Arranging garbage collection regularly.
• Don't allow waste to overflow from garbage bins.
• Clean dustbins and garbage containers daily.
• 
  
• Use garbage liners for dustbins and garbage containers and keep their lids tightly closed.
• 
  
• Use separate containers for disposal of dangerous objects like syringes.
• 
  
• Refrigerate food scraps during winters to prevent harmful bacteria from growing.
• 
  
• Finally, always wash hands after handling dustbins and garbage bins.

Maintenance of Machinery and Fixtures

Rodents like rats and mice cause serious damage to machines and fixtures and contaminate components having direct contact with the food products. Therefore, proactive maintenance of food processing equipments and machineries is extremely important for production of safe food products.

Maintaining Personal Hygiene

Food handling businesses and food production plants must implement food safety laws by considering the following factors:

• Hand Washing: ensure proper hand washing techniques are followed especially before preparing or handling food items.
• 
  
• Minimize direct contact with food items. Use safe disposable gloves and change them on a regular basis.
• 
  
• Maintain personal cleanliness. Do not wear jewelry, earrings, rings, tie back or cover hair, cover cuts or sores with wound strip or waterproof bandages, never cough or sneeze over food.
• 
  
• Wear clean and protective clothing like apron and handle equipments appropriately to prevent cross contamination.
• 
  
• Contact supervisor if any staff feel unwell and exclude them from handling food.

·  

Staff Training

Staffs should be educated about the different food safety and hygiene practices including:

• ·        Hand hygiene practices
• ·        Safe food handling practices
• ·        Safe food storage practices
• ·        Cleaning and disinfection practices
• ·        Personal hygiene practices

Responsibilities of Business Litigation Lawyers

Business litigation lawyers are legal experts who represent and defend companies charged for financial disputes and other kinds of delinquency. Claim towards the compensation is usually attained by a series of legal proceedings through Business litigation. In business litigation, an accuser is a complainant and an accused in a litigant. Business litigation attorneys carry out preliminary case investigation and assessment. Business litigation lawyers look into the different cases and investigate its merits to see if the case warrants a lawsuit for a plaintiff. Similarly for defendants, they look for sufficient evidences against their clients in order to find possible ways to defend them.

The whole process involves the following:

· Writing down the statements given by the different witnesses regarding different cases

· Gathering different documents relevant to the case

· Looking for credible witnesses capable of withstanding the rigors of trial.

· Interviewing the company executives.

· Finding out the different factors that created or caused the dispute.

Business litigation lawyers represent companies and organization’s interest in financial disputes. The first things that every business litigation lawyer do is analyze and investigate the cases thoroughly. The companies are required to answer questions related to the case and they are also asked to provide proof that could help the litigation attorneys understand how to precede further in the case. The primary role of a business litigation lawyer is to choose the best legal option which could minimize all financial risks. By estimating the claim potential, business litigation lawyers tell whether it is best to go for an out of court settlement or to go for a court lawsuit. In case the claim potential is not sufficient, the business litigation lawyer can try for an out of court settlement. A series of motions or written requests and pleadings are registered with the court for the defendant and the plaintiff before a matter is heard in the court.

So, the business litigation lawyers handle all legal matters starting from proof gathering to actual lawsuit filing.

Some of the important duties all business litigations have to undertake include:

· Analyze and investigate the initial case

· Draft the necessary pleadings and motions

· Formulate the necessary responses to other party’s complaints

· Exchange necessary information with other parties during the discovery process

· Prepare necessary documents required for the court case

· Choose the best strategy based on the evidences

· Present the case

· Negotiate with other parties during settlement

· Appeal the case when negotiation fails

What Does A Business Transactional Lawyer Do?

Business transactional lawyers are flexible and knowledgeable problem solvers who help business owners with the legal aspects of complex transactions. Business transactional attorneys have proficiency in corporate and partnership law, commercial law, contract law, securities regulation, financial planning and bankruptcy and are skilled in drafting and negotiating legal agreements. They are expert in communicating clearly with prospective clients and creative in solving their problems.

Business transactional lawyers are engineers of the legal system who help business owners by drafting contracts and building business entities. They help businesses in arranging finances, designing strategies and navigating different business regulations. Business transactional lawyers counsel business organizations on different legal issues generated from different business dealings.

Business transactional lawyers make their clients understand the different problems they are facing currently or problems they might face in the near future. Business transactional attorneys assist businesses in negotiating and drafting business contracts, advising them about the different compliance matters, helping them to file forms required for legal purposes such as tax exemption applications, counseling them on licensing matters, intellectual property, or real estate.

Business Transactional lawyers help business owners with the following issues and problems:

Starting a business:

Businesses face a lot of confusion while choosing between an S Corp, an LLC or other business types. Any wrong decision taken by businesses often becomes incredibly costly to fix. Transactional lawyers help them to make the right decision.

Writing contracts- Business transactional lawyers help businesses in drafting forms or contracts to meet their specific needs.

