Farm to Fork Legislation
The State of California has passed numerous bills that relate to Farm to Fork issues. Some of the bills are listed below. For more details on each piece of legislation, including the full text and vote history, please visit California’s Legislative Information page.
2024
AB 660
(Irwin, Chapter 911, Statutes of 2024) In order to reduce food waste and decrease consumer confusion regarding food safety, on July 1, 2026, this bill will prohibit the sale of any food item for human consumption in the state that is not labeled for quality using the terms "best if used by" or "best if frozen by," and for food safety stating, "use by" or "use or freeze by." On July 1, 2026, this bill would prohibit the term "sell by."
AB 2786
(Bonta, Chapter 915, Statutes of 2024) To help facilitate the acceptance of Farmers Market Nutrition Program benefits at mobile markets, this bill will require the Department of Public Health to include criteria in the next state plan submission to the United States Department of Agriculture to authorize certified mobile farmers’ markets to participate in the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program. If the state plan is approved, the bill will require the department to authorize certified mobile farmers’ markets to participate in the program, and would require certified mobile farmers’ markets to, among other things, sell agricultural products, including fruits, vegetables, and herbs, that are grown by California producers with a certified producer’s certificate, as specified.
2021
AB 1009
(Bloom, Chapter 608, Statutes of 2021) established the Farm to Community Food Hub Program to pilot investments in food aggregation and distribution infrastructure and increase institutional purchases of local food.
2018
SB 862
(Budget Act of 2018) established the Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program (based on AB 2335), which provides grants for energy efficient refrigeration units in small businesses located in food deserts. The bill also established the EBT Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Project (based on SB 900), which directs the Department of Social Services to modify the state EBT system to track and store nutrition incentives for CalFresh customers and to create a grant program to test the new system.
2017
AB 954
(Chiu, Chapter 787, Statutes of 2017) Food Labeling: quality and safety dates. This bill 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 uniform terms on food product labels to communicate quality dates and safety dates. In addition, the bill also requires the Department to encourage food distributors and retailers to develop alternatives to consumer-facing "sell by" dates.
AB 822
(Caballero, Chapter 785, Statutes of 2017) Choose California Produce Act: This bill requires California state owned or run institutions (excepting public universities, colleges, and school districts) to purchase California grown food when the cost does not exceed 5% more than the lowest bid and the quality is comparable.
2015
AB 1321
(Ting, Chapter 442, Statutes of 2015) established the California Nutrition Incentive Program, which provides grants to organizations offering incentives to low-income shoppers using CalFresh and other benefits to purchase healthy, California grown fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
2014
AB 2413
(Pérez, Chapter 593, Statutes of 2014) officially created the Office of Farm to Fork within the Department of Food and Agriculture and charged the Office with increasing access to healthy foods for underserved communities and schools in California.