II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3281 

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 imitation meat products, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 

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 imitation meat products, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Real Marketing Edible 

5 Artificials Truthfully Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Real MEAT 

6 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 

2 The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amend3 ed by inserting after section 403C of such Act (21 U.S.C. 

4 21 343–3) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 403D. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

7 101.3(e) of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or any 

8 successor regulations), without respect to the relative nu9 tritional value of the food, any imitation meat food prod10 uct; imitation beef, pork, or poultry; or imitation beef 

11 product, pork product, or poultry product shall be deemed 

12 to be misbranded unless its label bears, in type of uniform 

13 size and prominence, the word ‘imitation’ immediately be14 fore or after the name of the food and a statement that 

15 clearly indicates the product is not derived from, or does 

16 not contain, meat. 

17 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH SECRETARY OF AGRI18 CULTURE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION OF MISBRANDING.—If the 

20 Secretary determines that food is misbranded under 

21 subsection (a), the Secretary shall, within 60 days of 

22 such determination, transmit a notice of such deter23 mination to the Secretary of Agriculture. 

24 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT FAILURE.—If the Sec25 retary fails, within 30 days of transmitting a notice 

26 under paragraph (1), to initiate an enforcement acVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Nov 15, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3281.IS S3281

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1 tion with respect to the food that is the subject of 

2 such notice, the Secretary of Agriculture may treat 

3 each such determination of misbranding under sub4 section (a) with respect to the food as a determina5 tion of misbranding under section 1(n) of the Fed6 eral Meat Inspection Act. 

7 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall 

8 not be construed as limiting the authority of the Secretary 

9 of Agriculture to take enforcement or other action under 

10 the Federal Meat Inspection Act or other applicable law 

11 with respect to a food subject to subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘beef’ or ‘beef product’ means 

14 any food containing edible meat tissue from domes15 ticated Bos indicus or Bos taurus cattle. 

16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘domesticated bird’ means a do17 mesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, ratite, or 

18 squab. 

19 ‘‘(3) The term ‘imitation beef’ means any food 

20 manufactured to appear as beef or any food that ap21 proximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, 

22 flavor, and appearance) or the chemical characteris23 tics of specific types of beef but does not contain any 

24 meat, meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredi25 ents. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The term ‘imitation pork product’ means 

2 any food manufactured to appear as a pork product 

3 or any food that approximates the aesthetic qualities 

4 (primarily texture, flavor, and appearance) or the 

5 chemical characteristics of specific types of pork 

6 products but does not contain any meat, meat food 

7 product, or meat byproduct ingredients. 

8 ‘‘(5) The term ‘imitation poultry product’ 

9 means any food manufactured to appear as a poul10 try product or any food that approximates the aes11 thetic qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and ap12 pearance) or the chemical characteristics of specific 

13 types of poultry products but does not contain any 

14 meat, meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredi15 ents. 

16 ‘‘(6) The term ‘imitation meat food product’ 

17 means any food manufactured to appear as a meat 

18 food product or any food that approximates the aes19 thetic qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and ap20 pearance) or chemical characteristics of specific 

21 types of meat but that does not contain any meat, 

22 meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredients, 

23 and which is not harvested in a traditional manner. 


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1 ‘‘(7) The term ‘meat’ has the meaning given 

2 such term for purposes of the Federal Meat Inspec3 tion Act. 

4 ‘‘(8) The term ‘meat byproduct’ has the mean5 ing given such term for purposes of the Federal 

6 Meat Inspection Act. 

7 ‘‘(9) The term ‘meat food product’ has the 

8 meaning given the term in section 1 of the Federal 

9 Meat Inspection Act. 

10 ‘‘(10) The term ‘pork’ or ‘pork product’ means 

11 any food produced or processed in whole or in part 

12 from a domesticated porcine animal. 

13 ‘‘(11) The term ‘poultry’ or ‘poultry product’ 

14 means any carcass, or part thereof, of a domes15 ticated bird, or any product that is made wholly or 

16 in part from any domesticated bird carcass or part 

17 thereof.’’. 

Æ 


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