Disputes in Contracts/Breach in Contracts-

Business transactional lawyers advocate and negotiate on behalf of business owners in different situations such as when a contract is disputed, or when prospective clients are not paying etc.

Resolving business issues and claims-

Businesses can run into serious problems anytime related to discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace safety, disability, sick leaves etc. Business transactional lawyers help businesses by educating them about the different laws and practices applicable during those situations and represent them when such situation arises.

Compliance and Risk Management-

Business transactional lawyers advise businesses about the different compliance issues and develop different systems that monitor such issues and minimize risk.

Property and Real Estate Disputes

Business owners need the assistance of business transactional lawyers during owning a new property or leasing it. Business transactional attorneys help them in negotiating lease and sales by navigating confusing and complex real estate laws.

Understanding The Basics Of The Different Food Safety Laws And Its Requirements

In an efficient food control system, national legal frameworks are the key pillar. Food is governed in all nations by a number of laws and regulations that set out the demands of the governing body to be met by food chain operators to ensure that the food produced is of adequate quality and is safe and secure for consumption.

"Food law" applies to legislation regulating the manufacturing, trade and handling of food and therefore includes the regulation of food control, food safety and appropriate aspects of trade in food. Few quality requirements are incorporated in the food law to ensure that the food produced is unadulterated and is not subjected to fraudulent practices aimed at deceiving the consumer. Food safety laws cover the entire process starting with provisions for animal feed and on farm controls, food production and processing, final distribution and consumption by the consumers.

As per the food safety laws, food manufacturers must essentially ensure that their products are safe for consumption and will not make people ill. In order to safeguard consumer health, food manufacturing companies must incorporate a food safety plan to meet the different foodsafety laws and regulations. They need to formulate a food safety plan in line with HACCP which stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point with which they can carry out necessary measures concerning:

·      Personal hygiene of their staff

·      Maintaining hygiene during the transportation and distribution of raw materials such as milk packets or containers.

·      Method by which the food products are processed or treated such as using clean equipments to cut bread.

·      Ways by which food products are packaged and labeled.

·      Ways by which the food products manufactured are stored.

The different food safety responsibilities every business should take:

·      All food manufacturing businesses must ensure that the foods manufactured are safe and secure to eat.

·      They should ensure that the food items they produce are not treated in a way that could make them harmful for consumption.

·      They should ensure that fish and other livestock are safely harvested, contain safe ingredients and are free of harmful pathogens.

·      Every food manufacturing business or company should display the food hygiene rating.

·      They should inform the higher authority in case they discover traces of undesirable substances such as pesticide residues, toxic moulds, or harmful bacteria like listeria in the food items.

·      They should withdraw or destroy any unsafe food immediately and report people why the food has been withdrawn through a poster or leaflet.

·      It is very important for the different food manufacturing units to include information about the different additives being added to the food products and should ensure that the additive must not exceed the maximum permitted limit.

·      It is extremely important for all food manufacturing units to maintain accurate records of what they do on a daily basis including ordering histories, task checklists, temperature logs etc.

The vital role played by a food lawyer in case of food borne illnesses

The habit of home cooked food is becoming a myth now as in today’s fast paced world people are getting more and more used to fast foods or processed foods. Preparing a meal is time consuming and people nowadays are so busy that cooking has taken a back seat. It is far easier to pick up something or the other from the supermarket shelf and pour a little hot water into it, or oven-heat it and have a ready lunch or dinner in two minutes flat. In today’s world everyone is running around to meet their deadlines and therefore these processed food or fast food has become the ideal solution for the time crunched population. Ready made food both tastes good and is easy to procure. They are also cheap and tasty so no doubt more and more families or even single people are getting into the habit of consuming fast food or preserved food.  There are stores all over the world that are selling a variety of ready-made pastes, bread spreads, mixes, jellies, jams and or simply eat out at cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, or even roadside stalls having n array of tasty spreads. But all that is easy has some or other drawbacks. There are no shortcuts to good health and there are a number of drawbacks and health hazards that becomes apparent with continuous fast food eating.  

People place all their trust on the people who manufacture these food products without having any real knowledge about the ingredients that are put in such items and hence might as well be consuming harmful substances which do more harm than good to an individual’s health. The direct result of these can be seen in the various foodborne illnesses. “Food safety” is a word that has been coined for controlling the different stages of food production, manufacturing and processing so that when the end consumer actually consumes this food they are eating things which are free from harmful chemicals, man-made tampering, and other substances that enhance the color and look of the food products. But there are loopholes in the system despite the various stringent checking methods and therefore there is no guarantee when a food product or a finished food becomes contaminated and pose a health hazard to the consumer. There are various stages where a food can become contaminated, like when a raw food is developed in contaminated soil or water. There can be different kinds of viruses, animal or human waste, bacteria, and other chemical components that can contaminate the soil or the water, and these can be passed into the produce. These foods when cooked can cause illness to the person who is consuming it and that is the classic example of food borne sickness. This is where a food lawyer can help the consumer to sue the seller or the eatery for the damages caused by food poisoning.

