The state legislature of California passed a new bill this week banning the sale of four food ingredients in the state. Perhaps emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding California’s Proposition 12, which effectively placed nationwide restrictions on pork production, the legislature moved to ban red dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propylparaben. If signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the ban would take effect in 2027.

 The proposed ban would be the first of its kind in the United States, as no state has previously banned ingredients approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Proponents of the ban claim that the ingredients cause health issues. The chemicals have been shown in some studies to increase cancer risk or behavioral problems when administered to lab animals in large doses.

If signed into law, the bill would likely trigger legal challenges, as it would effectively force food manufacturers across the country to stop using these ingredients. The four items targeted are already banned from foods in the European Union.

Little progress on government funding, farm bill

Halfway through the final month of the government’s 2023 fiscal year, Congress has made little progress toward passing appropriations bills and averting an Oct. 1 government shutdown. The Senate ran into a procedural roadblock when Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) objected to combining spending bills funding the Departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies. Leaders in the chamber are exploring options for moving a package forward.

On the House side, the prospects of a deal grew even dimmer this week. Citing three people who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, Politico reported Wednesday that the House has abandoned all efforts to pass the agriculture appropriations bill. The bill was scheduled for consideration at the end of July but was pulled after it became clear it did not have enough votes to pass. The agriculture appropriations bill also includes funding for the Food and Drug Administration. The leading issue taking down the bill was controversy within the Republican party over an amendment to prohibit abortion pills from being sent through the mail.

With the growing urgency of solving the appropriations riddle, efforts to advance a farm bill reauthorization have also stalled. The 2018 farm bill also expires at the end of the month, but House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Penn.) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) both acknowledged this week that a renewal will not happen before the deadline. However, both expressed optimism that Congress will pass a new farm bill before the calendar year ends.

Foreign farmland purchases debated

 Members of the House Financial Services Committee raised the importance of foreign ownership of U.S. farmland during a hearing Wednesday. The panel was investigating the efforts of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an intragovernmental group charged with overseeing activities including purchases of farmland near “sensitive facilities.”

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Rosen said CFIUS has recently expanded its definition of “sensitive” to incorporate a broader range of locations, now covering 875,000 square miles of the country. Committee member Pete Sessions (R-Texas) pressed Rosen regarding CFIUS’s oversight of farmland purchases, citing USDA data showing that 37.6 million acres of farmland, or nearly 3% of the total, are held by foreign owners. Sessions urged the panel to consider legislation he has offered to make the Secretary of Agriculture a member of CFIUS to provide further oversight of such purchases.

Not all members of the panel were as concerned about the impact of foreign ownership of farmland as Sessions. California Democrat Brad Sherman downplayed concerns, saying, “Perhaps the most benign thing [Chinese investors] could do is buy American farmland. … If we do have a fight with China, we can simply seize the farmland just as they will take hostage all of our investments in China.”