Overview
Food and beverage manufacturers face legal issues common to companies of all types, but they must also navigate a complex set of legal challenges unique to the food and beverage industries. Our Food & Beverage practice provides a complete suite of legal services, allowing food and beverage manufacturers to rely on our law firm for any legal issue, from general business matters to industry-specific regulatory or compliance matters.
Services & Capabilities
- Federal and State regulation and compliance relating to:
- Food Safety Modernization Act
- Facility inspections by the FDA or Vermont Department of Health
- Food labeling, packaging and advertising law
- Product recall procedures
- Consumer complaints and tampering incidents
- Record-keeping and traceability requirements
- Good Manufacturing Practice requirements
- Production, formulation and labeling issues for “organic” products or products produced with or without genetically modified ingredients
- Origin rule compliance
- Vermont food and alcohol licensing
- Intellectual property matters including:
- Trademark registration, defense or prosecution
- Domain name disputes
- Trade secret litigation
- Class action defense and complex commercial litigation, which may include:
- Personal injury or product liability claims
- Labeling and advertising claims
- Packaging claims
- Product tampering claims
- Contract actions and antitrust claims
- General business matters including:
- Co-packing, private label, distribution and other agreements and contracts
- Product licensing, marketing issues and due diligence audits of marketed products
- Employment issues including:
- Harassment and employment discrimination
- Wrongful discharge and other employee claims
- Employee benefits and compensation plans, including executive and deferred compensation, stock option plans and other compensation issues
- Preparing for downsizing, restructuring or plant closures
- WARN Act compliance and employee drug testing
- Environmental and land use regulation or litigation, commercial real estate, tax matters or tax disputes, financing and other matters.