California and new pork law

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storewanderer
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California and new pork law

Post by storewanderer »

https://www.businessinsider.com/bacon-r ... rts-2021-8

This will be similar to a number of years ago when the eggs in CA all had to get some kind of CA SFES or something compliance. The egg prices shot up to $5/dozen but then they did come back down a bit again to around $3/dozen (not close to the rest of the country much of which enjoys $1/dozen, but at least down).

But this impacts a lot more products that just eggs...

Given the number of producers/suppliers it will be interesting to see how CA can even enforce this. Will they track the USDA Facility numbers for compliance or what? Send their inspectors to these pork facilities in other states to ensure they comply (some of which CA has banned state travel to at the present time)?
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by rwsandiego »

I hate to sound this way, but the pork industry has had three years to implement this and apparently they haven't planned to do so. The restaurant association apparently hasn't pressured them to do so, either. It will likely take a large company like McDonald's to apply pressure, as they did with egg producers, to effect the changes.

Additionally, the article fails to mention the producers who already meet the standards, such as those who sell "humanely raised" port to stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts. I'm guessing farm-to-table restaurants will suffer less, as they typically don't buy from factory farms.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: August 1st, 2021, 7:32 pm I hate to sound this way, but the pork industry has had three years to implement this and apparently they haven't planned to do so. The restaurant association apparently hasn't pressured them to do so, either. It will likely take a large company like McDonald's to apply pressure, as they did with egg producers, to effect the changes.

Additionally, the article fails to mention the producers who already meet the standards, such as those who sell "humanely raised" port to stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts. I'm guessing farm-to-table restaurants will suffer less, as they typically don't buy from factory farms.
Well, maybe much of the industry will just not implement it. It would be pretty tough to have a pork facility and have some pork processed to CA standards and the other pork all processed to the rest of the US standards. You really need entirely separate facilities that are processing to the CA standards. Or facilities that decide to apply the CA standards to their nationwide production (which at this point would make them uncompetitive). I'm sure someone will implement it- someone will want to make money. Is all of the processed pork at Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc. (bacon, sausage, etc.) with that humanely raised designation? I have not noticed it when buying either item from those two stores. I have only noticed it on raw pork chops in the meat department and only at Whole Foods. Also nothing about it on pork based products Whole Foods sells in its prepared foods departments either.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by HCal »

I remember the price of eggs shooting up at first, but that was mostly because the industry didn't bother preparing, despite having several years to do so. They seemed confident that they could convince a court to overturn the regulations, and when that didn't happen, they were caught unprepared. But I just bought a dozen eggs at Vons for 99 cents, and Aldi and Winco regularly have them for $1.xx, so I don't think the proposition had any long-term impact on prices.

I imagine the same will happen with pork. A lot of whining in the beginning, passive-aggressive signs on shelves blaming the state for high prices, and then eventually a new equilibrium will be reached. California is 12% of the US population, so it will be difficult to ignore. At least some facilities will upgrade to meet the new standards, and likely some other states will adopt them as well.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by jamcool »

Doesn’t just effect bacon….anything made with pork including pepperoni, mortadella, cappicola, ham, sausages
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by BillyGr »

The thing is, that seems to refer to rules about RAISING animals in California, not about the products. So, just raise them in another state, then bring the already made products in. No state can legally require people in another state to do something different...

Also seemed odd to say things would have to be rebuilt - if you need more room for each animal, just have less animals and they automatically have more space, no building needed. At worst, if the space is already divided, just remove some dividers (like you might in a house to make two small rooms into one larger one).
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: August 2nd, 2021, 6:49 am The thing is, that seems to refer to rules about RAISING animals in California, not about the products.
Law states "produced or sold" in California.

https://www.humanesociety.org/news/cali ... easure-law

What I wonder is how far this law goes. Does this just apply to a raw pork, raw bacon, raw hot dog, raw sausage, etc.? Or does this apply to the can of pork and beans with a little chunk of pork in the can, the frozen breakfast burrito with a couple pebbles of sausage inside, etc.?

This will sure increase costs for the retailers in my area of NV that continue to supply stores from CA. Definitely time to find a different supply point if possible. Luckily we have Smiths, Winco, and Wal Mart who supply from elsewhere.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by HCal »

BillyGr wrote: August 2nd, 2021, 6:49 am The thing is, that seems to refer to rules about RAISING animals in California, not about the products. So, just raise them in another state, then bring the already made products in. No state can legally require people in another state to do something different...
They can't require anything, but they can make it a condition of selling the products in their state.

That is what the recent lawsuits were about. Being from out of state does not exempt you from the rules. Otherwise, we would have a race to the bottom where states loosen their requirements in order to attract businesses.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: August 2nd, 2021, 5:53 pm They can't require anything, but they can make it a condition of selling the products in their state.

That is what the recent lawsuits were about. Being from out of state does not exempt you from the rules. Otherwise, we would have a race to the bottom where states loosen their requirements in order to attract businesses.
My guess is there are a few companies who have gotten set up to produce for these guidelines at least on some products, and they will make a ton of money just due to supply vs. demand circumstances.

Seems like this is going to potentially have quite an impact on lunchmeat and meat variety and pricing in California.
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Re: California and new pork law

Post by jamcool »

It could effect even medicines like insulin, which is derived from pork and beef. And anything made from pigs (Remember the saying “everything but the squeal”)
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