Samuel D. Jockel

Food and Dietary Supplements

• Counseling food and dietary supplement marketers on regulatory compliance and risk mitigation strategies associated with product labeling and advertising claims. This work includes extensive experience advising alcoholic beverage companies regulated by the FDA and/or TTB.
• Representing major food packaging suppliers, food and beverage marketers and retailers in response to threatened or actual consumer class action, NGO, and competitor litigation before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau. This includes successful pre-litigation resolution to a broad spectrum of challenges involving labeling and marketing claims, including health halo and natural claims, product origin claims, environmental and “green” claims, ingredient (flavor, protein, sugar) claims, and the presence of alleged contaminants, such as PFAS, phthalates, and heavy metals.
• Counseling clients on the regulatory and litigation landscape surrounding the development and marketing of novel products, including alternative proteins, bioengineered foods, intentional genomic alternations in animals, and CBD/hemp-containing products. This includes advise on self-GRAS determinations and the submission of Food Additive Petitions.
• Drafting public comments on behalf of clients in response to rulemaking proceedings, including in response to the FDA’s proposed update to the use of the term “healthy” on food labeling.
• Negotiating various transactional agreements including purchase orders, purchase agreements, and distribution agreements on behalf of companies across the supply chain.
• Advising food retailers, including restaurants, kitchens, and third-party delivery services on navigating local and state food and food packaging regulatory requirements.
• Advising brick-and-mortar and online food retailers on compliance with the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• Advising a dairy producer on FDA and analogous state regulatory requirements, including those related to the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance.

Sam Jockel co-leads the food and beverage industry team.

Sam focuses his practice on regulatory, policy, and litigation matters involving industries regulated by FDA, USDA, TTB, FTC, CPSC, and related state regulatory agencies. Sam’s clients include those in the food, beverage, alcohol, cosmetic, dietary supplement, retail, animal product, and drug industries. Sam’s approach to counseling clients leverages his time as a trial attorney in the USDA’s Office of the General Counsel and an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow at the FDA. While at the USDA, Sam received the General Counsel’s Award for Excellence.

Sam advises on a range of matters, including product and ingredient commercialization, regulatory compliance, import and export, supply chain management, and labeling and advertising. Sam counsels clients across multiple product categories through enforcement actions and potential crises, including in response to import detentions, inspectional findings, recalls, warning letters, and civil and criminal investigations and actions. Sam also has substantial experience on USDA regulatory issues, including on bioengineered food disclosure, the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), and organic labeling (AMS); meat, poultry, and egg products regulatory matters (FSIS); the import of animal and plant products, and animal welfare (APHIS); and SNAP compliance and nutrition programs (FNS).

Sam is Chambers-USA-ranked in Food & Beverages: Regulatory & Litigation and the only ranked lawyer that has served at both the FDA and USDA.

律師資格

• Pennsylvania
• 哥倫比亞特區

學歷

• Boston College (法學博士, 2014)
• Johns Hopkins University (學士學位, 2011)

Memberships