AB 2779 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

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

Summary
Existing law requires, 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. Existing law prohibits 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. This bill would provide that a food item for human consumption does not include a dietary supplement, as defined. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2026
Committee Review
Jun 2026
Assembly Passage
Aug 2026
Senate Passage
Aug 2026
Governor
Introduced Mar 5, 2026 Last action Aug 30, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/05/26 - Introduced 06/09/26 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jun 9, 2026
MINOR
The Senate amended AB 2779 to add an urgency clause requiring the bill to take effect immediately upon passage, justified by the need to minimize disruption to California's food industry ahead of the July 1, 2026 compliance date. The amendment also expanded the list of acceptable labeling terms to include lowercase versions (e.g., 'Best if Used by' and 'Use by') in addition to the previously required all-caps versions, making the rule more flexible for manufacturers.
TIMELINE

A new Section 2 declares the bill an urgency statute that takes effect immediately upon passage, rather than waiting until January 1 of the following year. The stated reason is to ensure correct implementation and minimize disruption to California's food industry before the July 1, 2026 compliance deadline.

REQUIREMENT

The acceptable quality-date labels now include both 'BEST if Used by' / 'BEST if Used or Frozen by' AND 'Best if Used by' / 'Best if Used or Frozen by.' Similarly, acceptable safety-date labels now include both 'USE by' / 'USE by or Freeze by' AND 'Use by' / 'Use by or Freeze by.' This removes the requirement that these phrases appear in all capital letters.

TECHNICAL

The required vote threshold changed from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority in each house, which is the constitutional requirement for passing an urgency statute.

Floor votes · Senate Aug 27, 2026 · Assembly May 7, 2026

How they voted

400
Passed
Total votes 40
Aug 27, 2026
D Democratic30
30 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican10
10 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
21
Key actions
9
Committee
7
Amendments
4
Aug 30, 2026
Lower · Passed
Urgency clause adopted. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling.
lower
Aug 28, 2026
Introduced
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
lower
Aug 27, 2026
Upper · Passed
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.).
upper
Jul 2, 2026
Upper · Passed
Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0.).
upper
Jun 29, 2026
Upper · Passed
From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar.
upper
Jun 16, 2026
Upper · Passed
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
upper
Jun 9, 2026
Introduced
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on AGRI.
upper
May 20, 2026
Committee
Referred to Com. on AGRI.
upper
May 7, 2026
Lower · Passed
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 4968.)
lower
Apr 29, 2026
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 29).
lower
Apr 16, 2026
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
lower
Mar 16, 2026
Committee
Referred to Com. on AGRI.
lower
Mar 6, 2026
Lower · Passed
From printer. May be heard in committee April 5.
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Jacqui Irwin
Jacqui Irwin
DDemocratic
CA
42