Act No. 2024-339
By Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile
Sens. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay, and Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro
Effective Oct. 1, 2024
Country-of-origin labeling requirements for restaurants and grocery store delis received final approval on the last day of the 2024 regular session. The governor signed the legislation into law May 10.
As of Oct. 1, Alabama restaurants and grocery store delis must label fish or shrimp by country of origin or as imported, under Act No. 2024-339. The country of origin is “the country in which an animal, from which a covered commodity is derived, slaughtered or substantially transformed.” U.S. fish or shrimp may be listed with a state name, USA, United States of America or a tradename or trademark containing any of those. Suppliers are to provide the country of the origin to the restaurants and delis, under the law.
The act also requires that fish and shrimp be labeled as farm-raised or wild fish. Wild fish does not include “net-pen aquaculture or other farm-raised fish or shellfish.”
The new law does not apply to any retailer required to inform consumers of the country of origin under federal law. Grocery stores, supermarkets and club warehouses are subject to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and must comply with the federal country-of-origin labeling law. Restaurants and in-store delis are exempt from the federal law, so are required to comply with Alabama’s new law.
Sample signage and the law in two, 8.5 x 11 pages
Word | PDF
Provided by the Alabama Department of Public Health
Bureau of Environmental Services Food/Milk/Lodging
Restaurants and in-store delis that sell fish primarily for off-premises consumption must list the country of origin or denote that the product was imported in the same size and color font as the fish being sold OR post at least an 8.5 x 11 sign on a conspicuous wall near where the fish and shrimp is sold that is at least 3 feet from the floor using 1-inch or larger type.
Restaurants that sell for mostly on-premises consumption and provide a menu for customers can list the country of origin or denote that the fish is imported on the menu in the same location as the fish sold, using the same size and color font. The act also allows the notification to be paper clipped to the menu. The notification also can be displayed on an 8.5 by 11 sign by the restaurant main entrance that is visible to all patrons if the restaurant doesn’t use menus as a standard business practice.
The notification requirements also do not apply to “a group of 10 or more people that preorder their food items,” such as banquets.
The law took effect Oct. 1 and is enforceable since that date. A proposed change in the Alabama Department of Public Health’s food rules to reflect the law was certified Oct. 21. The new rule will go through a public comment period, which ends Dec. 5. Once the rule is in place, it will be posted here. “In the meantime, we’ve provided training and guidance to our inspectors” on enforcement, said Phyllis M. Fenn, director of food and lodging for the department.
“This is about the public’s right to know about where seafood comes from and protecting Alabama jobs,” said Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile, the law’s primary author. By disclosing fish and shrimp as “domestic or imported, we can encourage the use of products caught in Alabama and the United States, while ensuring that consumers are better informed about the food they consume.”
Brown said he “went out of the way to work with the hospitality industry” on certain provisions of the legislation. The Alabama Retail Association and other restaurant and retail groups worked with Brown to adjust several provisions to make them less burdensome.
Prior to being enacted, all provisions related to advertising fish and shrimp were removed from the legislation.
Brown said his legislation has no effect on Alabama’s catfish notification law, which is in a separate part of the Alabama code. See Pages 2 and 10-11 in Chapter 420-3-22.
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Originally posted May 10, 2024. Last updated Nov. 14, 2024.