SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KNX) — A Sacramento judge decided earlier this week to delay enforcement of part of a new livestock welfare law that may cause significant price hikes and shortages for bacon and other pork products.
The law, stemming from a 2018 ballot initiative known as Proposition 12, went into effect at the beginning of January and sets some of the strictest living-space standards for breeding pigs — a minimum of 24 square feet of usable space per pig.
Grocers and restaurant owners have sued to stop the law, which they said would make stocking and serving pork products prohibitively expensive. Plaintiffs included the California Grocers Association, the California Restaurant Association, the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, the California Retailers Association, and Kruse & Sons (a meat processor).
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James Arguelles argued in his Monday ruling that food retailers and restaurants would not be subject to enforcement of the new law on whole pork meat sales until six months after final regulations are enacted.
“The court’s decision to ensure regulations are finalized before the enforcement provisions of Proposition 12 take effect was the correct one,” the Grocers Association said in a statement. “California restaurants and families are already struggling with rising food costs and the haphazard implementation of Proposition 12 without any clear rules or certification process in place would have only made it worse.”
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state Department of Food and Agriculture said Tuesday they were reviewing the judge’s decision.
“It should be noted that the judge’s ruling is a narrow one that applies only to retailers, including grocers, and not to pork producers providing pork products to California,” the Agriculture Department said in a statement.
California is the country’s largest market for pork, according to the National Pork Producers’ Council. Still, voters approved Proposition 12 by a two-to-one ratio in Nov. 2018.
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