I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2087 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act relating to freshness 

dates on food. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2009 

Mrs. LOWEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 

relating to freshness dates on food. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Freshness Dis5 closure Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT; RE2 QUIREMENT OF INCLUSION OF FRESHNESS 

3 DATE ON FOOD LABELING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Federal Food, 

5 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amended by 

6 adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(z) Except as provided in subparagraph (6), unless 

8 its label bears information on freshness in accordance with 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) The label of the food states a date upon 

11 which the food will no longer be fresh (in this para12 graph referred to as the ‘freshness date’). The 

13 freshness date is a date selected by the manufac14 turer, packer, or distributor of the food on the basis 

15 of tests and other information showing that the 

16 food, until that date, under the conditions of han17 dling, storage, preparation, and use prescribed by 

18 label directions, will— 

19 ‘‘(A) when consumed contain not less than 

20 the quantity of each nutrient set forth in the 

21 food label in accordance with paragraph (q) and 

22 with section 101.9(g)(4) of title 21, Code of 

23 Federal Regulations; and 

24 ‘‘(B) otherwise be not adulterated and of 

25 an acceptable quality. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The freshness date is stated in terms of 

2 the day and month if the product will not be fresh 

3 after three months on the shelf or in terms of the 

4 month and year if the product will be fresh for more 

5 than three months on the shelf. The day, month, 

6 and year are declared in uncoded numerical se7 quence, except that the month may be indicated by 

8 letters. 

9 ‘‘(3) The phrase ‘best if used by’ precedes the 

10 freshness date. 

11 ‘‘(4) On the label, the freshness date is— 

12 ‘‘(A) in single easy-to-read type style using 

13 upper and lower case letters in the standard 

14 form; 

15 ‘‘(B) in a type size no smaller than 8 

16 point; and 

17 ‘‘(C) located in a conspicuous place on the 

18 package of the product. 

19 ‘‘(5) The freshness date is on the containers of 

20 any food sent to the seller of such food to con21 sumers. 

22 ‘‘(6) The requirements of subparagraphs (1) 

23 through (4) shall not apply to any food that, under 

24 section 101.9(j) of title 21, Code of Federal RegulaVerDate Nov 24 2008 07:00 Apr 25, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2087.IH H2087

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1 tions, is exempt from the nutrition labeling require2 ments of section 101.9 of such title.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 subsection (a) takes effect upon the expiration of the 180- 

5 day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act. 

Æ 


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