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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2475

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require that imported meat

and meat food products containing imported meat be labeled imported,

and to require that certain eating establishments serving imported meat

inform customers of that fact.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 12, 1995

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require that

imported meat and meat food products containing imported meat be labeled imported, and to require that

certain eating establishments serving imported meat inform customers of that fact.

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

3 SECTION 1. Section 1(n) of the Federal Meat Inspec4 tion Act (21 U.S.C. 601(n)) is amended—

5 (1) in paragraph (11) by striking out ‘‘or’’ at

6 the end,
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1 (2) in paragraph (12) by striking out the period

2 at the end and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; or’’, and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new

4 paragraph:

5 ‘‘(13) if it is or was imported and if its labeling

6 fails to bear the words ‘imported’, ‘may have been

7 imported’, ‘this product contains imported meat’,

8 ‘this product may contain imported meat’, ‘this con9 tainer contains imported meat’, or ‘this container

10 may contain imported meat’, as the case may be, or

11 words to indicate its country of origin.’’.

12 SEC. 2. (a) Whoever—

13 (1) owns or operates an eating establishment,

14 (2) sells in such eating establishment a signifi15 cant amount of meat or meat food products im16 ported into the United States, or meat food products

17 that, in the aggregate, contain a significant amount

18 of meat imported into the United States, and

19 (3) knowingly fails, or knowingly permits any

20 employee or agent to fail, to inform individuals pur21 chasing food from such eating establishment of the

22 fact that such meat or meat food products are sold

23 therein—
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1 (A) by displaying, in a conspicuous place

2 in or on such eating establishment, a sign indi3 cating such fact, or

4 (B) by indicating such fact on menus of5 fered, posted, or otherwise made available to

6 such individuals,

7 shall be issued a warning on the first occasion on

8 which it is discovered that any such failure may have

9 occurred and shall be fined an amount not to exceed

10 $500 for each day on which any such failure occurs

11 after receipt of such warning.

12 (b) For purposes of this section—

13 (1) the term ‘‘eating establishment’’ means any

14 restaurant, cafeteria, lunch counter, lunchroom, soda

15 fountain, food stand, saloon, tavern, bar, lounge,

16 vending machine, or other similar facility (including

17 any such facility located on the premises of any re18 tail or recreational establishment), operated as a

19 commercial enterprise engaged in the business of

20 selling food to the public,

21 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

22 of Agriculture,

23 (3) the term ‘‘significant amount’’ shall have

24 the meaning given to it by the Secretary under sub25 section (c), and
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1 (4) the term ‘‘meat food product’’ shall have

2 the meaning given to it in section 1(j) of the Federal

3 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601(j)).

4 (c)(1) For purposes of subsection (b)(3), the Sec5 retary shall issue a proposed rule defining the term ‘‘sig6 nificant amount’’, as used in subsection (a)(2), not later

7 than thirty calendar days after the date of the enactment

8 of this Act.

9 (2) The Committee on Agriculture of the House of

10 Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri11 tion, and Forestry of the Senate may each disapprove any

12 proposed rule issued under paragraph (1) or (3) not later

13 than sixty days of continuous session of the Congress after

14 the date on which any such proposed rule is issued.

15 (3) If any proposed rule is disapproved by either com16 mittee under paragraph (2), then the Secretary shall with17 draw such proposed rule, and, taking into consideration

18 the objections of each committee disapproving such pro19 posed rule, shall issue another proposed rule defining the

20 term specified in paragraph (1), not later than thirty cal21 endar days after any such disapproval.

22 (4) No proposed rule issued under paragraph (1) or

23 paragraph (3) may take effect before the expiration of the

24 sixty-day period described in paragraph (2).

25 (5) For purposes of paragraph (2)—
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1 (A) continuity of session is broken only by an

2 adjournment of the Congress sine die, and

3 (B) days on which either House is not in ses4 sion because of an ajournment of more than three

5 days to a day certain shall be excluded in the com6 putation of the sixty-day period described in para7 graph (2).

8 SEC. 3. (a) This section and section 2(c) shall take

9 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

10 (b) The amendment made by section 1 shall take ef11 fect one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

12 (c) Section 2 (other than subsection (c)) shall take

13 effect one year after the expiration of the sixty-day period

14 described in section 2(c)(2) during which a proposed rule

15 issued under paragraph (1) or (3) of section 2(c) is not

16 disapproved.

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