Prop 12 Countdown: California Food Industry Leaders Fight Back
Leaders in the California restaurant and grocery industries don’t know if they can take another hit. That’s why a coalition of California restaurants and grocery stores has filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of California’s Proposition 12, an animal welfare law that was approved by California voters in November 2018.
Proposition 12, set to go into effect Jan. 1, will ban the sale in the state of pork from hogs born to sows housed in pens raised anywhere in the country that do not meet California’s prescribed sow housing standards. It also will prohibit the use of breeding stalls, which let sows recover after delivering and nursing piglets.
Since voters approved Proposition 12 by a 2-to-1 ratio in November 2018, state officials have missed deadlines for releasing specific regulations covering the humane treatment of animals that provide meat for the California market.
“We’re saying this is not going to work,” said Nate Rose, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association told the Associated Press.
California has eased the transition to the new system by allowing pork processed under the old rules and held in cold storage to be sold in California in 2022, which could prevent shortages for weeks or even months, AP reports.
“What will happen in California? I don’t know,” Michael Formica, general counsel for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) told AP. “One thing we know is there will be finite supplies to sell there.”
The lawsuit filed in November in Sacramento County by the California Grocers Association, California Restaurant Association, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, California Retailers Association and Kruse & Sons, a meat processor, seeks a 28-month delay until final regulations for enforcement of the rules are officially adopted.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) said the voter-backed measure didn’t allow them enough time to approve final regulations, AP reports.
On Dec. 3, CDFA revised and submitted for public comment proposed regulations to implement Proposition 12 (Prop 12). NPPC plans to submit comments on the revised regulations by the conclusion of the 15-day comment period that is taking place through Dec. 17.
In comments on earlier proposed regulations, NPPC said that the rules would require unworkable annual certification of hog farmers’ compliance with the Prop 12 requirements in addition to creating a complex accreditation process for entities allowed to conduct such certifications. As well, Prop 12 imposes burdensome and unnecessary recordkeeping requirements on farmers, meat packers and others throughout the pork supply chain while imposing unnecessary and problematic labeling requirements for pork.
The California Grocers Association is concerned about all of the uncertainty. A judge scheduled a hearing for March, but the group is pushing for an earlier date.
Read More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Delay Implementation of Proposition 12, Food Industry Leaders Urge
CDFA Proposes Revised Prop 12 Regulations, Opens for Public Comment
Saving America’s Bacon from California’s Prop 12
Bringing Home the Bacon Takes on New Meaning for California Consumers
