The Firm's Agribusiness and Food Safety Specialty Practice Team was formed to advise clients in the vital business of protecting our food sources and the companies that generate those food sources.

The Firm now has years of experience, a large and diverse client base in this area. Some examples of matters handled recently by the Agribusiness and Food Safety Specialty Group include:

• Regulatory issues, including Regional Water Quality Control Board and Fish & Game Department matters;
• Mergers and acquisitions;
• Commercial finance and restructuring;
• Commercial transactions;
• Licensing;
• Real estate transactions;
• Formation issues for start-ups;
• Loan work-outs;
• Finance;
• Farm management;
• Marketing and marketing orders;
• Perishable Agriculture Commodities Act (PACA);
• Farm leases;
• Cooling contracts;
• Wine grape growing and processing contracts; and
• Grower-shipper agreements, commission merchant, brokerage arrangements.

Members of this practice group have a wealth of knowledge in corporate transactions and general commercial work coupled with real industry experience in how food is grown, processed, marketed and distributed. This group routinely handles:

• FDA inquiries and investigations;
• California Department of Health Services inquiries and investigations;
• Food safety audits and compliance; and
• Crisis management and recalls.

This specialized group works closely with and frequently involves the resources from the product liability group that deals specifically with lawsuits related to tainted or defective products that have entered the stream of commerce and that are consumed by the public.