[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4881 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4881

   To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that 
consumers can make informed decisions in choosing between meat products 
   such as beef and imitation meat products, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 2019

 Mr. Marshall (for himself and Mr. Brindisi) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 
    in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that 
consumers can make informed decisions in choosing between meat products 
   such as beef and imitation meat products, 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 ``Real Marketing Edible Artificials 
Truthfully Act of 2019'' or the ``Real MEAT Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Traditionally, food standards of identity and 
        composition have provided a framework for identifying products 
        and helping to ensure these products meet consumer expectations 
        regarding composition and characteristics, as well as safety.
            (2) The legislative intent of standards of identity is to 
        ensure product integrity and prevent economic adulteration. 
        Both consumers and industry have relied on the current system 
        of standards since the enactment in 1938 of the Federal Food, 
        Drug, and Cosmetic Act (in this section referred to as the 
        ``FFDCA'') (52 Stat. 1040).
            (3) The Federal Meat Inspection Act (in this section 
        referred to as the ``FMIA'') grants the Department of 
        Agriculture (in this section referred to as the ``USDA'') sole 
        regulatory authority over all meat and meat food products.
            (4) Section 1002 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 
        Act (21 U.S.C. 392) limits the regulatory authority of the Food 
        and Drug Administration (in this section referred to as the 
        ``FDA'') to all meat and meat food products not otherwise 
        regulated by the USDA under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, 
        Poultry Products Inspection Act, or the Egg Products Inspection 
        Act.
            (5) Both USDA and FDA are responsible for enforcing a 
        universal standard that labels are truthful and not misleading.
            (6) Several applicable terms are defined in law or 
        regulation including--
                    (A) the term ``meat food product'' defined in 
                section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 
                601);
                    (B) the terms ``meat'', ``meat broker'', and ``meat 
                byproduct'' defined in section 301.2 of 17 title 9, 
                Code of Federal Regulations;
                    (C) the term ``beef'' defined as the flesh of 
                cattle in section 3 of the Beef Research and 
                Information Act (7 U.S.C. 2902); and
                    (D) the term ``beef products'' defined as edible 
                products produced in whole or in part from beef, 
                exclusive of milk and milk products produced therefrom, 
                in such section 3 (7 U.S.C. 2902).
            (7) The definitions of ``beef'' and ``beef products'' were 
        established under the Beef Research and Information Act for the 
        purpose of strengthening the beef industry's position in the 
        marketplace and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign 
        markets and uses for beef and beef products only.
            (8) The lack of any Federal definition of ``beef'' or 
        ``beef products'' for the purposes of meat food product 
        labeling has led some to begin marketing imitation products as 
        meat or beef, creating the opportunity for marketplace 
        confusion and consumer fraud that Congress originally charged 
        the various Federal food regulatory agencies with the duty to 
        prevent.
            (9) Imitation products labeled as beef or as beef products 
        create confusion in the marketplace. These products are in 
        direct violation of the ``Congressional Findings and 
        Declaration of Policy'' authorized under section 2 of the Beef 
        Research and Information Act (7 U.S.C. 2901) and undermine the 
        integrity of that Act.

SEC. 3. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS.

    The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amended by inserting 
after section 403C of such Act (21 U.S.C. 343-3) the following:

``SEC. 403D. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding the provision of section 403(c), 
any imitation meat food product, beef, or beef product shall be deemed 
to be misbranded unless its label bears, in type of uniform size and 
prominence, the word `imitation' immediately before or after the name 
of the food and a statement that clearly indicates the product is not 
derived from or does not contain meat.
    ``(b) Coordination With Secretary of Agriculture.--
            ``(1) Notification of misbranding.--If the Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services finds that food is misbranded under 
        subsection (a), the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        shall within 60 days of such finding transmit a notice of such 
        finding to the Secretary of Agriculture.
            ``(2) Enforcement failure.--If the Secretary of Health and 
        Human Services fails, within 30 days of transmitting a notice 
        under paragraph (1), to initiate an enforcement action, the 
        Secretary of Agriculture may treat each such finding of 
        misbranding under subsection (a) of this Act as a finding of 
        misbranding under section 1(n) of the Federal Meat Inspection 
        Act.
    ``(c) Rule of Construction.--This section shall not be construed as 
limiting the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to take 
enforcement or other action under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or 
other applicable law.
    ``(d) Definition.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `beef' or `beef product' means any product 
        containing edible meat tissue harvested in whole form from 
        domesticated Bos indicus or Bos taurus cattle.
            ``(2) The term `imitation meat food product' is any product 
        manufactured to appear as a meat food product or any food 
        product which approximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily 
        texture, flavor, and appearance) and/or chemical 
        characteristics of specific types of meat but does not contain 
        any meat, meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredients.
            ``(3) The term `meat' means meat as such term is used in 
        the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
            ``(4) The term `meat food product' has the meaning given to 
        that term in section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.''.
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