California Creates an Olive Oil Commission, Pending a Vote
Governor Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill 250, which creates an Olive Oil Commission of California with the power to fund research and recommend grades and labeling standards for the state’s olive oil. It is not in business yet: California’s larger producers first have to vote it in. Here is what the law does, what it cannot do, and why it matters to anyone buying California oil.
What was signed
Brown signed the bill on Tuesday. It was written by State Senator Lois Wolk, a Democrat from Davis who chairs the Senate’s agriculture subcommittee on olive oil production, and it passed the legislature with support from both parties earlier this month. It sets up the commission inside the California Department of Food and Agriculture, alongside the 16 other industry-funded commodity commissions the state already has for its farm products.
The commission’s board can pay for research and recommend olive oil grades and labeling standards to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, who decides whether to adopt them. It is paid for by the growers themselves, through an assessment on the oil they produce.
| SB 250 at a glance | What the text says |
|---|---|
| Who is a “producer” | Anyone whose olives make 5,000 gallons of oil or more in a season |
| Smaller growers | Represented through an advisory committee |
| Maximum assessment | 25 cents per gallon of oil handled |
| Producer list for the vote | To be drawn up by the Secretary before February 1, 2014 |
| Vote needed | At least 40 percent turnout, then 65 percent in favor by number with a majority of the volume, or a majority by number with 65 percent of the volume |
| Review | Public hearing on whether to continue, five years after it starts |
Why California wants its own body
Wolk has been open about the target: competitors selling fraudulent and low-quality oil. Her office points to the UC Davis Olive Center’s study that found 65 percent of imported extra virgin oils bought off California supermarket shelves failed international standards. Dan Flynn, the center’s executive director, called the bill an important step for the industry. The California Olive Oil Council, whose executive director Patricia Darragh welcomed the signing, and the American Olive Oil Producers Association both backed it.
The timing is not an accident. Last week the U.S. International Trade Commission published its report on the olive oil market, and the domestic industry has been pressing Washington and Sacramento for tougher standards for some time. California already tightened its olive oil labeling rules two years ago.
What it cannot do
A state commodity commission is funded by, and answers to, its own producers. As written, SB 250 gives the commission a say over California oil, not over the imported bottles Wolk’s office complains about. Its value is different: a funded, official route for California producers to set grades stricter than the international ones and hold themselves to them. If that works, “California extra virgin” means something a shopper can rely on. If it does not, it is one more trade body.
- Nothing changes on the shelf until growers vote and the Secretary adopts standards.
- Small estate producers under 5,000 gallons get an advisory voice, not a vote.
- The volume clause means the few large growers who press most of the state’s oil carry real weight in the referendum.
A grade standard is only as good as the testing behind it. The chemistry that catches old or cheap oil exists; what costs money is sampling bottles from real shelves, often, and publishing what fails. When you read about a new commission, the question to ask is how much of the assessment goes to buying and testing bottles, and whether the results are made public. That is where a standard gets its teeth.
Sources
- California Legislative Information: SB 250, Olive Oil Commission of California (chaptered September 24, 2013)
- Olive Oil Times: Governor Signs Bill to Establish California Olive Oil Commission (September 25, 2013)
- Olive Oil Times: Bill to Create California Olive Oil Commission Clears Senate (September 10, 2013)