[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1016 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1016

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit products 
      that contain dry ultra-filtered milk products, milk protein 
concentrates, or casein from being labeled as domestic natural cheese, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 2001

Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Obey, Mr. Kind, Mr. Barrett, 
 Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Petri, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Boucher, 
 Mr. Cooksey, Mr. Fattah, Mr. English, Mr. Baldacci, Mr. Houghton, Mr. 
 Boyd, Mr. Callahan, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
 Pickering, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Sherwood, Mrs. 
Emerson, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Clay, and Mr. 
   Kleczka) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit products 
      that contain dry ultra-filtered milk products, milk protein 
concentrates, or casein from being labeled as domestic natural cheese, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quality Cheese Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. NATURAL CHEESE STANDARD.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1)(A) any change in domestic natural cheese standards to 
        allow products containing dry ultra-filtered milk, milk protein 
        concentrates, or casein to be labeled as domestic natural 
        cheese would result in increased costs to the dairy price 
        support program; and
            (B) that change would be unfair to taxpayers, who would be 
        forced to pay more program costs;
            (2) any change in domestic natural cheese standards to 
        allow dry ultra-filtered milk products or casein to be labeled 
        as domestic natural cheese would result in lower revenues for 
        dairy farmers;
            (3) any change in domestic natural cheese standards to 
        allow dry ultra-filtered milk products or casein to be labeled 
        as domestic natural cheese would cause dairy products 
        containing dry ultra-filtered milk or casein to become 
        vulnerable to contamination and would compromise the 
        sanitation, hydrosanitary, and phytosanitary standards of the 
        United States dairy industry; and
            (4) changing the labeling standard for domestic natural 
        cheese would be misleading to the consumer.
    (b) Prohibition.--Section 401 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whenever'' and inserting ``(a) 
        Whenever''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b)(1) The Secretary may not amend section 133.3 of title 21, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding similar regulation or 
ruling), to include dry ultra-filtered milk, milk protein concentrates, 
or casein in the definition of the term `milk' or `nonfat milk', as 
specified in the standards of identity for cheese and cheese products 
published at part 133 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or any 
corresponding similar regulation or ruling).
    ``(2)(A) The Secretary may not amend such section 133.3 (or any 
corresponding similar regulation or ruling) to include wet ultra-
filtered milk in the definition described in paragraph (1), until 60 
days after the Secretary, in conjunction with the Secretary of 
Agriculture, submits the report described in subparagraph (B).
    ``(B) The Secretary, in conjunction with the Secretary of 
Agriculture, shall conduct a study on the manner in which the use of 
wet ultra-filtered milk impacts dairy farmers, and submit a report 
containing the results of the study to the appropriate committees of 
Congress.''.
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