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Following approval by the Massachusetts Legislature, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a compromise measure delaying until August 15, 2022 the implementation of the state’s Question 3 initiative to prohibit the sale of pork that doesn’t meet new animal production standards.
The 2016 ballot initiative – similar to California’s Proposition 12 – will ban the sale of pork from hogs born to sows housed in pens that don’t comply with Massachusetts’ new standards. It applies to any uncooked pork sold in the state, regardless of where it has been produced. Nearly all pork currently produced in the United States fails to meet Massachusetts’ standards.
According to Massachusetts' "Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals", animals must not be confined in a way as to prevent them from lying down, standing up, fully extending their limbs, or turning around freely. This would not apply to the five-day period prior to a breeding pig’s expected farrowing date, and any day that the breeding pig is nursing piglets.
In addition to delaying the initiative’s implementation, the compromise measure requires the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to write rules and regulations for the law, in consultation with the state’s attorney general – who originally was given authority – within six months.
December 22, 2021/ National Pork Producers Council and The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts/ United States.
https://nppc.org
https://malegislature.gov
