I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1145

To require that perishable agricultural commodities be labeled or marked

as to their country of origin and to establish penalties for violations

of such labeling requirements.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 17, 1999

Mrs. BONO (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr.

BILIRAKIS, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BOYD, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mrs.

CHENOWETH, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr.

DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. GOSS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. HOOLEY of

Oregon, Mr. HORN, Mr. HUNTER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KING, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LEACH, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr.

MICA, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mrs.

MINK of Hawaii, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. NEY, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. QUINN, Ms. RIVERS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr.

SANDERS, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. SMITH of

New Jersey, Mr. STUMP, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. WELDON

of Florida, and Mr. WEXLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To require that perishable agricultural commodities be

labeled or marked as to their country of origin and

to establish penalties for violations of such labeling requirements.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Produce Consumers’

3 Right-to-Know Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE

5 AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

7 (1) FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT.—The

8 term ‘‘food service establishment’’ means a res9 taurant, cafeteria, lunch room, food stand, saloon,

10 tavern, bar, lounge, or other similar facility, which

11 is operated as an enterprise engaged in the business

12 of selling foods to the public.

13 (2) PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY;

14 RETAILER.—The terms ‘‘perishable agricultural

15 commodity’’ and ‘‘retailer’’ have the meanings given

16 the terms in section 1(b) of the Perishable Agricul17 tural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499a(b)).

18 (b) NOTICE OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN REQUIRED.—

19 Except as provided in subsection (c), a retailer of a perish20 able agricultural commodity shall inform consumers, at

21 the final point of sale of the perishable agricultural com22 modity to consumers, of the country of origin of the per23 ishable agricultural commodity. This requirement shall

24 apply to imported and domestically produced perishable

25 agricultural commodities.
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1 (c) EXEMPTION FOR FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISH2 MENTS.—Subsection (b) shall not apply to a perishable

3 agricultural commodity to the extent that the perishable

4 agricultural commodity is—

5 (1) prepared or served in a food service estab6 lishment; and

7 (2)(A) offered for sale or sold at the food serv8 ice establishment in normal retail quantities; or

9 (B) served to consumers at the food service es10 tablishment.

11 (d) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The information required by

13 subsection (b) may be provided to consumers by

14 means of a label, stamp, mark, placard, or other

15 clear and visible sign on the perishable agricultural

16 commodity or on the package, display, holding unit,

17 or bin containing the commodity at the final point

18 of sale to consumers.

19 (2) LABELED COMMODITIES.—If a perishable

20 agricultural commodity is already individually la21 beled regarding country of origin by a packer, im22 porter, or another person, the retailer shall not be

23 required to provide any additional information to

24 comply with this section.
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1 (e) VIOLATIONS.—If a retailer fails to indicate the

2 country of origin of a perishable agricultural commodity

3 as required by subsection (b), the Secretary of Agriculture

4 may assess a civil penalty on the retailer in an amount

5 not to exceed—

6 (1) $1,000 for the first day on which the viola7 tion occurs; and

8 (2) $250 for each day on which the same viola9 tion continues.

10 (f) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—Amounts collected under

11 subsection (e) shall be deposited in the Treasury of the

12 United States as miscellaneous receipts.

13 (g) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall

14 apply with respect to a perishable agricultural commodity

15 offered for retail sale after the end of the 6-month period

16 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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