A new ordinance signed into law by the city of San Francisco will require large chain retailers to report the types of antibiotics used in the raw meat that they sell. The city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on the ordinance.
The law will go into effect on April 22, 2018 and will apply to grocery store chains with more than 25 locations. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, those retailers will have to file annual paperwork with the San Francisco Department of the Environment for each of its meat suppliers stating which antibiotics the producer uses on its animals, as well as the volume of antibiotics used. Stores that do not comply with the law can be fined up to $1,000 a day.
The ordinance was introduced by Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who was approached by the National Resources Defense Council about sponsoring it.
Food industry groups have criticized the new law.
“Today, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that will require expensive, duplicative reporting and record-keeping requirements for certain food retail establishments in the city,” Jennifer Hatcher, the Food Marketing Institute’s chief public policy officer, said in a press release.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle