What happened: With the July 1 compliance deadline for California Proposition 12 right around the corner, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) hosted its latest stakeholder webinar on compliance requirements under Proposition 12. This week’s webinar, the latest in a series that NPPC worked closely with CDFA to conduct, focused on pork producers and changes needed to make their farms compliant. Previous webinars addressed the needs of other supply chain segments including retail, distribution and packing.
Watch all of CDFA’s recorded webinars on their website Here
Implementation: On June 16, 2023, the Superior Court for the County of Sacramento signed an order further modifying certain aspects of the implementation schedule for California Proposition 12.
The order effectively provides an extension of time for the continued sale of non-compliant whole pork meat that was already in the supply chain when Proposition 12 takes effect July 1. The order does not delay the underlying requirements of Proposition 12.
Under the terms of the order, non-compliant whole pork meat can continue to be sold in California provided that:
a. as of July 1, 2023, is in the possession of an “end user” (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 3, § 1322, subd. (o)) or a “pork distributor” (id., subd. (t)) or on the premises of an establishment at which mandatory inspection is provided under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 601 et seq.) and that holds an establishment number (prefix “M”) granted by the Food Safety Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (“federally-inspected entity”);
b. is self-certified by the end user, pork distributor or other federally-inspected entity to have been in their possession or was in the possession of another end user, pork distributor or other federally-inspected entity as of July 1, 2023; and
c. is ultimately sold, transferred, exported or donated on or before December 31, 2023.
What is next: This change is not a delay of all of Proposition 12. It is only an adjustment related to the sale of non-compliant whole pork meat already in the supply chain. Anything harvested after July 1, to be sold in California will still have to be Proposition 12 compliant.
NPPC will continue to work with CDFA to provide guidance for producers and ensure a smooth transition to Proposition 12 to protect long term market access for U.S. pork producers and to the California marketplace.
