Food Laws and Regulations - undergraduate - FSC 421

Course Code: FSC 421

Credits: 3 undergraduate

Credits from FSC 421, Section 730, do not apply towards the U.S. or International Food Law Certificates but may be eligible for transfer into an undergraduate degree program if the student earns a 2.0 grade “C” or higher.  

This course examines the laws, regulations, and policies that govern food regulation in the United States. The emphasis is on federal laws and in particular regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but also includes an overview of food regulation by other agencies.  

The course is taught asynchronously with lectures, readings, and assignments due each week. Instruction is completely online using our D2L (Desire 2 Learn) course management system. The course emphasizes the regulation of food including misbranding, labels, labeling, claims, adulteration, enforcement and compliance.  In addition, hot topics such as dietary supplements, cannabis, and alternative proteins and new product trends will be discussed.  There are 2 online quizzes and a cumulative online final exam.

All reading assignments will be available as downloads within the modules or via the provided URLs. We will be working primarily with the text Food Regulation: Law, Science, Policy, and Practice.

The learning objectives of this course are to enable students to:

  • Know the U.S. laws regulating food
  • Develop students’ skills necessary to successfully work in the food industry
  • Apply key principles of food law to food industry
  • Have a better understanding of the issues involved in the regulation of food
  • Recognize the critical role laws and regulation play in protecting food safety and in fostering a healthy food industry; and
  • Have students actively involved in the online discussion forums and activities during this course.

Timing:

This course is offered every other year, in the summer semester of even numbered years.

Please note this is a 13-week condensed summer semester course. Students may expect 3.25 hours of lecture, discussion, and exercises per week with and 6.5 hours or reading and studying per week. 

Click here for a full list of IFLR courses and when they are offered.

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Instructor

Michigan State University
  • Spartans Will.
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