The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Animal Care Program has provided guidance on regulations and requirements for the pork industry related to Proposition 12.
The Supreme Court of the United States in a May ruling upheld California’s law, which establishes minimum space requirements based on square feet for breeding pigs, veal calves and egg-laying hens and bans the sale of meat and eggs from those animals when they are raised in a way that does not comply with the minimum requirements. Pork producers have warned the law will result in higher prices for pork products and will cause some producers to go out of business.
CDFA and the California Department of Public Health are responsible for developing rules and regulations to implement Proposition 12. CDFA will be responsible for implementing the provisions of the regulations including registration, accreditation, certification and document inspection.
“For the remainder of 2023, we intend to focus our limited implementation resources, not on covered products already in commerce, but rather on outreach to ensure that all distributors who are required to register do so; accreditation of third-party certifying agents so that when third-party certification is required for producers and distributor registrations beginning on January 1, 2024, producers and distributors have more options; and certification of producers and distributors,” CDFA said in its guidance document.
The National Pork Producers Council said it will continue to work with the CDFA to ensure U.S. pork producers and other stakeholders have clear guidance for compliance with Proposition 12.
Webinars to provide more guidance to the supply chain
CDFA will also host three webinars to provide more guidance to the supply chain:
Tuesday, June 6 at 1:00 pm CT:
Webinar for end users — retailers, restaurants and food processors
Tuesday, June 13 at 1:00 pm CT:
Webinar for distributors — selling or distributing covered product to an end user in California
Tuesday, June 27 at 1:00 pm CT:
Webinar for pork producers — keeping or housing breeding pigs
