(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, alfalfa and all vegetable crops, when grown for seed production, with the exception of corn, beans, pumpkin, and peas, shall be considered a nonfood and nonfeed site of pesticide use for the purpose of pesticide registration. In order to be determined to be a nonfood or nonfeed site for the purposes of this section, the following conditions shall be met:
(1) All seed screenings shall be disposed of in such a way that they cannot be distributed or used for food or feed. The seed conditioner shall keep records of screenings disposal for three years from the date of disposal and shall furnish the records to the director upon request. Disposal records shall consist of documentation from a controlled waste disposal site, incinerator, cogeneration plant, composting facility, or other equivalent disposal site.
(2) No portion of the seed plant, including, but not limited to, green chop, hay, pellets, meal, whole seed, cracked seed, or seed screenings shall be used or distributed for food or feed purposes.
(3) All seed crops grown on a nonfood or nonfeed site in this state, or conditioned in this state, shall bear a tag or container label that forbids the use of the seed for human consumption or animal feed.
(4) No seed grown on a nonfood or nonfeed site in this state, or conditioned in this state, may be distributed for human consumption or animal feed.
(b) Nothing in this section prevents the department from imposing conditions for alfalfa seed sites in addition to those contained in this section, or from rescinding any current label requirements for pesticides approved for alfalfa seed production.
(c) Nothing in this section exempts the department from reviewing worker safety evaluations with regard to the use of pesticides involving crops specified in subdivision (a).
(d) A violation of any condition specified in subdivision (a) by the person responsible for the use of the pesticide is a violation of this chapter, and is subject to the civil and criminal penalties and injunctive relief provisions specified in Article 12 (commencing with Section 12996). A violation of any condition specified in subdivision (a) by the person responsible for the disposition of seed screenings is a violation of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14901) and is subject to enforcement by the Department of Food and Agriculture.
(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 361, Sec. 48. Effective January 1, 1997.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018