Food Date Labeling Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2337 To establish requirements for quality and discard dates that are, at the option of food labelers, included in food packaging, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 30, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish requirements for quality and discard dates that are, at the option of food labelers, included in food packaging, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Food Date Labeling 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADMINISTERING SECRETARIES.—The term 8 ‘‘administering Secretaries’’ means— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2337 IS (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re- 1 spect to any product that is— 2 (i) under the jurisdiction of the Sec- 3 retary of Agriculture; and 4 (ii)(I) a poultry product (as defined in 5 section 4 of the Poultry Products Inspec- 6 tion Act (21 U.S.C. 453)); 7 (II) a meat food product (as defined 8 in section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection 9 Act (21 U.S.C. 601)); or 10 (III) an egg product (as defined in 11 section 4 of the Egg Products Inspection 12 Act (21 U.S.C. 1033)); and 13 (B) the Secretary of Health and Human 14 Services, with respect to any product that is— 15 (i) under the jurisdiction of the Sec- 16 retary of Health and Human Services; and 17 (ii) a food (as defined in section 201 18 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 19 Act (21 U.S.C. 321)). 20 (2) DISCARD DATE.—The term ‘‘discard date’’ 21 means a date voluntarily printed on food packaging 22 that signifies the end of the estimated period of shelf 23 life under any stated storage conditions, after which 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2337 IS the food labeler advises the product not be con- 1 sumed. 2 (3) FOOD LABELER.—The term ‘‘food labeler’’ 3 means the producer, manufacturer, distributor, or 4 retailer that places a date label on food packaging 5 of a product. 6 (4) QUALITY DATE.—The term ‘‘quality date’’ 7 means a date voluntarily printed on food packaging 8 that is intended to communicate to consumers the 9 date after which— 10 (A) the quality of the product may begin 11 to deteriorate; but 12 (B) the product remains apparently whole- 13 some food (as defined in subsection (b) of the 14 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation 15 Act (42 U.S.C. 1791(b))). 16 SEC. 3. QUALITY DATES AND DISCARD DATES. 17 (a) QUALITY DATES.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a food labeler includes a 19 quality date on food packaging, the label shall use 20 the uniform quality date label phrase under para- 21 graph (2). 22 (2) UNIFORM PHRASE.—The uniform quality 23 date label phrase under this paragraph shall be 24 ‘‘BEST If Used By’’ or, if permissible under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2337 IS section (c)(3), the standard abbreviation of ‘‘BB’’, 1 unless and until the administering Secretaries, act- 2 ing jointly, specify through rulemaking another uni- 3 form phrase to be used for purposes of complying 4 with paragraph (1). 5 (3) OPTION OF THE LABELER.—The decisions 6 on whether to include a quality date on food pack- 7 aging and which foods should be so labeled shall be 8 at the discretion of the food labeler. 9 (b) DISCARD DATES.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a food labeler includes a 11 discard date on food packaging, the label shall use 12 the uniform discard date label phrase under para- 13 graph (2). 14 (2) UNIFORM PHRASE.—The uniform discard 15 date label phrase under this paragraph shall be 16 ‘‘USE By’’ or, if permissible under subsection 17 (c)(3), the standard abbreviation of ‘‘UB’’, unless 18 and until the administering Secretaries, acting joint- 19 ly, specify through rulemaking another uniform 20 phrase to be used for purposes of complying with 21 paragraph (1). 22 (3) OPTION OF THE LABELER.—The decisions 23 on whether to include a discard date on food pack- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2337 IS aging and which foods should be so labeled shall be 1 at the discretion of the food labeler. 2 (c) QUALITY DATE AND DISCARD DATE LABEL- 3 ING.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The quality date or discard 5 date, as applicable, and immediately adjacent uni- 6 form quality date label phrase or discard date label 7 phrase— 8 (A) shall be— 9 (i) in single easy-to-read type style; 10 and 11 (ii) located in a conspicuous place on 12 the package of the food; and 13 (B) may be on the label or, at the discre- 14 tion of the food labeler, elsewhere on the pack- 15 age. 16 (2) DATE FORMAT.—Each quality date and dis- 17 card date shall be stated in terms of day and month 18 and, as appropriate, year. 19 (3) ABBREVIATIONS.