[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2475 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2475

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require that imported meat 
 and meat food products containing imported meat be labeled imported, 
and to require that certain eating establishments serving imported meat 
                     inform customers of that fact.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 12, 1995

 Mr. Johnson of South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was 
        read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require that imported meat 
 and meat food products containing imported meat be labeled imported, 
and to require that certain eating establishments serving imported meat 
                     inform customers of that fact.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
    Section 1. Section 1(n) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 
U.S.C. 601(n)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (11) by striking out ``or'' at the end,
            (2) in paragraph (12) by striking out the period at the end 
        and inserting in lieu thereof ``; or'', and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(13) if it is or was imported and if its labeling fails 
        to bear the words `imported', `may have been imported', `this 
        product contains imported meat', `this product may contain 
        imported meat', `this container contains imported meat', or 
        `this container may contain imported meat', as the case may be, 
        or words to indicate its country of origin.''.
    Sec. 2. (a) Whoever--
            (1) owns or operates an eating establishment,
            (2) sells in such eating establishment a significant amount 
        of meat or meat food products imported into the United States, 
        or meat food products that, in the aggregate, contain a 
        significant amount of meat imported into the United States, and
            (3) knowingly fails, or knowingly permits any employee or 
        agent to fail, to inform individuals purchasing food from such 
        eating establishment of the fact that such meat or meat food 
        products are sold therein--
                    (A) by displaying, in a conspicuous place in or on 
                such eating establishment, a sign indicating such fact, 
                or
                    (B) by indicating such fact on menus offered, 
                posted, or otherwise made available to such 
                individuals,
        shall be issued a warning on the first occasion on which it is 
        discovered that any such failure may have occurred and shall be 
        fined an amount not to exceed $500 for each day on which any 
        such failure occurs after receipt of such warning.
    (b) For purposes of this section--
            (1) the term ``eating establishment'' means any restaurant, 
        cafeteria, lunch counter, lunchroom, soda fountain, food stand, 
        saloon, tavern, bar, lounge, vending machine, or other similar 
        facility (including any such facility located on the premises 
        of any retail or recreational establishment), operated as a 
        commercial enterprise engaged in the business of selling food 
        to the public,
            (2) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Agriculture,
            (3) the term ``significant amount'' shall have the meaning 
        given to it by the Secretary under subsection (c), and
            (4) the term ``meat food product'' shall have the meaning 
        given to it in section 1(j) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 
        (21 U.S.C. 601(j)).
    (c)(1) For purposes of subsection (b)(3), the Secretary shall issue 
a proposed rule defining the term ``significant amount'', as used in 
subsection (a)(2), not later than thirty calendar days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
    (2) The Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate 
may each disapprove any proposed rule issued under paragraph (1) or (3) 
not later than sixty days of continuous session of the Congress after 
the date on which any such proposed rule is issued.
    (3) If any proposed rule is disapproved by either committee under 
paragraph (2), then the Secretary shall withdraw such proposed rule, 
and, taking into consideration the objections of each committee 
disapproving such proposed rule, shall issue another proposed rule 
defining the term specified in paragraph (1), not later than thirty 
calendar days after any such disapproval.
    (4) No proposed rule issued under paragraph (1) or paragraph (3) 
may take effect before the expiration of the sixty-day period described 
in paragraph (2).
    (5) For purposes of paragraph (2)--
            (A) continuity of session is broken only by an adjournment 
        of the Congress sine die, and
            (B) days on which either House is not in session because of 
        an ajournment of more than three days to a day certain shall be 
        excluded in the computation of the sixty-day period described 
        in paragraph (2).
    Sec. 3. (a) This section and section 2(c) shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) The amendment made by section 1 shall take effect one year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Section 2 (other than subsection (c)) shall take effect one 
year after the expiration of the sixty-day period described in section 
2(c)(2) during which a proposed rule issued under paragraph (1) or (3) 
of section 2(c) is not disapproved.
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