Proposition 12 is exacerbating food insecurity in California – especially in the Asian and Latino communities who rely on pork as their primary protein, say representatives of the Latino Restaurant Association and the Latin Business Association.
“The impacts of Proposition 12 are devastating our Latino businesses and families across California,” says Ruben Guerra, chairman of the Latin Business Association. “With pork prices soaring up to 41% higher than the rest of the country and more than one in three Latino adults already living in food-insecure households, this misguided law is creating unintended food insecurity in our communities.”
Pork is a staple protein in Latino cuisine and culture, yet Guerra says they are seeing California’s pork consumption plummet as families struggle to afford these drastically higher prices.
“This isn’t just about numbers, this is about real families having to choose between putting food on the table and paying their bills,” he says. “Our small businesses, particularly Latino-owned restaurants and markets, are caught in the middle as they try to maintain affordable prices while absorbing these massive cost increases.”
Prop 12 hasn’t made life better for anyone, says Lilly Rocha, executive director of the Latino Restaurant Association.
“It would be one thing if the regulations imposed on pork producers were based on data and scientific research,” Rocha says. “But it’s not. We’ve had a great pork industry forever. Why do we need to change a good thing all of a sudden? It makes no sense. It seems to be regulation stemming from a social agenda, not a scientific one.”
Out-of-Control Prices
The Latino Restaurant Association is based in Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California and New York and serves about 1,400 members across the nation. As a representative of Latino restaurant owners, Rocha says they are concerned about how Prop 12 has affected their industry in a negative way.
“Latinos are the No. 1 consumers of pork in the United States – that means our menus have a lot of pork products,” Rocha explains. “Pork has generally been the affordable protein. Now, beef and pork are the same, so the profit margin is going down on both of the proteins. It’s going to be more of a struggle to even make a profit within the menu since prices are up, resulting in an increase in overall pricing.”
She points out that the Latino community is not the most affluent of the minority groups, so the higher prices are impacting them in a big way.
“Here in California, it’s not the easiest place to run a business, especially a restaurant. We are seeing out-of-control pricing already,” Rocha says.
Although she doesn’t know if there is a direct correlation between higher pork prices and restaurant closures, she says there’s no question about it that closures are continuing to happen.
“I think Prop 12 is just one more regulation on top of other regulations, and all together, that’s what’s making our folks shut their doors,” she says. “Prop 12 absolutely adds to that in a very negative way.”
Rocha and Guerra are leading voices in the Food Equity Alliance, a coalition working to address rising food costs and their impact on California families, especially within the Latino community. Of course, they don’t want prices to go back down, but realize that probably won’t happen. She says they’d like to see prices not go up. Most importantly, they don’t want Prop 12 to propagate in other places.
“Latinos love pork, and we will try to find ways to be able to afford pork,” Rocha says. “We’re always going to be supportive of the pork industry and want them to know we are an ally. We are willing to do anything we can do to help or team up to educate others on what’s really going on in the industry.”
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