Covington & Burling represents a large number of companies and national trade associations on a broad range of food and beverage consumer law issues. Our multi-disciplinary team of lawyers who practice in this area includes Steve Calkins and John Graubert, former General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel, respectively, of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and seasoned litigators with extensive experience in issues unique to the food and beverage industries. Our team of senior food lawyers also includes a registered dietician with a Masters Degree in public health, and a doctor of veterinary medicine.
In particular, we represent clients in the food and beverages industries on matters involving product recalls and market withdrawals, product advertising, Internet promotions, buzz marketing, labeling, and unfair trade practices before the FDA, FTC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and self-regulatory bodies such as the National Advertising Division (NAD) and the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau. We also represent clients in related litigation, including consumer class actions brought in state and federal courts throughout the country.
We also help clients avoid litigation and regulatory intervention by providing multi-disciplinary legal support for effective client launches of new products and creative marketing campaigns, and our advisory practice extends from legislative work and regulatory counseling to transactional assistance. Our product expertise includes not only traditional food and beverage industries, but also dietary supplements, organic foods, new agricultural technologies, and livestock and animal feed.
Representative Matters
- Represented Campbell Soup, Topps, and Interstate Brands, in responding to FTC investigation of marketing practices in food industry.
- Advised a food company in connection with multi-jurisdictional market withdrawal of product subject to regulatory authority of FDA and comparable food authorities in other countries.
- Successfully defended a beverage marketer in an FTC investigation concerning substantiation for advertising claims promoting cardiovascular health and wellness effects from consuming certain beverages.
- On behalf of food and beverage industry organizations, developed self-regulatory guidelines governing marketing practices, including with respect to substantiating health benefit claims and marketing to children, and reviewed scientific substantiation for advertising, Internet, and buzz marketing claims to ensure compliance with applicable legal standards.
- Successfully defended the substantiation for health benefit claims made by a food manufacturer facing a challenge before the NAD.
- Represented a coalition of dairy processors and retailers in successfully obtaining the dismissal (affirmed by the D.C. Circuit) of a suit alleging that they failed adequately to warn milk consumers about lactose intolerance; we also successfully represented the leading dairy processor trade association in obtaining the dismissal (affirmed by the Fourth Circuit) of a suit alleging that it misled consumers about the benefits of dairy products.
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