BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:   


                          ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE


                                 Henry Perea, Chair


          SB  
          65 (Wolk) - As Amended March 9, 2015


          SENATE VOTE:  36-0


          SUBJECT:  Food labeling: olive oil.


          SUMMARY:  Recasts, changes, and adds to requirements for  
          labeling California olive oils.  Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Recasts wording for California Olive Oil from "shall be made  
            of oil derived solely" to "100 % of that oil shall be derived"  
            from olives grown in California.


          2)Deletes American Viticultural Areas (AVA) for labeling,  
            replacing the AVAs with specific California regions; raises  
            the required percentage of oil from 75% to at least 85% from  
            the specified region; and, adds that the percentage is by  
            weight.


          3)Requires, for the use of the term estate in labeling olive  
            oil, the oil is made from at least 95%, by weight, of oil  
            derived from olives grown on the specified estate.









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          EXISTING LAW requires the California Department of Public Health  
          (CDPH) to enforce various laws regarding the manufacture,  
          blending, production, labeling and sale of olive oil.  Existing  
          law requires any olive oil produced, processed, sold, offered  
          for sale, given away, or possessed in this state, that indicates  
          on its label that it is from an area that is one of the approved  
          AVAs under federal law, to be made of oil 75% of which is  
          derived solely from olives grown in that approved AVA.  A  
          violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor, punishable by a  
          fine of not less than $500, nor more than $1,000, or by  
          imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding one year, or  
          by both fine and imprisonment.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.


          COMMENTS:  The California Olive Oil Industry is going through a  
          maturing process and trying to better define its products.  Two  
          years ago the industry created the Olive Oil Commission of  
          California (OOCC) for the purpose of establishing quality  
          grading, labeling standards, research, and enforcement  
          requirements.  The OOCC adopted "Grade and Labeling Standards"  
          in September 2014 and made one amendment to them in February  
          2015.  The OOCC membership is for bottlers of 5,000 gallons or  
          more per year, upon which an assessment is paid.  2014 was the  
          first year for the assessment and reporting; they received the  
          gallons bottled reports from 65 bottlers of olive oil in  
          California, for the olive oil bottled from August 2014 to March  
          2015.  The reports showed 10 producers bottled above the OOCC  
          threshold and accounted for 98% of all olive oil bottled in  
          California.


          The language of SB 65 includes some of the adopted labeling  
          requirements OOCC has established for their membership but does  
          not include all of the OOCC's adopted labeling requirements.   








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          OOCC requirements include prohibited labeling terminology, and  
          requirements for the use of varietal names, among many other  
          requirements.  SB 65 will require the 55 non-OOCC bottlers in  
          the state to meet a limited labeling requirement that would be  
          consistent with the OOCC bottlers, thereby providing some  
          uniformity for olive oil consumers.


          Using specified regions as a labeling identifier may be an  
          improvement over using wine label references of AVA, although  
          neither the bill nor the OOCC standards provide any definition  
          for how a region is determined.  This could create an  
          enforcement problem for CDPH and disputes among the bottlers  
          attempting to gain a marketing edge.  The Committee may wish to  
          consider if "regions" need to be further defined.


          When bottling fluids, such as in the wine industry, the Alcohol  
          and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau uses the volume of fluids  
          rather than their weight to measure the percentages.  SB 65 is  
          comparing the weight of the fluid rather than their volume,  
          according to the author, due to the fact that the temperature of  
          olive oil affects its volume.  


          Previous Legislation:  SB 250 (Wolk), Chapter 344, Statutes of  
          2013, established the OOCC to engage in olive oil quality and  
          nutritional research and to recommend grades and labeling  
          standards; prescribed membership, board of directors, powers and  
          duties, implementing and voting procedures, assessments and  
          recordkeeping, penalties, and continuation or termination of  
          OOCC; authorized OOCC to levy annual assessments on producers,  
          as defined, and authorized OOCC to expand those funds for  
          purposes of implementing the bill; and, becomes operative upon a  
          favorable producer referendum vote.


          SB 818 (Wolk), Chapter 567, Statures of 2011, redefined  
          California's olive oil labeling requirements, making technical  








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          yet substantive changes, to conform to United States labeling  
          standards as outlined in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Olive  
          Oil and Olive-Pomace oil, published in the Federal Register that  
          took effect on October 25, 2010.


          AB 1164 (Tran), Chapter 140, Statutes of 2009, made numerous  
          technical changes in the California codes that were recommended  
          by the Legislative Counsel's Office.  


          AB 1585 (Accountability and Administrative Review), Chapter 7,  
          Statutes of 2009, revised the procedure for mandatory and  
          voluntary reporting requirements and deleted obsolete reports.


          SB 634 (Wiggins), Chapter 694, Statutes of 2008, clarified the  
          definition of olive oil, repealed current licensure provisions,  
          conformed olive oil definitions, grades and labeling  
          requirements to international standards, authorized the addition  
          of vitamin E to specified olive oil, permitted a consumer to  
          re-use a clean olive oil container, can, or drum; and, made  
          legislative findings and declarations.


          AB 2824 (Agriculture), Chapter 695, Statutes of 2008, clarified  
          the definition of olive oil; conformed olive oil definitions,  
          grades and labeling requirements to international standards;  
          and, provided contingent enactment language with SB 634  
          (Wiggins).


          AB 2079 (Emmerson), Chapter 73, Statutes of 2008, deemed food to  
          be misbranded if the labeling does not conform to federal food  
          allergen labeling requirements, and eliminated a licensing  
          requirement for persons engaged in the manufacturing, packaging,  
          and distribution of olive oil.










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          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation




          Opposition


          None on file







          Analysis Prepared by:Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916)  
          319-2084