BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 234
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 7, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Bonta, Chair
AB
234 (Gordon) - As Introduced February 4, 2015
SUBJECT: Food: sale.
SUMMARY: Expands the type of food facility that a "community
food producer" (CFP) may sell fruits, vegetables, or eggs to.
Specifically, this bill permits a CFP or a gleaner, as these
terms are defined by this bill, unless prohibited by a local
jurisdiction that has adopted an ordinance regulating community
food production, to sell or provide whole uncut fruits or
vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to the
public, to any licensed food facility, or to a cottage food
operation if the CFP meets specific requirements, in addition to
any requirements imposed by a locally adopted ordinance.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the California Retail Food Code (CRFC), which
governs all aspects of retail food safety and sanitation in
California under the CRFC. Specifies that primary
responsibility for enforcement of the CRFC is with local
enforcement agencies, typically local environmental health
departments.
2)Requires, under the CRFC, that food be obtained from "approved
sources," which is defined as sources that comply with all
applicable laws, or a producer, manufacturer, distributor, or
food facility that is acceptable to the enforcement agency
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based on a determination of conformity with applicable laws,
or, in the absence of applicable laws, with current public
health principles and practices, and generally recognized
industry standards that protect public health.
3)Deems as coming from an approved source any whole uncut fruit
or vegetable, or unrefrigerated shell egg, grown or produced
in compliance with all applicable federal, state, or local
laws, regulations, and food safety guidelines issued by a
regulatory agency.
4)Permits farmers to sell fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables
that they produce, directly to the public at a certified
farmers' market, a field retail stand, or a farm stand, and
exempts this produce from certain minimum size, packaging and
labeling requirements, subject to specified conditions.
Limits farmers to selling produce that does not conform to
size, packaging and labeling requirements only to consumers
who are end users, or individuals or entities that
subsequently sell the produce directly to end users.
5)Permits a CFP, defined as a producer of agricultural products
on land that is not zoned for agricultural use, to sell whole
uncut fruits or vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs,
directly to the public, to permitted restaurants, or to a
cottage food operation if the CFP follows certain
requirements.
6)Requires a producer that markets whole produce, shell eggs, or
processed foods through a community-supported agriculture
program to register as a direct marketing producer. Requires
the annual registration fee for registration as a direct
marketing producer to be set at the actual cost of
registration, with a maximum fee of $100 annually.
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7)Requires the Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in
consultation with the Department of Public Health and local
health officers or designees, to publish and post on DFA's
Internet Web site small farm food safety guidelines on the
safe production, processing, and handling of both
non-potentially hazardous and potentially hazardous foods.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS:
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. According to the author, the local
agriculture movement is experiencing burgeoning popularity,
and California has become a trailblazer in progressive food
and farm legislation. Additionally, there has been a dramatic
growth in a wide range of community and urban gardens, as well
as locally produced food, throughout the past decade. These
small production sites include personal gardens, culinary
gardens, community gardens, and school gardens. This bill
expands on efforts in recent years to allow gleaners and CFPs
to engage in direct sales of produce to the public. The
author states that this bill is responsive to the Governor's
veto message. By striking the word "restaurant" and replacing
it with "food facility," this bill ensures explicit
clarification as to what entities CFPs are allowed to sell or
provide whole uncut fruit, vegetables or unrefrigerated shell
eggs to.
2)BACKGROUND. Last year, AB 1990 (Gordon), Chapter 580,
Statutes of 2014, defines "CFPs" and "gleaners," and allows
CFPs or gleaners to sell or provide whole uncut fruits or
vegetables or unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to the
public, to a permitted restaurant, or to a cottage food
operation, if the CFP complies with a variety of health and
safety requirements or Best Management Practices established
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by CDFA and posted on their Website.
Upon signing AB 1990 in September 2014, Governor Brown issued
the following signing statement: "There is some concern that
AB 1990 would inadvertently limit the existing paths for
producers and gleaners to sell locally. This is not my intent.
The language in this bill is clearly expansive, not
restrictive."
This bill would allow a CFP to sell their product directly to
any type of food facility, instead of just restaurants. This
would include public and private school cafeterias, some
licensed health care facilities, commissaries, mobile food
facilities, mobile support units, and temporary food
facilities.
3)SUPPORT. The California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators, sponsor of the bill, supports this work as a
continued effort to facilitate access to healthy foods like
fresh fruit and vegetables for all Californians. They state
that in 2012, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
legislation AB 224 (Gordon) Chapter 404, Statutes of 2013,
provided the platform to clarify the regulation of "community
gardens and community supported agriculture" from a food
safety perspective. Then, the statewide approach in AB 1990
promoted safe community food while recognizing local land use
and zoning authority. By adhering to local land use zoning
requirements, it reduced demands on local governments to adopt
a patchwork quilt of individual local ordinances. It provided
a statewide set of best management practices consistent with
recently enacted cottage food law, AB 1616 (Gatto), and CSA
laws. To remedy this limitation, this bill will explicitly
allow all community food produced in compliance with these
best management practices to be sold at all retail food
facilities by striking the word "restaurant" and replacing it
with "food facility".
4)RELATED LEGISLATION.
a) AB 143 (Wood) expands an exemption in the CRFC allowing
wine tasting rooms that currently only serve crackers to
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also serve pretzels or prepackaged non-potentially
hazardous foods. AB 143 is pending in Assembly Health
Committee.
b) AB 226 (Atkins) creates and defines a Fishermen's Market
as a type of nonpermanent food facility. AB 226 is pending
in Assembly Health Committee.
c) AB 724 (Dodd) revises the definition of community event
to include a district fair, and would require a temporary
food facility to be granted a permit to operate at a
community event if the enforcement agency makes a
determination that the temporary food facility meets
specified requirements, and requires the permit to be
issued for the entire duration of the community event. AB
724 is pending in Assembly Health Committee.
d) AB 1076 (Mayes) exempts from the definition of a food
facility, a snack bar operated by a charitable nonprofit
organization and authorizes snack bars to undertake limited
food preparation, as defined. AB 1076 is pending in
Assembly Health Committee.
e) SB 746 (Wolk) exempts, beginning January 1, 2018, grain
milled and sold at the Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park
from registration and other requirements applicable to
retail food facilities if certain conditions are met. SB
746 is pending in Senate Natural Resources and Water
Committee.
5)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION.
a) AB 1990 permits a CFP, defines as a producer of
agricultural products on land that is not zoned for
agricultural use, to sell whole uncut fruits or vegetables,
or unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to the public,
including restaurants, if the CFP follows certain
requirements.
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b) AB 224 creates definitions dealing with requirements for
CSAs; and, authorizes the CDFA to establish fees, not to
exceed $100, to administer this new program as specified.
c) AB 1616 (Gatto), Chapter 415, Statutes of 2012, provides
a regulatory framework for the production in home kitchens
of food for sale, referred to as cottage food operations.
d) AB 2168 (Jones), Chapter 447, Statutes of 2008, expands
the definition of direct marketing to include farm stands,
field retail stands, and other forms of direct marketing,
revises related definitions, and authorizes CDFA to adopt
regulations to regulate direct marketing, as specified.
e) AB 593 (Strom-Martin), Chapter 833, Statutes of 1999,
codifies regulations exempting direct marketers from
specified packing and labeling standards, amends fee
structures, and authorizes farmers' markets to establish
rules and procedures.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
(sponsor)
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Roots of Change
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared
by: Dharia McGrew / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097