BILL NUMBER: SB 611 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 592
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 29, 2006
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Senator Speier
FEBRUARY 22, 2005
An act to add Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 110806) to
Chapter 5 of Part 5 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to food.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 611, Speier Meat and poultry recalls.
The existing Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law establishes
requirements for the identification and branding of food, and
provides for the administration of those requirements by the Food and
Drug Branch of the State Department of Health Services, and, upon
request of local agencies, for the administration of certain
requirements by local health officers. Violation of this law is a
crime.
This bill would require a meat or poultry supplier, distributor,
broker, or processor that sells a meat- or poultry-related product in
California that meets the criteria for a Class I or Class II recall
according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
guidelines to immediately notify the State Department of Health
Services and to provide the department with a list of all customers,
as specified, that have received or will receive any product subject
to recall that the supplier, distributor, broker, or processor has
handled or anticipates handling.
The bill would authorize the department to notify appropriate
local health officers and environmental health directors that a
supplier, distributor, broker, processor, or retailer in the local
jurisdiction has handled or received, or anticipates handling or
receiving, a meat- or poultry-related product that is subject to a
voluntary recall requested or issued by the USDA.
This bill would provide that if the department makes that
notification, the department, local health officers, and
environmental health directors may notify the public regarding
recalled meat- and poultry-related products. The bill would require
the exclusion from that requirement of the name or identifying
features of the retailer if the retailer is a restaurant and it is
determined that the contaminated product has not been served to the
public and has been permanently removed from the restaurant's food
supply.
By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
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 no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Food recalls are voluntary and federal agencies responsible
for food safety have no authority to compel companies to carry out
recalls--with the exception for the Food and Drug Administration's
(FDA) authority to require a recall for infant formula.
(b) In January 2004, the President of the United States identified
the nation's food system as vulnerable to intentional acts of
terrorism (Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-9 Defense of
United States Agriculture and Food (January 30, 2004).
(c) According to the United States Government Accountability
Office's (GAO) analysis of recalls in its October 2004 report on
"Food Safety: USDA and FDA Need to Better Ensure Prompt and Complete
Recalls of Potentially Unsafe Food," only 38 percent and 36 percent
of recalled food was ultimately recovered in recalls overseen by USDA
and FDA, respectively.
(d) According to the same GAO report, "the USDA and FDA do not
know how promptly and completely the recalling companies and their
distributors and other companies are carrying out recalls, and
neither agency is using its data systems to effectively track and
manage its recall programs."
(e) Continued weaknesses in our current voluntary system for
monitoring food recalls heighten the risk that unsafe food will
remain in the food supply and ultimately be consumed.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to improve food recall and
public notification procedures in the event of a USDA meat or
poultry recall and protect California consumers from potential
contamination in the event of a serious food outbreak.
SEC. 2. Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 110806) is added to
Chapter 5 of Part 5 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
Article 6.5. Recalled Food
110806. (a) A meat or poultry supplier, distributor, broker, or
processor that sells a meat- or poultry-related product in California
that meets the criteria for a Class I or Class II recall according
to the United States Department of Agriculture guidelines shall
immediately notify the State Department of Health Services and shall
provide the department with a list of all customers, including a firm
name, address, contact person's name, telephone number, fax, and
e-mail address, that have received or will receive any product
subject to recall that the supplier, distributor, broker, or
processor has handled or anticipates handling. The list shall include
all pertinent identifying codes, including establishment numbers,
package codes, product codes, pack dates, and lot numbers, if any,
received or to be received, and any other relevant information. The
information shall be electronically submitted to the department in a
spreadsheet format specified by the department, and shall include,
but not be limited to, a complete product distribution list of the
recalled product, for each customer, including product ship date,
amount of product shipped and amount of any product returned. The
supplier, distributor, broker, or processor shall immediately notify
each of its customers that received or may receive those products of
the recall in a standardized format. The supplier, distributor,
broker, or processor shall document this notification process,
including who was notified, the date and time of the notification,
and by what method they were notified. This information shall be
maintained by the supplier, distributor, broker, or processor and
shall be provided to the department upon request.
(b) The department may, after receiving the information required
by subdivision (a), notify appropriate local health officers and
environmental health directors, as soon as practicable, that a
business in the local jurisdiction has handled or received, or
anticipates handling or receiving, a recalled meat- or
poultry-related product. The department shall, if it makes the
notification authorized by this subdivision, provide appropriate
local health officers and environmental health directors with each
supplier's, distributor's, broker's, processor's, or retailer's name,
address, contact information, affected product identifying codes,
including establishment numbers, package codes, product codes, pack
dates, and lot numbers, if any, and all other supply chain
information available.
(c) (1) If the department makes the notification authorized by
subdivision (b), the department, local health officers, and
environmental health directors may notify the public in a manner
local health officers, in consultation with the department and
environmental health directors, deem appropriate regarding recalled
meat- and poultry-related products based on their determination that
the retailer is present within the local jurisdiction and has
received or made the product available to the public.
(2) If the retailer is a restaurant, and a determination has been
made by a local health officer or environmental health officer that
the contaminated product has not been served, sold, or otherwise
offered to the public for consumption, and the contaminated product
has been permanently removed from the restaurant's food supply, then
the public notification shall exclude the name or any other
identifying feature of the restaurant.
110807. This article shall become operative on July 1, 2007.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.