Terms of Service

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. Your use of this site means that you agree to these terms of use. If you do not agree to these terms of use, do not use the site Thanks for using our products and services (“Services”). The Services are provided by the NCFPD located at the University of Minnesota. By using our Services, you are agreeing to these terms. Please read them carefully. This agreement is between NCPD’s FoodSHIELD Portal (also referred to as “us” and "our" here.) and the user of this site (referred to as “you” and "your" here). If you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, do not use the site. This agreement also contains our privacy policy, provided as a separate document for ease of distribution (Privacy Policy URL: http://www.foodshield.org/member/login/privacy.cfm). An important function of this agreement is to alert you that the data presented on this site is not warranted or otherwise guaranteed. Please read this document carefully. Authorized Access Some areas of this site may be visited by any member of the public, pending approval and subject to the terms of this agreement. Areas of this site can only be properly accessed by government and industry employees with NCFPD approval. Only these members and authorized guests may enter passwords and identification data for those pages, or view any information normally and properly accessed via those pages. Persons duly authorized by FoodSHIELD may access any page or data on this site, and such persons are bound by written confidentiality agreements to keep non-public information confidential. Automated search software, ‘bots such as spiders, and other robotic agents are limited in their authority to access this site. These limits are described below and in the associated Robot Exclusion Standards contained on this site. Access to any portion of this site in excess of the authority provided here is a violation of federal criminal law and also gives rises to civil liability. We may terminate your access to the website or any part of it at any time with or without notice, in our sole discretion. No False Information You shall not provide any false information in connection with the use of this site. Also, you agree to update or correct any information which you have provided if such information becomes outdated or misleading. You must use the site consistent with all applicable laws and regulations. Information Not Guaranteed to be Reliable The information on this site comes from a variety of sources and includes information that is subject to change without notice. FoodSHIELD desires this information to be up-to-date and accurate, but we cannot guarantee and do not warrant that the information is accurate, complete, or current; or that your access will be uninterrupted; or that material accessible from this site is free of viruses or other harmful computer code. Some of the information displayed on these pages changes rapidly, sometimes every day, and sometimes from minute to minute. The accuracy and timeliness of the data is therefore subject to delays in connectivity across the Internet, your systems, and other facilities outside the control of FoodSHIELD. Therefore, you must independently verify the accuracy of any information presented here. Ownership and Other Intellectual Property Rights This site is owned and operated by the NCFPD and all its pages are copyrighted by the Regents of the University of Minnesota, all rights reserved. The only exceptions are materials copyrighted by our licensors, used here by permission. You may make personal copies of materials, solely for your use and to distribute it within your home or company if you do not change the pages or text in any way, retaining any proprietary notices. Robot Exclusion Standards and Headers Our web site contains robot exclusion headers. You will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, ‘bot, or manual process to monitor or copy our web pages or the content contained herein without prior express written permission from the NCFPD, including permissions in our robot exclusion headers. You will not use any device, software or routine to bypass our robot exclusion headers, or to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of this site. You will take no action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure. Some information on our site is updated on a real-time basis and is proprietary or is licensed to us by third parties. You will not copy, reproduce, alter, modify, create derivative works, or publicly display any content from our website without our prior express written permission, or that of the appropriate third party. Disclaimers We have no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, any of your data or data on this site. We are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, or computer online systems. We are not responsible for any loss or damage, including personal injury or death, resulting from anyone's use of the web site or the site or any content posted on the web site or transmitted to anyone, or any interactions between users of the web site, whether online or offline. THE MATERIALS IN THIS SITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, SECURITY AND TITLE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE MATERIALS ON THIS SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS SITE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE SUCH MATERIALS AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE DO NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MATERIALS ON THIS SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICES, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Limitation on Liability Except in jurisdictions where such provisions are restricted, in no event will the NCFPD or FoodSHIELD be liable to you or any third person for any direct, indirect, consequential, exemplary, incidental, special or punitive damages, including also lost profits arising from your use of the web site, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, FoodSHIELD's liability to you for any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of the action, will at all times be limited to $100.00. Under no circumstances shall NCFPD, FoodSHIELD, the University of Minnesota or any other party involved in creating, producing, or distributing this Site be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages that result from the use of, or inability to use, the Site. This limitation on damages includes but is not limited to damages that result from reliance by you on any information obtained from the Site, or from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files or email, errors, defects, viruses, delays in operation or transmission, or any failure of performance (whether or not resulting from acts of God), communications failure, theft, destruction, or unauthorized access to FoodSHIELD's records, programs, or services. This paragraph applies to all content and services and software available through this site. