Food Date Labeling Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1484 To establish requirements for quality and discard dates that are voluntarily declared on the food label. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 2023 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 voluntarily declared on the food label. 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 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADMINISTERING SECRETARIES.—The term 8 ‘‘administering Secretaries’’ means— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1484 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 a food label that 22 signifies the end of the estimated period of shelf life 23 under any stated storage conditions, after which the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1484 IS entity responsible for the food label advises the prod- 1 uct not be consumed. 2 (3) QUALITY DATE.—The term ‘‘quality date’’ 3 means a date voluntarily printed on a food label that 4 is intended to communicate to consumers the date 5 after which— 6 (A) the quality of the product may begin 7 to deteriorate; but 8 (B) the product remains apparently whole- 9 some food (as defined in subsection (b) of the 10 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation 11 Act (42 U.S.C. 1791(b))). 12 SEC. 3. QUALITY DATES AND DISCARD DATES. 13 (a) QUALITY DATES.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a quality date is used on 15 a food label, such quality date shall be immediately 16 proceeded by the uniform quality date label phrase 17 under paragraph (2). 18 (2) UNIFORM PHRASE.—The uniform quality 19 date label phrase under this paragraph shall be 20 ‘‘BEST If Used By’’ or, if permissible under sub- 21 section (c)(3), the standard abbreviation of ‘‘BB’’, 22 unless and until the administering Secretaries, act- 23 ing in coordination, specify through rulemaking an- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1484 IS other uniform phrase to be used for purposes of 1 complying with paragraph (1). 2 (3) OPTION OF THE ENTITY RESPONSIBLE FOR 3 THE FOOD LABEL.—The decisions of whether to in- 4 clude a quality date on food packaging and which 5 foods should be so labeled shall be at the discretion 6 of the entity responsible for the food label. 7 (b) DISCARD DATES.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a discard date is used on 9 a food label, such discard date shall be immediately 10 proceeded by the uniform discard date label phrase 11 under paragraph (2). 12 (2) UNIFORM PHRASE.—The uniform discard 13 date label phrase under this paragraph shall be 14 ‘‘USE By’’ or, if permissible under subsection 15 (c)(3), the standard abbreviation of ‘‘UB’’, unless 16 and until the administering Secretaries, acting in co- 17 ordination, specify through rulemaking another uni- 18 form phrase to be used for purposes of complying 19 with paragraph (1). 20 (3) OPTION OF THE ENTITY RESPONSIBLE FOR 21 THE FOOD LABEL.—The decisions of whether to in- 22 clude a discard date on food packaging and which 23 foods should be so labeled shall be at the discretion 24 of the entity responsible for the food label. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1484 IS (c) QUALITY DATE AND DISCARD DATE LABEL- 1 ING.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The quality date or discard 3 date, as applicable, and immediately adjacent uni- 4 form quality date label phrase or discard date label 5 phrase shall be— 6 (A) in single easy-to-read type style; and 7 (B) located in a conspicuous place on the 8 food label or elsewhere on the package. 9 (2) DATE FORMAT.—Each quality date and dis- 10 card date shall be stated in terms of month and year 11 or, as appropriate, month, day, and year. 12 (3) ABBREVIATIONS.—A standard abbreviation 13 of ‘‘BB’’ and ‘‘UB’’ for the quality date and discard 14 date, respectively, may be used only if the food label 15 is too small to include the uniform phrase described 16 in subsection (a)(2) or (b)(2), as applicable. 17 (4) FREEZE BY.—A food labeler may add ‘‘or 18 freeze by’’ following a uniform quality date label 19 phrase or discard date label phrase. 20 (d) EDUCATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 21 date of enactment of this Act, the administering Secre- 22 taries, acting in coordination, shall provide consumer edu- 23 cation and outreach on the meaning of quality dates and 24 discard dates on food labels. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1484 IS (e) EFFECT; PREEMPTION.— 1 (1) EFFECT ON SALE OR DONATION OF 2 FOODS.—Nothing in this Act or an amendment 3 made by this Act prohibits any State or political 4 subdivision of a State from establishing or con- 5 tinuing in effect any requirement that prohibits the 6 sale or donation of foods based on passage of the 7 discard date. 8 (2) EFFECT ON INFANT FORMULA.—Nothing in 9 this Act or an amendment made by this Act— 10 (A) applies with respect to infant formula 11 (as defined in section 201(z) of the Federal 12 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 13 321(z))); or 14 (B) affects the requirements relating to in- 15 fant formula under section 412 of the Federal 16 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 17 350a) or any other applicable provision of law. 18 (3) PREEMPTION.—No State or political sub- 19 division of a State may establish or continue in ef- 20 fect any requirement that— 21 (A) relates to the inclusion in food labeling 22 of a quality date or a discard date that is dif- 23 ferent from or in addition to, or that is other- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1484 IS wise not identical with, the requirements of this 1 Act and the amendments made by this Act; or 2 (B) prohibits the sale or donation of foods 3 based on passage of the quality date. 4 (4) ENFORCEMENT.—The administering Secre- 5 taries, acting in coordination with the Federal Trade 6 Commission, shall ensure that the uniform quality 7 date label phrase and uniform discard date label 8 phrase are standardized across all food products. 9 (5) SAVINGS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (3), 10 nothing in this Act, any amendment made by this 11 Act, or any standard or requirement imposed pursu- 12 ant to this Act preempts, displaces, or supplants any 13 State or Federal common law rights or any State or 14 Federal statute creating a remedy for civil relief, in- 15 cluding a remedy for civil damage, or a penalty for 16 criminal conduct. 17 (f) TIME TEMPERATURE INDICATOR LABELS.— 18 Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act 19 prohibits or restricts the use of time-temperature indicator 20 labels or similar technology that is in addition to or in 21 lieu of any uniform quality date label phrase under sub- 22 section (a)(2) or uniform discard date label phrase under 23 subsection (b)(2). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1484 IS SEC. 4. MISBRANDING. 1 (a) FDA VIOLATIONS.—Section 403 of the Federal 2 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amend- 3 ed by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(z) If the label bears a quality date or discard date 5 that fails to comply with the requirements as specified in 6 sections 3(a) and 3(b) of the Food Date Labeling Act of 7 2023, or that fails to meet the requirements as specified 8 in section 3(c) of such Act.’’. 9 (b) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 4(h) of the Poul- 10 try Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453(h)) is amend- 11 ed— 12 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 13 end; 14 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 15 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(13) if its labeling is in violation of section 3 18 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2023.’’. 19 (c) MEAT PRODUCTS.—Section 1(n) of the Federal 20 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601(n)) is amended— 21 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 22 end; 23 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 24 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 25 (3) by adding at the end the following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1484 IS ‘‘(13) if its labeling is in violation of section 3 1 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2023.’’. 2 (d) EGG PRODUCTS.—Section 7(b) of the Egg Prod- 3 ucts Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 1036(b)) is amended in 4 the first sentence by inserting ‘‘or if its labeling is in viola- 5 tion of section 3 of the Food Date Labeling Act of 2023’’ 6 before the period at the end. 7 SEC. 5. 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 enact- 11 ment of this Act. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1484.IS S1484 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS