Speakers

Vanilla Labeling, Class Actions, and the Reasonable Consumer

Michael Reese

Reese, LLP.

New York, NY

mreese@reesellp.com

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The misrepresentation of flavoring in foods – e.g. stating that a flavor of a product comes from

the vanilla plant when, in fact, it does not but is an artificial flavor created in a lab – has been the

subject of a number of consumer lawsuits in the past ten years. Often these cases are brought as

class actions, which are subject to a number of complicated legal rules. This session shall

discuss the stages of such litigation, including the standard for such a case to survive a motion to

dismiss and to ultimately be certified as a class action. It shall also explore the results of such

class actions and their impact on consumers and the food industry.

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Michael Reese is the founding and managing partner of Reese LLP where he litigates consumer

protection class actions. Michael is a pioneer in the area of combatting food fraud with class

actions, and has been litigating such cases for 20 years. Michael Reese is also a leader in the

food law space, having taught Food Law as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn School of Law and

having been published on the subject extensively in domestic and international food law journals.

Mr. Reese is also an advisory board member of UCLA’s Resnick Food Law and Policy Center.

Mr. Reese and his firm have recouped hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers impacted by

food fraud and instigated corporate change at companies that have required relabeling of

packaging and reformulation of food products.