Fish and shellfish: labeling and identification.

(1) Existing federal law, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, regulates, among other things, the labeling of foods introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce and generally prohibits the misbranding of food. Existing state law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, generally regulates misbranded food, which includes food that is not properly labeled. A violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would provide that it is unlawful and constitutes misbranding to sell or offer for sale any fresh, frozen, or processed fish or shellfish intended for human consumption without clearly identifying at the point of sale whether the fish or shellfish was wild caught or farm raised. The bill would exempt a person who sells or offers for sale any fish or shellfish and acts in reasonable reliance on the fish or shellfish package labeling and product invoice from being found in violation of these requirements. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to increase penalties for a violation of these requirements. Because any violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, provides for the regulation of health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health. Under existing law, local health agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing the California Retail Food Code. A violation of any of these provisions is punishable as a crime. Existing law requires fish that are received for sale or service to be commercially and legally caught or harvested. This bill would require a retail food facility that sells or offers for sale any fresh, frozen, or processed fish or shellfish intended for human consumption to identify at the point of sale whether the fish or shellfish was wild caught or farm raised, and would prohibit a retail food facility from knowingly misidentifying that the fish or shellfish was wild caught or farm raised. The bill would exempt a retail food facility or restaurant that sells or offers for sale any fish or shellfish and acts in reasonable reliance on the fish or shellfish package labeling and product invoice from being found in violation of these requirements. Because any violation of these provisions would be a crime, and by imposing additional duties on local health officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law regulates commercial fishing and imposes regulations on various salt water fish. This bill would prohibit Pacific red snapper or butterfish from being used as an alternate name for specified fish, including the sebastes entomelas (widow rockfish) and the anoplopoma fimbria (sablefish) . (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.