BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 667
AUTHOR: Roth
AMENDED: April 1, 2013
HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
CONSULTANT: Robinson-Taylor
SUBJECT : Healthy eating program.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Public Health
(DPH) to establish a healthy eating program, as specified, to
promote public awareness of the need to eat healthy. Specifies
that this bill does not prohibit contributions to the healthy
eating program by certain marketing orders issued by the
California Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA).
Existing law:
1.Establishes DPH to protect and improve the health of
communities through education, promotion of healthy
lifestyles, and research for disease and injury prevention.
2.Requires DPH to establish and implement the Five-A-Day - For
Better Health! (Five-A-Day) program to promote public
awareness of the need to eat more fruits and vegetables in
order to improve health and prevent major chronic diseases.
3.Establishes DFA to protect and promote California agriculture.
4.Authorizes the DFA to provide administrative direction and
oversight for marketing programs for agricultural commodities
including the promotion, advertising, education, production
research, quality standards and inspection of those
commodities.
This bill:
1.Requires DPH to establish and implement a healthy eating
program, based on the state Five-A-Day program, the United
States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) MyPlate food icon,
or other similar healthy eating campaign programs for the
purpose of promoting public awareness of the need to eat
healthy and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables as
part of a low-fat, high-fiber diet in order to improve health
and prevent major chronic diseases, including diet-related
cancers.
Continued---
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2.Requires DPH to implement these healthy eating programs to the
extent funds are available through public and private sources,
including application for public and private grants.
3.Permits DPH to receive contributions to these healthy eating
programs through the marketing orders issued by DFA.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. This bill clarifies California code to
allow for the greatest flexibility for DPH to promote healthy
eating. Current statutes reference an outdated program. This
bill allows for new programs to be created at the federal
level without the need for further amendments to the
California code.
2.State programs to promote healthy eating. DPH currently has
several programs that promote healthy eating. The goal of
DPH's Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Branch (NEOP)
is to foster collaborative partnerships that engage
Californians, especially low-income families, to create
environments that encourage healthy eating and physical
activity and thus reduce obesity and chronic diseases and
improve overall health. NEOP is currently operating several
major healthy eating initiatives including, but not limited
to, the following:
a. California Obesity Prevention Program - A
federally-funded program that addresses environmental and
policy change strategies related to six target areas of
the California Obesity Prevention Plan including:
increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, physical
activity, and breastfeeding while decreasing consumption
of energy dense foods, sugar sweetened beverages, and
television viewing.
b. Network for a Healthy California (Network) - A
statewide social marketing initiative funded through the
USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The
Network is the largest and most diverse nutrition and
physical activity initiative in the country and creates
partnerships to empower low-income Californians to
increase fruit and vegetable consumption, physical
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activity, and food security with the goal of preventing
obesity and other chronic diseases.
c. California Project LEAN - A conglomeration of
programs that advance nutrition and physical activity
policy in schools and communities in order to prevent
obesity and its associated chronic diseases. Efforts
center around youth and parent empowerment approaches,
policy and environmental change strategies, and
community-based solutions that improve nutrition and
physical activity environments.
DPH and DFA also currently collaborate to increase access to
healthy food options through such efforts as the California
Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Farmer's Market Nutrition
Program. DPH, DFA and the California Department of Education
have recently started efforts to create a statewide
Farm-to-Fork Office that will connect farmers directly with
school districts and non-profit organizations as a way to
bring fresh, healthy produce into school lunches.
3.Five-A-Day and MyPlate food icon programs. Established by DPH
in 1988, the Five-A-Day campaign program became a national
social marketing initiative that was modeled across the
country. Originally funded by the National Cancer Institute,
over the program's 19-year tenure funds were obtained from,
DFA, the USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Block Grant, and the California Endowment. The goal of the
program was to empower Californians to eat five to nine
servings of fruit and vegetables and get at least 30 minutes
of physical activity a day by creating environments where
these behaviors are socially supported and easy to adopt.
According to DPH, the Five-A-Day program was rebranded and
became the Network when the federal Dietary Guidelines for
Americans was updated in 2005 to include an increased
recommendation for daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
MyPlate is a new generation icon created by USDA with the intent
to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at
meal times and emphasizes the fruit, vegetable, grains,
protein and dairy food groups consistent with the 2010 Dietary
Guidelines for America. According to USDA, MyPlate was
developed as a result of a 2010 report of the White House
Childhood Obesity Task Force. The report challenged USDA to
design a new symbol - something simpler and more direct than
the Food Pyramid - to inspire consumers to make healthier
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choices. According to DPH, all federally-funded nutrition
programs in California already use MyPlate imagery including
the California Women, Infants and Children's program and the
Network.
4.DFA Marketing Orders. Under the general enabling authority
provided in the California Marketing Act of 1937 and
implemented through rules and regulations of DFA, marketing
orders are essentially advisory boards to DFA that govern the
promotion, advertising, education, production research,
quality standards and inspection of individual California
commodities. Made up of agricultural producers and handlers
nominated by their industry peers, the board members work
together to maintain and expand both domestic and
international markets for California commodities including,
but not limited to, agricultural, viticultural (including
wine), fish or seafood, honey and milk. Marketing orders raise
money for their administration and activities through levying
and collecting assessments from commodity producers and
handlers based on a percentage of the gross volume of sales of
their particular commodity. All marketing order decisions are
subject to the approval of DFA.
5.Related legislation. SB 464 (Jackson) enacts the Healthy
Eating and Physical Activity Act which establishes nutrition
and physical education standards for early childhood education
programs, infant care programs and afterschool programs. SB
464 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Education Committee
on April 17, 2013.
1.Prior legislation. SB 1360 (Committee on Health and Human
Services) Chapter 415, Statutes of 1995, requires DPH to
establish and implement the Five-A-Day - For Better Health!
(Five-A-Day) program to promote public awareness of the need
to eat more fruits and vegetables in order to improve health
and prevent major chronic diseases.
1.Support. The California Grocers Association (CGA), a
statewide trade association representing the food industry,
writes in support that they are an active supporter of
programs promoting healthy eating. CGA maintains that
authorizing DFA marketing orders to partner with DPH will only
enhance the state's ability to promote healthy eating.
2.Policy Comment. According to DPH, it does not need additional
statutory authority to institute healthy eating programs nor
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is there anything currently prohibiting DPH from receiving
contributions from marketing orders under DFA, therefore the
need for this bill is unclear.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California Grocers Association
Oppose: None on file.
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