Real MEAT Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 3016 To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that con- sumers can make informed decisions in choosing between meat products such as beef and imitation meat products, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 11, 2019 Mrs. FISCHER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 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 imita- tion meat products, 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 ‘‘Real Marketing Edible 4 Artificials Truthfully Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Real MEAT 5 Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:58 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3016.IS S3016 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3016 IS SEC. 2. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 1 The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amend- 2 ed by inserting after section 403C of such Act (21 U.S.C. 3 343–3) the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 403D. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 6 101.3(e) of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or any 7 successor regulations), without respect to the relative nu- 8 tritional value of the food, any imitation meat food prod- 9 uct, imitation beef, or imitation beef product shall be 10 deemed to be misbranded unless its label bears, in type 11 of uniform size and prominence, the word ‘imitation’ im- 12 mediately before or after the name of the food and a state- 13 ment that clearly indicates the product is not derived 14 from, or does not contain, meat. 15 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH SECRETARY OF AGRI- 16 CULTURE.— 17 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION OF MISBRANDING.—If the 18 Secretary determines that food is misbranded under 19 subsection (a), the Secretary shall, within 60 days of 20 such determination, transmit a notice of such deter- 21 mination to the Secretary of Agriculture. 22 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT FAILURE.—If the Sec- 23 retary fails, within 30 days of transmitting a notice 24 under paragraph (1), to initiate an enforcement ac- 25 tion with respect to the food that is the subject of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:58 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3016.IS S3016 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3016 IS such notice, the Secretary of Agriculture may treat 1 each such determination of misbranding under sub- 2 section (a) with respect to the food as a determina- 3 tion of misbranding under section 1(n) of the Fed- 4 eral Meat Inspection Act. 5 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall 6 not be construed as limiting the authority of the Secretary 7 of Agriculture to take enforcement or other action under 8 the Federal Meat Inspection Act or other applicable law 9 with respect to a food subject to subsection (a). 10 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section: 11 ‘‘(1) The term ‘beef’ or ‘beef product’ means 12 any food containing edible meat tissue from domes- 13 ticated Bos indicus or Bos taurus cattle. 14 ‘‘(2) The term ‘imitation beef’ means any food 15 manufactured to appear as beef or any food that ap- 16 proximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, 17 flavor, and appearance) or the chemical characteris- 18 tics of specific types of beef but does not contain any 19 meat, meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredi- 20 ents. 21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘imitation beef product’ means 22 any food manufactured to appear as a beef product 23 or any food that approximates the aesthetic qualities 24 (primarily texture, flavor, and appearance) or the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:58 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3016.IS S3016 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3016 IS chemical characteristics of specific types of beef 1 products but does not contain any meat, meat food 2 product, or meat byproduct ingredients. 3 ‘‘(4) The term ‘imitation meat food product’ 4 means any food manufactured to appear as a meat 5 food product or any food that approximates the aes- 6 thetic qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and ap- 7 pearance) or chemical characteristics of specific 8 types of meat but does not contain any meat, meat 9 food product, or meat byproduct ingredients. 10 ‘‘(5) The term ‘meat’ is within the meaning of 11 the Federal Meat Inspection Act. 12 ‘‘(6) The term ‘meat byproduct’ is within the 13 meaning of the Federal Meat Inspection Act. 14 ‘‘(7) The term ‘meat food product’ has the 15 meaning given the term in section 1 of the Federal 16 Meat Inspection Act.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:58 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3016.IS S3016 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS