— OPINION — I was excited last week when Doug Farquhar, the National Environmental Health Association’s government affairs director, presented the final report on State Legislative actions for 2024. I want to take the opportunity to point out a couple of things from that report. Doug has been kind enough to provide Food Safety News with these reports since he held a similar position at The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) I am probably more amazed than most that technology allows these reports to be created.
Of course, I am “old school” and remember often having to drive in heavy traffic from Seattle to Olympia on a Friday afternoon simply to pick up a copy of some amendment or the like. So, I like any technology that keeps me off the road. The actions the 50 States are taking are as important as the food safety decisions made in Washington D.
C. That’s especially true because 2,700 state and local health departments are the foundation for surveillance of foodborne illness in the county. And surveillance is pretty critical at the moment, I think we’d all agree.
The 2024 legislative season began in January, and 250 bills related to food safety were introduced. According to the Farquhar report, 41 passed and became law. Another 11 are pending a governor’s signature, and four were vetoed.
One non-trend jumped out. California passed bills restricting certain food additives in 2023 and 2024. This year’s bill bans dyes from school lunches.
This Cali.
