Food and beverage products: labeling: quality dates, safety dates, and sell-by dates.

(1) Existing law, the Milk and Milk Products Act of 1947, regulates milk and milk products and establishes standards for the manufacturing, handling, processing, and marketing of milk and milk products. Existing law requires that there appear on the package or container of market milk, market cream, and other milk products made from market milk or any component or derivative of market milk the date established by the processor as the date on which, in order to ensure consumer quality, the product is normally removed from the shelf or similar location from which the milk product is offered for sale to the consumer. This bill would instead require that there appear on the package or container of those milk products the date established by the processor as the date by which the milk product should normally be used to ensure consumer quality. (2) Existing law 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 specified uniform terms on food product labels to communicate quality dates, as defined, and safety dates, as defined. Existing law also requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to encourage food distributors and retailers to develop alternatives to consumer-facing "sell by" dates, defined to mean a date on a label affixed to the packaging or container of food that is intended to communicate primarily to a distributor or retailer for purposes of stock rotation and that is not a quality date or a safety date. The Food and Agricultural Code provides that, unless a different penalty is expressly provided, a violation of any provision of that code is a misdemeanor. This bill would instead require, on and after July 1, 2026, a food manufacturer, processor, or retailer responsible for the labeling of food items for human consumption that chooses, or is otherwise required by law, to display a date label to communicate a quality or safety date on a food item manufactured on or after July 1, 2026, to use specified uniform terms on the date label, as provided. The bill would prohibit a person from selling or offering for sale in the state a food item for human consumption manufactured on or after July 1, 2026, that displays a quality or safety date label that is not labeled in accordance with that requirement or that is labeled with the phrase "sell by," as specified. The bill would specify that, unless otherwise required by law, these provisions do not require the use or display of a date label on a food item for human consumption unless the food item displays a date label, and would provide that these provisions do not prohibit a label that allows consumers to view online information about a food item for human consumption. The bill would authorize a grocery store, on and after July 1, 2026, to display a label with the phrase "packed on" on a prepared food item and to sell or offer for sale in the state the prepared food item with that label, if the prepared food item also displays a quality or safety date label in accordance with the above-described requirement. The bill would provide that these provisions do not prohibit a person from displaying on wine, a distilled spirit, or a wine- or distilled spirit-based product bottled or packaged on and after July 1, 2026, a label with a statement that communicates the date on which the wine, distilled spirit, or wine- or distilled spirit-based product was produced, manufactured, bottled, or packaged, or from selling or offering for sale in the state the wine, distilled spirit, or wine- or distilled spirit-based product with that label. The bill's above-described provisions would not apply to infant formula, eggs, pasteurized in-shell eggs, or beer and other malt beverages. By creating new requirements regarding the labeling of food items, the violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the California Retail Food Code establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities for regulation by the State Department of Public Health, and requires local enforcement agencies to enforce those provisions. The California Retail Food Code, requires a food facility that packages food using a reduced-oxygen packaging method and Clostridium botulinum to have an approved plan, as specified, that, among other things, limits the refrigerated shelf life to no more than 30 calendar days from packaging to consumption, except the time the product is maintained frozen, or the original manufacturer's "sell by" or "use by" date, whichever occurs first. This bill would retain that requirement before July 1, 2026, and, on and after July 1, 2026, would limit the refrigerated shelf life to no more than 30 calendar days from packaging to consumption, except the time the product is maintained frozen, or the original safety date, as specified, whichever occurs first. A violation of the California Retail Food Code is generally a misdemeanor. By revising the standards that are enforced by local health agencies and by expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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.