Objectives: the Luiss School of Law has given specific attention to the Master of Law (LL.M.) in Food Law. It is one of its core programmes, conceived and structured to attract an international audience and offer a unique and formative experience. The human, economic and geo-political relevance of food related issues barely needs emphasizing. However,  specific attention and a more systemic focus on the great variety of statutes and rules governing the so vastly articulated "food world" are necessary. Agricultural and industrial production, distribution and international trade, quality and safety controls, consumer information and health safeguard, scientific research and technological developments, environmental protection and bio-productions: these are just a few main facets of the complex prism of different and frequently interlinked activities concerning food. They are all of significant interest for lawyers, magistrates, business people, advisors and consumer movements, as well as for anyone dealing with food related activities, both profit and non-profit. Moreover, in-depth and focused study, in an interdisciplinary and international perspective, is the basis for a concrete contribution to the pursuit of updated and more efficient legal settings. The LL.M. in Food Law of the Luiss School of Law precisely addresses such need of a comprehensive "analysis-cum-proposals" of the various profiles and main issues involved in the overall regulation concerning food.

Participants: participants include all persons wishing to acquire or to improve their knowledge of the relevant legal aspects of Food Law in an international perspective. The LL.M. in Food Law is addressed to those wishing to strengthen their education in this field in order to become more effective in their present or future activity, which comprehends a wide range of career opportunities in the food sector worldwide: national and international regulatory bodies, specialized law and consulting firms, food industries, governmental and non-governmental organizations, etc. It is through the programmes, labs, seminars, traineeships as well as person-to-person contact with professors, experts and leading operators, that the LL.M. in Food Law will not only upgrade their professional background and competencies, but above all will provide them with opportunities to enter or progress in their personal careers. 

Credits: 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). 

Diploma: Masters of Law (LL.M.) in Food Law - Master universitario di secondo livello.

Duration of Program: one academic year. 

Language: English is the language of the courses and of the other activities.

Content: legal references stem from the European Union and the international rules and practices. Moreover, the courses go beyond the legal field; where needed, the programme also provides indispensable economic and technical notions. The faculty of the LL.M programme is composed of renowned scholars, high officials of regulatory bodies and institutions, as well as prominent agricultural, industrial, commercial operators and experts. The course content ranges from: the institutional grounds of food legislation, to the regulatory tenets of safety, security and environmental protection, to the instruments and bodies of quality and traceability monitoring, to the correct safeguard of consumers, to the requirements for certifications of origin, including  "made in", to the legal profiles of distribution and agro-food contractual policies, to the rules of free competition, to the responsibility of business operators along the production-distribution-consumption chain. Particular attention is given to the regulation of technological innovation in the food sector, as well as to bio-agriculture technologies. Furthemore, upon attainment of the diploma, specific care is dedicated to the opening of concrete working perspectives, which consist of a wide offer of stages and traineeships in various specific areas of students’ potential interest. During the programme, contacts with the "world" of food related activities, organizations and institutions and connected initiatives are already proposed.

Examinations and Master’s Thesis: at the end of each Module, students will take a written exam. Having completed their mandatory teaching hours, students will work on a Master’s thesis based on a topic selected among those examined in the single subject modules.

Class: as to foster the participation of professionals and interested graduates, classes are held primarily:

• Fridays: 02:00 pm – 08:00 pm
• Saturdays: 08:30 am – 01:30 pm
• The classes of the last module – Training Course (“Luiss Summer School on International Trade andFood Law”) will take place for a week in July, not only on Friday and Saturday, but also from Mondayto Thursday from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Laboratories and practice-oriented seminars duly integrate the frontal lessons. Experts operating in the various fields related to food regulation and industry illustrate and discuss with the students their concrete working life experience.