Bill Text: NJ A2905 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award Program."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-20 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture Committee [A2905 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A2905-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PARKER SPACE
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award Program."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain kinds of agricultural produce and supplementing Title 4 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Agriculture shall establish an award program to be known as the "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award Program."
Under the program, the department shall recognize a person or organization who proposes what is deemed to be the best use of ugly produce or has successfully implemented such a use. The department may give the award annually or at such other intervals as the department determines appropriate for promoting the use of ugly produce as much as possible.
b. The department shall establish an application procedure and criteria and guidelines for the eligibility, nomination, and judging of applications for the award.
c. The department shall post the name of the recipient of the "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award" prominently on the department's Internet website, and shall recognize the recipient through the award of a certificate, a press announcement, or another form of recognition deemed appropriate to highlight the achievements of the recipient. The department may consult and coordinate with other governmental entities and private, nonprofit, or charitable associations, organizations, or businesses, such as those in the agricultural, grocery, restaurant, food manufacturer, food supply, food bank, food pantry, and healthcare sectors of the food industry, in implementing the program and recognizing each award recipient.
d. As used in this section, "ugly produce" means any fruit, vegetable, or grain that is fresh, undamaged, and suitable for human consumption, but does not meet industry-accepted standards for cosmetic appearance.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Department of Agriculture to establish an award program to be known as the "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award Program." "Ugly produce" is defined in the bill, as amended, as any fruit, vegetable, or grain that is fresh, undamaged, and suitable for human consumption, but does not meet industry-accepted standards for cosmetic appearance.
Under the program, the department would recognize a person or organization who proposes what is deemed to be the best use of "ugly produce" or has successfully implemented such a use. The department may give the award annually or at such other intervals as the department determines appropriate for promoting the use of "ugly produce" as much as possible. The department would establish the application procedure and criteria and guidelines for the eligibility, nomination, and judging of applications for the award.
The department also would be required to post the name of the recipient of the "Best Use of Ugly Produce Award" prominently on the department's Internet website, and recognize the recipient through the award of a certificate, a press announcement, or another form of recognition deemed appropriate to highlight the achievements of the recipient. Under the bill the department may consult and coordinate with other governmental entities and private, nonprofit, or charitable associations, organizations, or businesses, such as those in the agricultural, grocery, restaurant, food manufacturer, food supply, food bank, food pantry, and healthcare sectors of the food industry, in implementing the program and recognizing each award recipient.
