New law hampers pork producers

Bacon and other pork products could disappear from restaurants and supermarkets in California next year, when the state begins enforcing tougher animal welfare standards.

The stricter rules include requiring farmers to provide more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves as part of animal welfare regulations that were approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018.

California said it would begin enforcing the new rules at the beginning of 2022 following a number of failed legal challenges.

America’s veal and egg producers said they were “optimistic” they could meet the requirements, but just four per cent of pork operations comply with the rules. As things stand, with limited time left to accommodate the changes, California will lose almost all of its pork supply.

Matt Sutton, from the California Restaurant Association, said businesses were “very concerned about the potential supply impacts and therefore cost increases.”

California’s restaurants and groceries use about 115 million kg of pork a month, but its farms produce only 20 million kg, according to

Rabobank, a global food and agriculture financial services company.

Opponents of the proposition estimate that if half of California’s pork supply was suddenly lost, bacon prices would jump by 60 per cent, meaning a $6 package would rise to about $9.60.

The nation’s pig farmers, many of whom are in Iowa, say they have not complied with the requirements because of the crippling costs involved, and because California has not yet issued regulations on how the new standards will be enforced.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture

said that while the detailed regulations had not been finalized, the key rules about space requirements for animals had been known for years. The pork industry has filed lawsuits but so far courts have supported the California law.

The National Pork Producers Council and a coalition of businesses have called on Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, to delay the new requirements.

The council is also holding out hope that meat already in the supply chain could be sold, potentially delaying shortages.