California Plant Based Alliance launches to protect rights of consumers and companies

As the demand for plant-based options steadily grows nationwide, the need for increased market opportunity and fair legislation has become vital for consumers and businesses alike. In an official announcement today, California Plant Based Alliance (CPBA) has established itself as the first state-level political advocacy organization protecting the rights of California consumers and companies making plant-based products.

With a mission to lobby for fair legislative representation for the plant-based industry, CPBA will sponsor legislative change intended to ensure California consumers have access to healthy and sustainable plant-based products and the companies making these products are provided equal access and fair opportunities to succeed in the marketplace.

With the soaring demand for plant-based food and products, the CPBA is positioning the agriculture industry to create clean and sustainable jobs for California workers and farmers. As more and more people opt for plant-based foods and products, future CPBA efforts will help ensure that California businesses will be leading the way to meet that demand. California-based companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Miyoko’s Creamery,and Follow Your Heart are building global brands and exporting California foods across the globe. As the fifth largest global economy with a population of almost 40 million, CPBA’s advocacy role in California is essential.

The advocacy organization’s founder and president Judie Mancuso was recently featured in the top ten of OC Register’s Top 100 Most Influential People of 2019. She is also the founder and president of Social Compassion in Legislation, a political advocacy organization that continues to experience major successes with animal rights, protection and welfare bills, which ultimately helped in recognizing a need for a similar group in the plant-based space.

“What we found when advancing and passing plant-based bills in the Capitol, is that the plant-based industry does not have a voice such as the various segments of the animal agriculture industry,” said Judie Mancuso, Founder and President of the California Plant Based Alliance. “We will amplify the burgeoning plant-based industry’s voice in the Capitol to gain equal access to the marketplace and fair regulation. I felt the industry deserved its own special interest group and why I decided to create the Alliance.”

Social Compassion inLegislation successfully sponsored two bills specifically that establish need for the protection of rights for California consumers. In 2018, the organization worked with Senator Nancy Skinner’s (D-Berkeley) on SB 1138, “Ensuring a Plant Based Meal Option,” requiring hospitals, healthcare facilities and prisons to offer plant-based meals to people in these institutions, which was signed by Governor JerryBrown. AB 479, which is currently in the Senate AppropriationsCommittee, would provide extra funding to schools that add or increase the number of vegan entrées and plant-based milks on their menus. The bill is joint-authored by Assembly members Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys) and Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and co-sponsored by the Physicians Committee and Social Compassion in Legislation.

“We’ve seen California lead the way time and time again in establishing policies and programs to promote sustainability, and we’re able to accomplish these goals because there is a growingdemand for accountability and especially for the reduction of our impact on theenvironment,” said Assemblymember Kalra. “Now is the time to continue to build on the momentum of rising consumer and business consciousness by working together to expand understanding and awareness about how plant-based strategies help to both foster better health and combat climate change.”

CPBA is comprised of a range of California companies and nonprofit organizations and is optimistic about growing its coalition. Members of the organization’s board include Mancuso, Nick Sackett, Director of Legislative Affairs for Social Compassion of Legislation; Christina Galioto, impact investor and fashion model; Asher Brown, founder and president of Pollution.tv; Nic Adler, restaurateur and VP of Regional Festivities of Goldenvoice; Jenna Cassidy, Marketing Executive, Consultant and Vitality Coach; and Shelly Bennecke, Managing Partner, Laguna Ventures LLC.

CPBA board member Nic Adler is considered to be one of the leading voices in the vegan/plant-based food movement. He is the Culinary Director of Coachella and the VP of Regional Festivals of Goldenvoice (the company behind Coachella and many other festivals), creator of the very popular festival Eat Drink Vegan (originally called Vegan Beer & Food Festival), as well as the restaurateur behind multiple plant-based restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

“There has been a huge cultural shift toward plant-based eating and it's time that our legislation caught up with consumers. Currently, no official legislative protections exist for plant-based food producers or consumers, and the California PlantBased Alliance is determined to provide a voice for this movement as it continues to become mainstream,” said Adler.

The California Plant Based Alliance forms at a crucial time of rising consumer consciousness regarding cruelty to animals and the effectsthat livestock farming has on climate change, according to many sources, including to this UN Report. Concurrently, consumers are increasingly aware of the detrimental effect of consuming processed animal meat and red meat and the benefits of adopting plant-based diets. According to GMI Insights, the plant-based market is forecasted to more than double from 150 Million ($US) in 2018 to 320 Million ($US) in 2025 and according to the UN Reportat current growth rates, the plant-based foods industry will generate $13.3 billion in tax revenues over the next 10 years.

“The consumers have demanded plant-based foods and products in a measure never imagined even a decade ago. Businesses have responded accordingly. Now this growing sector of our economy needs to advocate in our Capitol to ensure equal access to markets and fair manufacturing standards. We are those advocates.” David Quintana, CPBA Political Director and California lobbyist.
Through legislative change that represents rapidly growing consumer demand for plant-based alternatives across myriad industries from food to clothing to cosmetics, CPBA will have a positive effect on monumental global issues such as climate change, animal rights, deforestation, and preventable disease.

About California Plant Based Alliance
The California Plant Based Alliance (CPBA) isa 501(c)(4) political advocacy organization founded to represent the interests and concerns of the plant-based food and products industry. Its mission is to safeguard and promote the California plant-based industry’s opportunity to succeed in the marketplace and ensure consumers have access to healthy, humane and sustainable food and product choices.