—A food labeler may use a 20 standard abbreviation of ‘‘BB’’ and ‘‘UB’’ for the 21 quality date and discard date, respectively, only if 22 the food packaging is too small to include the uni- 23 form phrase described in subsection (a)(2) or (b)(2), 24 as applicable. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2337 IS (4) FREEZE BY.—A food labeler may add ‘‘or 1 Freeze By’’ following a quality date or discard date 2 uniform phrase. 3 (d) EDUCATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 4 date of enactment of this Act, the administering Secre- 5 taries, acting jointly, shall provide consumer education 6 and outreach on the meaning of quality date and discard 7 date food labels. 8 (e) EFFECT; PREEMPTION.— 9 (1) EFFECT.—Nothing in this Act or an 10 amendment made by this Act prohibits any State or 11 political subdivision of a State from establishing or 12 continuing in effect any requirement that prohibits 13 the sale or donation of foods based on passage of the 14 discard date. 15 (2) PREEMPTION.—No State or political sub- 16 division of a State may establish or continue in ef- 17 fect any requirement that— 18 (A) relates to the inclusion in food labeling 19 of a quality date or a discard date that is dif- 20 ferent from or in addition to, or that is other- 21 wise not identical with, the requirements of this 22 Act and the amendments made by this Act; or 23 (B) prohibits the sale or donation of foods 24 based on passage of the quality date. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2337 IS (3) ENFORCEMENT.—The administering Secre- 1 taries, acting jointly and in coordination with the 2 Federal Trade Commission, shall ensure that the 3 uniform quality date label phrase and uniform dis- 4 card date label phrase are standardized across all 5 food products. 6 (4) SAVINGS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (2), 7 nothing in this Act, any amendment made by this 8 Act, or any standard or requirement imposed pursu- 9 ant to this Act preempts, displaces, or supplants any 10 State or Federal common law rights or any State or 11 Federal statute creating a remedy for civil relief, in- 12 cluding a remedy for civil damage, or a penalty for 13 criminal conduct. 14 (5) TIME TEMPERATURE INDICATOR LABELS.— 15 Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 16 Act prohibits or restricts the use of time-tempera- 17 ture indicator labels or similar technology that is in 18 addition to or in lieu of any uniform quality date 19 label phrase under subsection (a)(2) or uniform dis- 20 card date label phrase under subsection (b)(2). 21 SEC. 4. MISBRANDING. 22 (a) FDA VIOLATIONS.—Section 403 of the Federal 23 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amend- 24 ed by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2337 IS ‘‘(z) If it is food and its labeling is in violation of 1 section 3 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2019.’’. 2 (b) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 4(h) of the Poul- 3 try Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453(h)) is amend- 4 ed— 5 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 6 end; 7 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 8 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(13) if its labeling is in violation of section 3 11 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2019.’’. 12 (c) MEAT PRODUCTS.—Section 1(n) of the Federal 13 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601(n)) is amended— 14 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 15 end; 16 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 17 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(13) if its labeling is in violation of section 3 20 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2019.’’. 21 (d) EGG PRODUCTS.—Section 7(b) of the Egg Prod- 22 ucts Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 1036(b)) is amended in 23 the first sentence by inserting ‘‘or if its labeling is in viola- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2337 IS tion of section 3 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2019’’ 1 before the period at the end. 2 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 3 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 4 of this Act, the administering Secretaries, acting jointly, 5 shall promulgate final regulations for carrying out this Act 6 and the amendments made by this Act. 7 SEC. 6. DELAYED APPLICABILITY. 8 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 9 apply only with respect to food products that are labeled 10 on or after the date that is 2 years after the date of pro- 11 mulgation of final regulations under section 5. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS