Tomato Bites: Special legislative edition

Breaking Down the Legislative and Regulatory Issues Impacting Our Industry

Morning Star colleague James Sherwood is back with a special legislative edition of TOMATO BITES by Morning Star, taking a closer look at the regulatory and policy landscape shaping California’s food processing industry. Joined by Trudi Hughes and Kaite Little from the California League of Food Producers – an organization Morning Star has proudly partnered with for over 30 years – this conversation highlights key legislative proposals and regulatory challenges, including evolving packaging requirements and energy considerations. Together, they explore how industry collaboration, education, and advocacy play a critical role in protecting food safety, maintaining affordability, and ensuring practical, science-based policies for manufacturers.

Top Legislative Priorities

• AB 2034 (Addis) “GRAS bill”: This bill would require manufacturers to submit safety information to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) before using certain food additives that have not undergone federal pre-market review.
• AB 2244 (Gabriel) “Non-UPF Label”: AB 2244 would create a certification process for foods that are not considered ultraprocessed foods (UPFs).
• AB 1148 (Sharp-Collins)”Food packaging”: This bill would prohibit the manufacture, distribution, sale, or offering of food packaging containing intentionally added bisphenols or ortho-phthalates.
• AB 1776 (Aguiar-Curry) “Antitrust bill”: This bill would broaden the Cartwright Act by prohibiting persons from taking or directing measures to monopolize any part of trade or commerce and by defining “restraint of trade” to include conduct covered by the Act’s “trust” definition, whether committed by one or multiple actors.

Top Regulatory Issues:

• The California Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: will require business entities with total annual revenues in excess of one billion dollars that do business in California (“reporting entities”) to annually disclose their scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the prior fiscal year.
• Cap-and-Invest Proposed Changes: Provide additional relief on electrical bills, invest in CA businesses to reduce emissions, and increase assistance for industry.
• “Sell by” labeling: Starting July 1, 2026, this policy prohibits the sale of any food item in California that is not labeled for quality using the terms “best if used by” or “best if frozen by” or labeled for food safety using the terms “use by” or “use or freeze by,” while also prohibiting the use of consumer-facing “sell by” dates.
• Food Packaging Recycling mandate which requires that packaging be compostable or recyclable by 2032.