Attorney to Address Food Packaging Regulations at Focal Point 2014

September 11, 2014 /3BL Media/ - Shawn K. Stevens, one of the few attorneys in the U.S. whose entire practice is in representing the food industry, will bring his expertise to the packaging conference Focal Point 2014 on October 14 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Stevens will present “Where Food Packaging and FDA Regulation and Enforcement Collide: How to Package Your Risk on the New Food Safety Battleground."

Focal Point 2014 will target the latest challenges and solutions in food and beverage packaging and converting across the value chain. Industry experts will discuss sustainable sourcing of paper, development of specialty packaging materials, end-of-product-life choices.

Registration for the conference is online at http://conta.cc/1sYCWQU
More information about the conference is online at http://www.uwsp.edu/wist/Pages/focal-point/default.aspx

Stevens is a partner at the Milwaukee law firm of Gass Weber Mullins. For more than a decade, he has worked nationally with food industry clients, including the world’s largest food processors, national restaurant chains, and food distributors and grocers, helping them protect their brand by proactively reducing their food safety exposure, complying with complex food safety regulations, coordinating recall efforts, and defending high-profile foodborne illness claims.

Packaging manufacturers and converters are innovating new materials to meet consumer demand for more sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging.  Special concerns apply when these materials are used in food and beverage packaging.

“With the recent arrival of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Congress has tasked FDA with the enormous responsibility of substantially improving the overall safety of our national food supply,” Stevens said. “To accomplish this goal, the new law imposes significant new legal and regulatory requirements on the food industry, and gives FDA a wide-range of incredible new powers and authority to enforce the new standards.”

As the FDA begins using those new powers, food packaging companies will face increasing scrutiny and regulatory exposure. At Focal Point 2014, Stevens will explain how the new FDA mandates will directly impact the food and packaging industry, and what the industry can do now to prepare.

This is the fourth annual Focal Point conference, held each October at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and hosted by the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology. The one-day conference brings together leading experts in packaging manufacture, converting, regulatory concerns and end-use.

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About The Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology
The Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology (WIST) provides research, laboratory services and education to help businesses and organizations accomplish their goals in ways that make more sustainable use of natural resources. Technology and ideas developed by WIST and its partners will spur economic growth and help preserve a healthy environment for future generations. WIST is a multidisciplinary institute at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with support from the UWSP College of Natural Resources and the College of Letters and Science.