I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2068 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a voluntary 

program for country of origin labeling of meat, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 4, 2005 

Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. BERRY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. HAYES, Mr. 

SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. 

ETHERIDGE, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. ROSS, Mr. KINGSTON, 

Mr. SNYDER, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. JEFFERSON, 

Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. PENCE, Mr. SHIMKUS, 

Mr. GRAVES, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. WELLER, Mr. 

MCHENRY, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Ms. FOXX, and Mr. KLINE) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a voluntary program for country of origin labeling 

of meat, 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 ‘‘Meat Promotion Act 

5 of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY PROGRAM FOR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 

2 LABELING FOR MEAT. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Agricultural Marketing 

4 Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘Subtitle E—Country of Origin 

7 Labeling for Meat 

8 ‘‘SEC. 291. DEFINITIONS. 

9 ‘‘In this subtitle: 

10 ‘‘(1) BEEF.—The term ‘beef’ means meat pro11 duced from cattle (including veal). 

12 ‘‘(2) COVERED MEAT PRODUCT.—The term 

13 ‘covered meat product’ means ground beef, ground 

14 pork, ground lamb, and fresh muscle cuts of beef, 

15 pork, and lamb. 

16 ‘‘(3) LAMB.—The term ‘lamb’ means meat pro17 duced from sheep. 

18 ‘‘(4) PORK.—The term ‘pork’ means meat pro19 duced from swine. 

20 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

21 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 292. VOLUNTARY PROGRAM. 

23 ‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish a vol24 untary program of country of origin labeling for covered 

25 meat products. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 293. LABEL. 

2 ‘‘For purposes of the program established under sec3 tion 292, the Secretary shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) design a label to be used to designate the 

5 country of origin of covered meat products; and 

6 ‘‘(2) require persons participating in the pro7 gram to use the label designed under paragraph (1), 

8 or such other label as the Secretary determines ap9 propriate, to designate the country of origin of cov10 ered meat products. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 294. LIMITATION ON USE OF UNITED STATES AS 

12 COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. 

13 ‘‘A person participating in the program established 

14 under section 292 may not designate a covered meat prod15 uct as having the United States as the country of origin 

16 unless the covered meat product is derived exclusively 

17 from— 

18 ‘‘(1) an animal born, raised, and slaughtered in 

19 the United States; or 

20 ‘‘(2) an animal born and raised in Alaska or 

21 Hawaii, transported for a period not to exceed 60 

22 days outside of those States, and slaughtered in the 

23 United States. 

24 ‘‘SEC. 295. VERIFICATION. 

25 ‘‘The Secretary may require participants in the pro26 gram established under section 292 to maintain a record-
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1 keeping audit trail that will permit the Secretary to verify 

2 compliance with the program. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 296. ENFORCEMENT. 

4 ‘‘(a) CIVIL PENALTY.— 

5 ‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary may assess 

6 a civil penalty against a participant in the program 

7 established under section 292 that purposely or 

8 knowingly violates the terms of the program. 

9 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PENALTY.—The amount of 

10 the civil penalty assessed under paragraph (1) may 

11 not exceed $10,000 for each violation. 

12 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING VIOLATION.—Each day dur13 ing which a violation of the program continues shall 

14 be considered to be a separate violation. 

15 ‘‘(b) NOTICE AND HEARING.—The Secretary shall 

16 not assess a civil penalty under this section against a per17 son unless the person is given notice and opportunity for 

18 a hearing in accordance with section 554 of title 5, United 

19 States Code, with respect to the violation for which the 

20 person is being assessed. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 297. REGULATIONS. 

22 ‘‘Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of the Meat Promotion Act of 2005, the Secretary 

24 shall promulgate regulations to carry out the program es25 tablished under section 292.’’. 
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subtitle D of the 

2 Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638 et 

3 seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) in the heading to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘Subtitle D—Country of Origin La6 beling for Fish, Perishable Agri7 cultural Commodities, and Pea8 nuts’’. 

9 (2) in section 281— 

10 (A) by striking paragraphs (1), (5), and 

11 (7); 

12 (B) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

13 (i) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); and 

14 (ii) by redesignating clauses (iii), (iv), 

15 (v), and (vi) as clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and 

16 (iv), respectively; and 

17 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 

18 (4), (6), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (1), (2), 

19 (3), (4), (5), and (6), respectively; and 

20 (3) in section 282— 

21 (A) in subsection (a)(2)— 

22 (i) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 

23 (B); and 
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1 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

2 (C), (D), and (E) as subparagraphs (A), 

3 (B), and (C), respectively; and 

4 (B) in subsection (f)(2)— 

5 (i) by striking subparagraphs (A), 

6 (B), and (C); and 

7 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

8 (D) and (E) as subparagraphs (A) and 

9 (B). 

Æ