AB 1264 Fails Latino communities

OPINION – Food is more than fuel in Latino communities. It’s culture, connection, and survival. For California’s 1.8 million Latino-owned businesses and the families they serve, any law affecting food access is a law that affects our lives and livelihoods.

Unfortunately, Assembly Bill 1264 doesn’t help us, it harms us.

This bill claims to promote health, but in reality, it defines thousands of safe, affordable, and widely enjoyed food products as “ultra-processed,” with no clear or consistent scientific basis. Under this vague definition, staples like tortillas, canned beans, cheese, and even tangerines with a natural wax coating could fall under this category — not because they’re unhealthy, but because they don’t fit an arbitrary, oversimplified standard.

AB 1264 opens the door to sweeping food restrictions across schools and public programs. It gives every public agency the power to impose additional limits, creating a confusing patchwork of local regulations that threatens affordability, access, and choice, especially in rural communities and food deserts.

The bill also paves the way for future restrictions on SNAP and WIC purchases, disproportionately hurting low-income families who already have limited food options.

If scientists, doctors, and nutritionists have not agreed on a workable definition of “ultra-processed,” how can the California Legislature? Even leading health journals have raised concerns about the lack of consensus. Yet AB 1264 hands sweeping authority to the Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment (OEHHA), an environmental agency with no expertise in food or nutrition. This responsibility should fall under the Department of Public Health’s Food and Drug Branch, not the agency best known for managing chemical warning labels like Prop 65.

And just like Prop 65, this bill benefits lawyers more than anyone else and creates unnecessary problems for businesses and consumers. It paves the way for warning labels that would unfairly target even healthy products instead of helping families make better choices.  The result is more confusion, more lawsuits, and no meaningful improvement in public health.

We all want our children and communities to thrive. We want leaders to focus on evidence-based policies that actually move the needle to improving public health.

A perfect example is the FDA’s 2016 approval of adding folic acid to corn masa flour, a nutrient long added to bread to help prevent birth defects. After years of advocacy to ensure Hispanic babies weren’t left behind, this culturally competent policy extended those health benefits to tortillas, a staple in many Latino households.

That’s real, measurable progress. AB 1264 is not.

If legislators truly want to support Latino families in living healthier lives, they should prioritize expanding access to CalFresh, investing in nutrition education, and making fresh food more affordable and available — not banning or stigmatizing the very foods families rely on.

Latino families are already struggling with food costs. The average household now spends over $1,200 a month on groceries, a number that jumps by 41% for households with children. We cannot afford to waste time on regulations that do nothing to improve health but everything to increase confusion and cost.

We urge state leaders to reject AB 1264 and instead work in partnership with our communities on public health solutions grounded in science, equity, and economic reality. That means listening to the businesses that keep California fed. That means putting real outcomes ahead of optics.

If we want a healthier California, we must ensure every family can afford to eat, and that businesses providing safe and nutritious food have a fair shot to succeed. AB 1264 does neither.

Julian Canete serves as the President & CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.