CA AB 660

Title: Food and beverage products: labeling: quality dates, safety dates, and sell by dates: recycling.
Author: Jacqui V. Irwin

Summary
AB 660, as amended, Irwin. Food and beverage products: labeling: quality dates, safety dates, and sell by dates: recycling. (1) Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to publish information to encourage food manufacturers, processors, and retailers responsible for the labeling of food products to voluntarily use specified uniform terms on food product labels to communicate quality dates, as defined, and safety dates, as defined. Existing law also requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to encourage food distributors and retailers to develop alternatives to consumer-facing “sell by” dates, defined to mean a date on a label affixed to the packaging or container of food that is intended to communicate primarily to a distributor or retailer for purposes of stock rotation and that is not a quality date or a safety date. The Food and Agricultural Code provides that, unless a different penalty is expressly provided, a violation of any provision of that code is a misdemeanor.This bill would instead require, on and after January 1, 2025, a food manufacturer, processor, or retailer responsible for the labeling of food items for human consumption that chooses, or is otherwise required by law, to display a date label to communicate a quality or safety date on a food item manufactured on or after January 1, 2025, to use one of the specified terms on the date label, as provided. The bill would prohibit a person from selling or offering for sale in the state a food item for human consumption manufactured on or after January 1, 2025, that displays a quality or safety date label that is not labeled in accordance with these terms. The bill would prohibit a person from selling or offering for sale in the state a food item for human consumption manufactured on or after January 1, 2025, that is labeled with the phrase “sell by,” as specified. The bill would also require the State Department of Public Health to make certain updates to its regulations involving the California Retail Food Code, as provided. The bill would specify that, unless otherwise required by law, nothing in these provisions shall be construed to require the use or display of a date label on a food item for human consumption unless the food item displays a date label, and would provide that these provisions do not prohibit a label that allows consumers to view online information about a food item for human consumption. The bill would not apply the above-mentioned provisions to infant formula, eggs, and pasteurized in-shell eggs. By creating new requirements regarding the labeling of food items, the violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.(2) Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities for regulation by the State Department of Public Health, and requires local enforcement agencies to enforce those provisions.Existing law, located within the California Retail Food Code, requires a food facility that packages food using a reduced-oxygen packaging method and Clostridium botulinum to have an approved plan, as specified, that, among other things, limits the refrigerated shelf life to no more than 30 calendar days from packaging to consumption, except the time product is maintained frozen, or the original manufacturer’s “sell by” or “use by” date, whichever occurs first. This bill would retain that requirement before January 1, 2025, and, on and after January 1, 2025, would limit the refrigerated shelf life to no more than 30 calendar days from packaging to consumption, except the time the product is maintained frozen, or the original safety date, as specified, whichever occurs first.Existing law, located within the California Retail Food Code, requires raw shucked shellfish to be obtained in nonreturnable packages that bear a legible label that identifies the name,

Status
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on AGRI.

Bill Documents
CA AB 660 - 08/17/23 - Amended Senate
08/17/23 - CA AB 660 (08/17/23 - Amended Senate)