A proposal introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry will require more rigorous labeling of olive oil that California farmers produce, which is creating a burden for at least one manufacturer.
“The legal change for us is expensive and it's unfortunate but it's better than where we were headed, which was either being shut down or facing a lawsuit, so I'm happy we’ve avoided that,” said Michael Fox, CEO of California Olive Ranch.
If approved, Assembly Bill (AB) 535A will require California olive oil producers to more clearly identify the percentage of olive oil that’s contained in a bottle on the label.
“The bill is on its third reading now and has gone through the agricultural committee, the health committee and is now in the Senate,” Fox told the Southern California Record. “It should be voted on probably in the next week or two and we expect the governor to sign it.”
A coalition of California olive oil farmers, millers, industry professionals, and retailers had opposed the bill as recently as June until amendments were made, according to a press release.
"We felt the bill was out of step with market dynamics and market realities,” Fox said. “We disagreed with the language.”
In addition to California Olive Ranch, coalition members included the California Retailers Association, The Mill at Kings River, Knaughty Farms, Corning Olive Oil Company, Enzo Olive Oil Company/P-R Farms, Imperial Olive Mill, Cal Harvest Marketing, The Olive Oil Factory, Alfa Laval, Apex, Valley Farm Transport, Wawona Frozen Foods, and the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.
“Originally, if the word California appeared on the front label, everything in the bottle had to be one hundred percent California olive oil, which we argued was butting up against federal preemption because the use of the word California is in our trademark, which is federally protected,” Fox said. “So, there were significant first amendment challenges to the way the first bill was written, which is why we argued that it was unconstitutional. That's in part what led to a compromise.”
Under the compromise, new amendments require California Olive Ranch to label its global series with the minimum percentage of California olive oil.
“The bottle has to meet the California standard, which it always has,” Fox added. "What we were doing before is listing the countries on the front of the label and no other brand in the industry does that even though everyone blends from multiple countries. We have to now call out the minimum percentage of California oil in the same font size as the use of the word California. Our logo says California Olive Ranch. What we're doing now is redesigning the label so that everything fits."