UK Food Law Conference 2020

UK Food Law Conference 2020

This conference will  be streamed live, direct to your desktop so you can watch it from your office or home. The price for this is £290. This is a per organisation price, so as many of your colleagues as you want can participate at no extra charge, even if they are viewing it from a different location

This is streets ahead of an ordinary passive webinar experience with one or two speakers, which would get very tedious after an hour or two. We have 10 speakers. With this online conference, you will be able to participate with as many colleagues as you want - either live, or in segments (perhaps viewing it a session at a time over several days/weeks) or on an on-demand, recorded basis. You will be able to take part by video, audio or text, to answer or ask questions, participate in polls and discussions and network with other delegates during breaks, from your office or home.

We trialled the format at an online conference on 2 April to reassure ourselves that, as a concept it worked, and sitting in front of a screen for much of the day was not too big an ask for delegates. It worked wonderfully well, and was as far removed from the boring and dull old one hour webinar as it was possible to be. Comments we have received so far include:

"My unvoiced fear that it would be as dull as webinars used to be when I was in practice was banished fairly quickly"

"I thought that today went very well and glitch free"

"The conference seemed all to work well and top marks...[to The Legal Training Consultancy] ... for organising and persisting with it" 

"Just a quick note to say that I thought today was excellent - Well done".

This conference is a comprehensive one day event for all those who need to keep up to date with the latest developments in food law, including private practice lawyers, in-house lawyers in food and beverage companies and retailers, food scientists and technologists, trading standards and environmental health officers and all others involved with compliance and the regulation, enforcement, application and interpretation of food law. 

The conference will be raising money for our charity partner, LawWorks, the pro bono charity

We have gathered together some of the top experts in these complex areas, and between them they will cover such topics as:

• An overview of recent developments in food law
• Food safety and hygiene update
• Food information and labelling
• Nutrition and health claims
• Novel foods: a look towards the future
• PPDS - Natasha’s law and challenges for the food industry
• Traceability, withdrawal and recalls
• Enforcement and prosecutions.
• The approach to sentencing in food law cases in England and Wales.
• How will Brexit change things?

Although food law is country-specific, the way food law is applied in practice is more universal. In addition to the UK and Ireland, the conference will be relevant to delegates in other jurisdictions who are interested in how food law applies and particularly with those involved with exporting to the UK. The conference will be streamed online as a live e-vent.

Speakers include:

David Travers QC, 6 Pump Court

Ian Thomas, 6 Pump Court

Chris McGarvey, Head of Legal Services at the Food Standards Agency

Brian Kelly, Partner, Covington & Burling

Dominic Watkins, Head of DWF's food sector group

Sterling Crew, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Food Authenticity Network of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist

Richard Heller, Drystone Chambers

Roger Gardner, Chairman of the Food Law Group

Sam Jennings, Chair of the IFST Food Regulatory Group

David Pickering, Team Leader at Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards and CTSI lead officer for food and nutrition

Who is The Legal Training Consultancy?

Between us we have been responsible for putting together a vast number of law related conferences, webinars, seminars, videos and e-learning modules. Altogether more than 2000. Our first conference was a Food Law and Nutrition conference in 1987 as one of our colleagues had worked as a legal adviser in the food industry for 9 years. This experience has led us to develop a series of very different conferences where the day itself is just part of the package, rather than being the beginning, middle and end, all in one day. From delegates being able in advance to influence the content of the event through a UGC (user generated content) session, through to a package of major benefits after the event, all of which are included in the price.

The Legal Training Consultancy is a full service training consultancy for the legal profession with a large portfolio of in-house courses and trainers. You can find out more here: www.legaltrainingconsultancy.co.uk

Raising Money for LawWorks

LawWorks is a charity working in England and Wales to connect volunteer lawyers with people in need of legal advice, who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay and with the not-for-profit organisations that support them. There are currently over 280 independent legal clinics in the LawWorks network across England and Wales and last year over 48,000 people were given advice or support and over 10,000 individuals volunteered across the network. The people who are helped are often the most vulnerable in our society and have nowhere else to turn. LawWorks also brokers free legal advice for small not-for-profits organisations which cannot afford to pay for a lawyer.  (https://www.lawworks.org.uk/)

This is not just an ordinary conference, it’s a complete training package. What else is included and why?