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, in such states (if their law is deemed to apply) liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law. This site, including all content, software, and information made available on this site, is provided "as is." The University of Minnesota, NCFPD and its employees or agents make no representations or warranties of any kind whatsoever for the content of this site, for information made accessible by the software used herein, or for any products or services or hypertext links to third parties and disclaims any expressed or implied warranties, including without limitation, non-infringement, fitness, security, or merchantability for a particular purpose. Copyright Law The NCFPD, the Univeristy of Minnesota and FoodSHIELD respect the intellectual property of others and ask that our users do the same. It is our policy to respond expeditiously to claims of intellectual property infringement by promptly processing and investigating notices of alleged infringement and taking appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable intellectual property laws. If you believe that your copyrighted work is accessible on the website in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify us by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information: 1) the electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or of the person authorized to act on the owner's behalf; 2) identification of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim is being infringed; 3) identification of the material that you claim is infringing; 4) identification of the URL or other specific location on the website where the material that you claim is infringing is located (please be as specific as possible); 5) your name, address, telephone number, and email address; 6) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and 7) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf. FoodSHIELD's Agent for Notice of claims of copyright infringement on the website: Copyright Agent, c/o National Center for Food Protection and Defense, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Campus, 925 Delaware St SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Indemnification You hereby indemnify and hold harmless the NCFPD, FoodSHIELD and its directors, officers, employees, control persons, vendors, licensors and agents, from and against any and all claims, actions, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's and experts’ fees and costs) arising out of or related to (i) any use or access by you (or on your behalf) of the website; (ii) any breach by you of any agreements, or representations and warranties contained in these terms and conditions, (iii) any access to or use of the website by you in violation of any rights of the NCFPD or any third party, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent, trade secret, trademark, or other intellectual property rights and publicity and privacy rights, (iv) any access to or use of the website by you in violation of any applicable law, rule or regulation, or (v) any unauthorized access of, or through, the website to any computer system. Full and Complete Agreement Regarding Website These terms and conditions represent the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between you and the NCFPD regarding your rights to access and use the FoodSHIELD website and any information accessed through this site. It supersedes all prior agreements and representations (whether written or oral), regarding this subject matter, except as is otherwise provided herein. This agreement is in addition to, and does not nullify, any other agreement between you and the NCFPD governing the conduct of your relationship with the NCFPD. Other Terms Our Privacy Policy is part of this agreement. Please read it. It contains important information about how we use information about you. (Privacy Policy URL: http://www.foodshield/member/login/privacy.cfm) No waiver, modification or amendment of any of these terms and conditions shall be effective against FoodSHIELD unless it is in writing and signed by an authorized official of FoodSHIELD. We do not waive any power or right under this agreement even if we don’t always insist on strict compliance with any of these terms and conditions, or if we delay or fail to exercise any power or right given to us in this agreement. All rights and remedies given to FoodSHIELD in these terms and conditions are cumulative and not exclusive of any other rights or remedies which FoodSHIELD otherwise has at law or equity. These terms and conditions shall be binding upon you and your executors, heirs, successors and assigns. These terms and conditions and your rights and obligations hereunder may not be assigned by you without the prior written permission of FoodSHIELD and shall inure to the benefit of FoodSHIELD’s successors and assigns whether by merger, consolidation or otherwise. FoodSHIELD may assign this agreement or any of its rights or obligations under these terms and conditions. Any cause of action you may have with respect to your use of the website must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these terms and conditions to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to effect the intent of these terms and conditions, and the remainder of these terms and conditions shall continue in full force and effect. A printed version of these terms and conditions shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings. Choice of Law and Personal Jurisdiction; Jury Trial This website is created and controlled by us in the State of Minnesota, U.S.A. The laws of the State of Minnesota govern any disputes between you and us arising in connection with this agreement, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION FOR ANY ACTION OR PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE IN AN APPROPRIATE STATE OR FEDERAL COURT LOCATED IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN, STATE OF MINNESOTA AND THE PARTIES UNCONDITIONALLY WAIVE THEIR RESPECTIVE RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL.