Bon Appetit Supports CA Farmers

As a member of the Genetic Engineering (GE) Policy Alliance, Bon Appetit is taking a stand and signing a letter of support for Assembly Bill 541, The Food and Farm Protection Act (Download AB_541_support letter.pdf).  Authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman (6th AD), this bill would establish California’s only state laws related to genetic engineering in agriculture and protect California farmers, consumers, and the food supply.

AB 541 protects California farmers and the food supply in four ways:

  1. Establishes the right of farmers and landowners to compensation for economic losses due to genetic contamination of their crops.
  2. Protects farmers from being sued by a GE manufacturer if their crop is contaminated by that company’s GE product.
  3. Establishes a county-level GE crop notification process so that farmers can trace contamination to the GE manufacturer.
  4. Protects the food supply by prohibiting the open-field cultivation of genetically engineered food crops used to produce drugs and biologics such as hormones and antibiotics.

Protecting our local farmers is a high priority for us at Bon Appetit and we highly encourage you to join our efforts!  You can find more information about AB 541 and a sample letter of support at www.gepolicyalliance.org.

-Katherine Kwon, Communications Project Manager