Almost all legal conferences focus purely on delivering content, and over a day, the quantity of content is of course very substantial, even overwhelming, and despite being furnished with notes and slides, delegates do forget an awful lot of what they learn.

Research shows that post-conference reinforcement can very dramatically enhance the amount of information both retained and understood. This can take a multitude of forms, such as videos, questions, updates and other short burst training

So with this in mind, the following is included within the conference and training at no extra charge:

• Attendance at the conference (with the option of viewing the conference streamed live to you remotely)
• Full documentation and copies of speakers’ slides
• Ian Thomas’ book ‘A Practical Guide to the Law Relating to Food’
• A video entitled “An executive summary of UK Food Law in 50 mins” (provided after the event)
• Micro-videos from the speakers, summarising their session in 5 minutes (provided after the event)
• Quarterly updates on latest legal, practice and training developments
• Audio recording of conference sessions, released consecutively after the conference

In addition to this, you can also have some say in the content of the conference. The final session of the day is devoted to “user generated content”. Delegates will be invited to submit their thoughts as to what additional question or specific topic they would like covered in this session and, guided by the number of delegates who raise particular points, the speakers will decide which issues to cover. Delegates will be informed in advance about which topics have been selected

What will delegates take away from this conference?

- An in-depth understanding of the latest developments in food law

- A practical analysis of how the law applies to food and beverage companies and retailers

- An ongoing collection of food law resources

- Reduced price access to The Legal Training Consultancy’s portfolio of training courses

Speakers are:

Chairman: David Travers QC, 6 Pump Court is unique at the bar in being recommended by the independent directories as a leading barrister in the three fields of Health and Safety, Environmental Law and Consumer Law. He has been named Barrister of the Year - Food Law - on numerous occasions. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology and was Visiting Professor in Business Accountability for many years. He is a much sought-after speaker at professional training events. Chambers UK Bar Guide (2020) describes him as “A very intelligent man, a fearsome opponent and a very able barrister. He unquestionably knows as much about consumer law as any silk at the Bar. He is at the pinnacle of criminal consumer law."

Ian Thomas is a member of 6 Pump Court. He specialises in the law relating to food and non-food consumer products. He is a dual qualified lawyer practising in England and Wales and in the Republic of Ireland. He advises on all aspects of food law and practice including new product development, general compliance issues, enforcement actions, appeals and prosecutions, as well as representing clients in courts and tribunals. He works with clients in the UK, Ireland, Europe and globally and as a barrister he accepts instructions directly from clients under the Bar’s Public Access Scheme. Ian presents at lectures and seminars and he provides practical skills training to non-lawyers on matters such as evidence gathering and preparing to go to court. He is a consultant trainer with La Touche Training. He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology.

Brian Kelly is a partner in Covington & Burling’s London Life Sciences group and also co-chair of Covington's Global Food Industry Group. His practice focuses on EU food and drug regulatory law, public and administrative proceedings, internal investigations, European Union law, and product liability and safety. The Chambers Europe Guide to the legal profession lists Brian as part of Covington & Burling’s world-class [regulatory and public affairs] team and describes him as a notable practitioner who is "very ambitious, thorough with a sharp intellect".

Dominic Watkins is Head of DWF's internationally renowned food sector group. Dominic focuses on regulatory compliance and defence for the food, retail & hospitality sectors; he helps clients launch and maintain products on the market. He also focuses on developments in renewable energy. His work is split into three key areas: food, safety and brand protection, including all types of trading standards work. Although based in the UK Dominic's practice is global. He also regularly speaks at conferences, nationally and internationally

Richard Heller is a member of Drystone Chambers. He is a specialist practitioner who acts for regulators, businesses and individuals across the spectrum of regulatory crime. He has considerable experience in the fields of food safety, consumer protection intellectual property crime, planning enforcement, fraud and confiscation. He advises those within the food industry on the requirements of EC law, regulations and import restrictions, the sufficiency of due diligence systems and on the liability of company officers within a corporate structure.

