Felando Shelves Bill Designed to Help Consumers

SACRAMENTO — Faced with opposition from the Deukmejian Administration and food and agricultural groups, Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro) last week shelved for this year a sweeping consumer protection bill. The measure would have required grocery stores to post signs disclosing additives and antibiotics in meat, poultry, commercially raised fish, fruit and vegetables.

After a hearing by the Assembly Health Committee, Felando agreed to delay until next year a vote on his measure. In exchange, committee members agreed to hold further hearings on the proposal.

Felando listed the bill among his top priorities two weeks ago when he returned to full-time legislative duties after radiation treatment for mycosis fungoides, a form of lymphoma that affects the skin and sometimes spreads to internal organs.

On Tuesday, Felando told the committee: “The public has a right to be informed about what they are ingesting.”

But Don Beaver, president of the California Grocers Assn., labeled the bill “absolutely ludicrous,” because it would be impossible for retailers to identify all the additives in food. The measure also was opposed by the state Department of Food and Agriculture.