Will recent Supreme Court actions in the US change the regulatory landscape for Food & Beverage? We consider the possibilities.

The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn the Chevron Doctrine has sent ripples through various industries, particularly food & beverage. This ruling, which reduces the authority of federal regulatory agencies, may introduce new complexities in food safety regulation.

For those unfamiliar, the recent ruling overturns a long-standing precedent, commonly referred to as Chevron Deference, established all the way back in 1984 by another Supreme Court ruling, Chevron USA Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council. In that case, the court ruled that when the text of a regulatory statute is ambiguous or silent on a given point of detail, the agency responsible for enforcing that statute should have the ability to provide a clarifying interpretation. For example, if the text of a regulation were to require “reasonably appropriate” measures toward a stated goal, it would be up to the responsible government agency to determine what “reasonably appropriate” should mean in a given context.