Many people are unaware of the fact that they can claim compensation for the suffering that has been caused to them by a contaminated food product, whether cooked or uncooked. A food lawyer will help the victim of the food poisoning to gather evidence that a particular food or restaurant is responsible for the food borne illness and prepare the case accordingly so that the victim receives the adequate compensation for all the hospital and treatment bills. Thus, next time you have an upset stomach, think hard and you will most probably find that it is the result of food poisoning rather than stomach flu. There are various other symptoms of food poisoning and they can be pretty serious. You can suffer from symptoms like vomiting, abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea because chances are that the food you ate at that corner eatery served you food which had different viruses, parasites, and bacteria. There are many different types of bacteria like Campylobacter, Salmonella, Botulism, E.Coli, which can cause food borne sickness. There is serious food poisoning which includes noroviruses rotaviruses and hepatitis A. Harsh food poisoning can cause you to visit the hospital to help you recover and miss work and pay. The other side effects are lost wages as well as high medical bills which cannot be ignored. Hence the guilty party should pay and a lawyer will help in precisely preparing the case which proves your case in the court of law.

Why should you hire a business litigation lawyer?

Business litigation lawyers are mainly hired by companies and businesses around the world to safeguard their business interests and to avoid financial burden. Business litigation lawyers tailor a particular strategy as per the company's requirements and condition.

Business litigation lawyers are mainly hired by companies and businesses around the world to safeguard their business interests and to avoid financial burden. Business litigation lawyers tailor a particular strategy as per the company's requirements and condition.

We have collected a list of the top five reasons why you should employ a Business litigation lawyer:

Peace of mind

Even though you are capable of representing yourself in the court, you might end up regretting in case the outcome is not good. A business litigation lawyer can give you peace of mind and confidence that your case will be handled with utmost professionalism.

Protect your business interests

A business litigation lawyer will assist you in understanding the different legal issues. They will ensure that your business interests are at the forefront.

Maintain your legal documents

Business litigation lawyers, who are architects of the legal system, will help your company by creating business entities and drafting contracts. Your business attorney will also assist you in evaluating records, navigating regulations, valuation reports, organizing funds, contracts, and designing different policies for new businesses and companies.

Access to legal knowledge

Your experienced business litigation lawyer having a wide breadth of legal knowledge can advise you about the different legal matters concerning your company including taxes, mergers, contracts.

Alert you about possible legal matters

Legal matters can pop up any time which can pull your time and money. An experienced business litigation lawyer can assist you and your staff by providing legal advice timely and handle any immediate legal issues on your behalf.

Develop smarter relationship with your business partners

Your business litigation lawyer will help you and your business partner in constructing a legal contract which will benefit both the parties in the long term.

Use your lawyer’s connections to spread your word

Experience business attorneys have a wide number of connections. You can use your business lawyer's connections to spread your business proposals.

The PACA Trust And How It Works

The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act or PACA was passed in the year 1930 by Congress to establish fair trade and business practices in the vegetable and fruit industry. All agricultural produce exporters must be familiar with these government regulations. PACA is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or USDA.

Important facts about PACA are mentioned below:

How to get a PACA License

Companies that buy or sell more than one ton of produce on a daily basis must get licensed by PACA. Companies which buy or sell produce which crosses the U.S. state lines also need to be licensed which can be obtained through the U.S. Department of Agriculture or USDA. PACA license fee is $995 for a year and $600 for the other branch locations across the United States. Companies which operate without a PACA license could pay a penalty upto $1200. Having a PACA license protects your PACA trust rights even if the buyer goes out of the business.

Protection under PACA

The PACA trust was developed as a means for sellers and suppliers to obtain payment on undisputed amounts which are owed for product sales.  Provisions under PACA require produce sellers to maintain a statutory trust on vegetables and fruits received but not yet paid for. In case the buyer's company or business becomes bankrupt, the trust will ensure that the produce vendors are compensated before other creditors if they file claims for confidence.

PACA licensed sellers must have the following wordings on their billing documents as well as invoices.

The perishable agricultural commodities listed on this invoice are sold subject to the statutory trust authorized by section 5(c) of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499e(c)). The seller of these commodities retains a trust claim over these commodities, all inventories of food or other products derived from these commodities, and any receivables or proceeds from the sale of these commodities until full payment is received.

Produce sellers who don't have these wordings in their bills are required to send a written notice to all buyers within 30 days of payment due date ensuring the buyer that the vendor wishes to preserve the trust benefits of PACA.

Reparation and Dispute Resolution Cases

In case a PACA licensed company fails to pay for produce, USDA can suspend the license of that company. PACA licensed companies can file for reparation cases through PACA. This case can take six months and the reparation case requires $100 filing fee. A formal proceeding begins involving the seller and the buyer if the case is not resolved informally.