Hinson reintroduces law dealing with animal regulations

WASHINGTON — Iowa politicians and the pork industry are taking another shot at California’s law banning the sale of pork from the offspring of pigs kept in spaces smaller than 24 square feet. 

Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says she’s reintroducing her bill which would ban state and local governments from imposing standards on the production or manufacture of ag products like pork that are sold across state lines.   “It threatens every aspect of our food supply. It increases production costs for our farmers.  It will drive up the cost of food at a time when we’re already seeing huge inflation in the food space and it will lead to further food insecurity for our Iowa families,” Hinson says.

The US Supreme Court recently upheld the California law. Hinson calls it a “bacon ban.” Iowa Pork Producers Association president Trish Cook says there are still many unknowns if the law stays in place.  “Yeah there will definitely be costs and there’s also really no discussion that I’ve heard from the packers about what the premiums would be, what they’d be able to pay for Prop 12 compliance because obviously it’s going to be a lot more expensive to produce that because it takes much more space to raise less pork,” Cook says.

California accounts for 15% of the U-S pork market and 87% of that  comes from outside the state. The Iowa Pork Producers Association says the state’s regulations have an outsized impact on business in states like Iowa.