Roger Gardner was admitted as a solicitor in 1976. His career spent mostly in industry including GrandMet, Pillsbury and General Mills where he was Legal Director for Europe. He has extensive experience of regulatory issues on labelling and marketing of foods having worked on major international brands like Haagen-Dazs, Green Giant , Old El Paso , Nature Valley and Betty Crocker. He is currently Chairman of the Food Law Group and continuing consultancy work for a food company.

Sam Jennings is a Director of Berry Ottaway & Associates Ltd, Chair of the IFST Food Regulatory Group and Technical Adviser to the Council for Responsible Nutrition UK. She provides advice to industry and regulators globally on technical, scientific, and associated European regulatory aspects within the food industry, particularly in relation to food/dietary supplements and functional food products (e.g. weight control and sports products). She has presented to governments and industry worldwide on topics including stability of food supplements, EU food law, GMP and other technical issues. She also runs tailored workshops for companies on EU food law, claims and other relevant topics as required.

David Pickering is Team Leader at Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards and CTSI lead officer for food and nutrition. David qualified as a Trading Standards Officer in 1989 and has been part of and managed teams dealing with food, animal feed and animal health throughout that time. He has been the Chartered Trading Standards Institute Lead Officer for food for over 16 years and represents the profession on numerous groups including the national Food Standards Focus group. He has a law degree and a Masters of Law (LLM) in European Law.

Sterling Crew is Chair of the Advisory Board of the Food Authenticity Network of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist. He is co-founder of Kitchen Conversation. Managing Director of SQS Ltd and is a Strategic Advisor at Dynamic Risk Indicator and the Shield Safety Group . Sterling is the Independent Scientific Advisor at Campden BRI and sits on its board. He is also on the audit governance board at Eurofins. He chairs the Institute of Food Science and Technology's Food Safety Group and is its immediate past Vice President. He has 35 years’ experience of working in the field of national and international food safety, governance, communication, sustainability and regulation. He started his career in government before a successful track history in retailing with Marks and Spencer and Tesco. He has also worked in the branded environment for Coca Cola and Disney and two food manufacturers. Sterling’s experience as a regulator, retailer, brand owner and food manufacturer has given him a unique perspective of the challenges of allergen management.

Professor Lisa Ackerley Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner, RSPH Professorial Fellow, and Winston Churchill Fellow, Lisa Ackerley is an independent consultant providing advice and support to most food industry sectors and to the mass media on food safety and hygiene issues for businesses and consumers. She is Visiting Professor of Environmental Health, University of Salford and Chair of the RSPH Special Interest Food Group and Professorial Fellow of the RSPH. As Food Safety Adviser to UKHospitality she has represented the organisation at the Food Standards Agency Expert Advisory Group on Regulating our Future, on the FHRS review panel, on industry liaison groups, FSA led workshops and also on the SALSA board. She is a regular speaker in the media (particularly on hygiene advice to help prevent COVID-19 infection), and at conferences on food safety issues and appears regularly as a food safety expert on TV and Radio in shows including BBC Watchdog, BBC Panorama, BBC 1 Rip off Britain, ITV “Tonight”, BBC 1 Rogue Restaurants. She was the hotel inspector in The Secret Tourist and Holiday Hit Squad

Reshma Adkin is an associate in the Food and Drink and Dispute Resolution teams at Burges Salmon, specialising in food regulatory, food safety and health and safety matters. Reshma provides specialist food law advice, including on food labelling, advertising and consumer protection issues, to clients at all stages of the food supply chain, ranging from manufacturers to retailers and food service businesses. She has considerable experience of supply chain and product liability disputes as well as criminal regulatory investigations and enforcement, prosecutions and coronial investigations

Terms of booking

1. Payment of delegate fees for attendance is required before the date of the conference, otherwise attendance may be refused

2. Replacement delegates are permitted at any time but if they are too close to the conference date, the change may not be reflected in the list of delegates

3. Delegates wishing to switch from attendance at the conference to viewing the conference live on-line must give one week's notice

4. We operate a no cancellation policy. The only exception is in relation to demonstrable ill-health on the day of the conference. Notwithstanding this we may, at our discretion, offer a credit for the whole or part of the delegate fee paid to be used either towards the costs of a future conference or other event or in-house training