HB1134 would create a new article in Colorado law called the “Colorado Agricultural Heritage Protection Act” to prohibit commercial insect production for human consumption. The bill bars raising, breeding, keeping, processing, selling, or transporting insect products intended for sale as food, while allowing an existing Colorado business to continue producing the same quantity and types of insect products it was already making on the effective date, but not to expand.
The bill also adds a labeling requirement to Colorado’s misbranding laws. Food intended for human consumption that is made of insects, contains insects, or contains insect parts would have to bear the words “contains insects” on the label. The bill defines “insect” broadly as animals in the taxonomic class Insecta, while excluding crustaceans and mollusks, and defines “insect product” to include products containing insect parts sold for human or animal consumption as food.
Impact
If enacted, HB1134 would significantly restrict a developing segment of Colorado’s food and agricultural market by prohibiting new commercial insect farming for human food and limiting existing operations to their current scale. It would also amend Colorado’s food labeling and misbranding statutes so that insect-containing foods must be clearly identified, and it would authorize enforcement by district attorneys, referral by the agriculture commissioner, private civil actions, and civil penalties of $1,000 to $5,000 per day of violation.
Sentiment
The committee history suggests the bill faced substantial resistance. In the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee, a motion to advance the bill to the Committee of the Whole failed 3-10, and the committee then postponed the bill indefinitely by a 10-3 vote. That pattern indicates the bill did not have broad support in committee, even though an amendment was adopted before the final defeat. No transcript excerpts are available, but the vote record points to a generally unfavorable reception.
Contention
The main point of contention is whether Colorado should prohibit commercial insect production for human consumption at all. Supporters appear to frame the bill as protecting traditional agriculture, food safety, public health, food security, and the natural environment, while opponents likely object to a categorical ban on a food-production sector and to the bill’s restriction on business growth. The labeling mandate for insect-containing foods is another likely issue, because it imposes a specific disclosure requirement on manufacturers and sellers and could affect products already in the marketplace.