DAIRY PRIDE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1769 To require enforcement against misbranded milk alternatives. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 14, 2019 Mr. WELCH (for himself, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. GROTHMAN, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. DUFFY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. KIND, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. KIL- DEE, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. REED, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. BRINDISI, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. TONKO, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. MITCHELL, Mr. LONG, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. SMUCKER, Mr. NEWHOUSE, and Mr. DELGADO) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To require enforcement against misbranded milk alternatives. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defending Against 4 Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk, and Cheese 5 To Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act’’ or 6 the ‘‘DAIRY PRIDE Act’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1769 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds as follows: 2 (1) Dairy products are an important part of a 3 healthy diet for both children and adults, according 4 to the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans 5 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Dietary Guide- 6 lines’’) published by the Department of Health and 7 Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. 8 The Dietary Guidelines state that most Americans 9 are not meeting recommended intake for the dairy 10 food group. Consumption of dairy foods provides nu- 11 merous health benefits, including lowering the risk 12 of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular dis- 13 ease, and obesity. 14 (2) The Dietary Guidelines state that dairy 15 foods are excellent sources of critical nutrients for 16 human health, including vitamin D, calcium, and po- 17 tassium, all of which are under consumed by people 18 of the United States. When consumed in the 19 amounts recommended by the Food Patterns of the 20 Department of Agriculture, on average across the 21 calorie levels, dairy foods contribute about 67 per- 22 cent of calcium, 64 percent of vitamin D, and 17 23 percent of magnesium. 24 (3) About 30 percent of adolescent boys meet or 25 exceed the recommended 3-cup equivalents per day, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1769 IH but less than 10 percent of adolescent females meet 1 or exceed this recommendation. An age-related de- 2 cline in dairy intake appears to begin in adolescence 3 and intakes persist at very low levels among adult 4 females across the age distribution. Less than 5 per- 5 cent of adult females consume the recommended 3- 6 cup equivalents per day. Overall, more than 80 per- 7 cent of the entire population of the United States 8 does not meet the daily dairy intake recommenda- 9 tion. 10 (4) The Dietary Guidelines state that vitamin 11 D and potassium amounts vary across plant-based 12 milk alternatives. The amount of calcium per calorie 13 is lower for most plant-based alternative milk prod- 14 ucts. To obtain the amount of calcium contained in 15 one cup of non-fat fluid milk from a plant-based 16 milk alternative, the portion size and calorie intake 17 must be greater. 18 (5) Imitation dairy products, such as plant- 19 based products derived from rice, nuts, soybeans, 20 hemp, coconut, algae, and other foods that imitate 21 milk, yogurt, and cheese, often do not provide the 22 same nutrition content as real milk, cheese, and yo- 23 gurt derived from dairy cows. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1769 IH (6) Plant-based products labeled as milk are 1 misleading to consumers. 2 (7) The Food and Drug Administration has 3 regulations that define milk and cream as the ‘‘lac- 4 teal secretion, practically free from colostrum, ob- 5 tained by the complete milking of one or more 6 healthy cows’’ (section 131.110 of title 21, Code of 7 Federal Regulations). This definition further applies 8 to milk used to create other dairy products, includ- 9 ing yogurt and cheese, as specified in sections 131 10 and 133 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations. 11 (8) Given the proliferation of plant-based prod- 12 ucts in the marketplace that are mislabeled as milk 13 despite the standard of identity defined for this sub- 14 stance, enforcement by the Food and Drug Adminis- 15 tration against these practices should be improved to 16 avoid misleading consumers. 17 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 18 No food may be introduced or delivered for introduc- 19 tion into interstate commerce using a market name for 20 a dairy product if the food does not meet the criterion 21 set forth for dairy products under paragraph (z)(2) of sec- 22 tion 403 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 23 (21 U.S.C. 343) (as added by section 4(a)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1769 IH SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF DEFINITION. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Federal Food, 2 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amended by 3 adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(z)(1) If it uses a market name for a dairy product 5 described in subparagraph (3) and the food does not meet 6 the criterion for being a dairy product, as described in 7 subparagraph (2). 8 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this paragraph, a food is a dairy 9 product only if the food is, contains as a primary ingre- 10 dient, or is derived from, the lacteal secretion, practically 11 free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of 12 one or more hooved mammals. 13 ‘‘(3) A market name for a dairy product described 14 in this subparagraph means the dairy product terms de- 15 scribed in parts 131 and 133 of subchapter B of chapter 16 I of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, and sections 17 135.110, 135.115, and 135.140 of title 21, Code of Fed- 18 eral Regulations (or any successor regulations), or any 19 other term for which the Secretary has promulgated a 20 standard of identity with respect to a food that is formu- 21 lated with a dairy product (as described in subparagraph 22 (2)) as the primary ingredient.’’. 23 (b) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Health and 24 Human Services, acting through the Commissioner of 25 Food and Drugs, shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1769 IH (1) not later than 90 days after the date of en- 1 actment of this Act, issue draft guidance on how en- 2 forcement of the amendment made by subsection (a) 3 will be carried out; and 4 (2) not later than 180 days after the date of 5 enactment of this Act, issue final guidance on such 6 enforcement. 7 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 9 Health and Human Services, acting through the Commis- 10 sioner of Food and Drugs, shall report to Congress on en- 11 forcement actions taken under paragraph (z) of section 12 403 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 13 U.S.C. 343), as amended by this Act, including warnings 14 issued pursuant to such paragraph and penalties assessed 15 under section 303 of such Act (21 U.S.C. 333) with re- 16 spect to such paragraph. If food that is misbranded under 17 section 403(z) is offered for sale in interstate commerce 18 at the time of such report, the Commissioner of Food and 19 Drugs shall include in such report an updated plan for 20 enforcement with respect to such food. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1769.IH H1769 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS