I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5081 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit retailers from 

designating the United States as the country of origin of foreign beef, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2023 

Ms. HAGEMAN (for herself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WILLIAMS of New York, Mrs. 

BOEBERT, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit 

retailers from designating the United States as the country of origin of foreign beef, 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 ‘‘Country of Origin La5 beling Enforcement Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 281 of the Agricultural 

8 Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 

2 (7) as paragraphs (2) through (8), respectively; 

3 (2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so re4 designated) the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) BEEF.—The term ‘beef’ means meat pro6 duced from cattle (including veal).’’; 

7 (3) in paragraph (2)(A)(i) (as so redesignated), 

8 by striking ‘‘lamb and venison’’ and inserting ‘‘beef, 

9 lamb, and venison’’; and 

10 (4) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) (as so redesignated), 

11 by striking ‘‘ground lamb and ground venison’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘ground beef, ground lamb, and ground 

13 venison’’. 

14 (b) NOTICE OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.—Section 

15 282(a) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 

16 U.S.C. 1638a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(5) DESIGNATION OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

19 FOR BEEF.—A retailer of a covered commodity that 

20 is beef may designate the covered commodity as ex21 clusively having a United States country of origin 

22 only if the covered commodity is derived from an 

23 animal that was exclusively born, raised, slaugh24 tered, and packaged in the United States.’’. 


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1 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 283(b) of the Agricul2 tural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638b(b)) is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘$1,000 for each violation’’ and in4 serting ‘‘$1,000 for each violation (or in the case of a cov5 ered commodity that is beef, $5,000 for each pound of 

6 beef not in compliance with the requirements of section 

7 282)’’. 

8 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No ruling by the 

9 World Trade Organization or by any other international 

10 organization of which the United States is a member that 

11 is established before, on, or after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act may be construed to limit, alter, or affect the 

13 authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to require coun14 try of origin labeling in accordance with the amendments 

15 made by this section. 

16 SEC. 3. REPORT ON FALSE LABELING OF FOREIGN BEEF AS 

17 ORIGINATING IN THE UNITED STATES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 

20 shall submit to Congress a report on the false labeling of 

21 foreign beef as originating in the United States. 

22 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report referred to in subsection 

23 (a) shall include the following: 

24 (1) An assessment of how much beef was sold 

25 in the United States during the 10-year period beVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Aug 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5081.IH H5081

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1 ginning on January 1, 2013, that was falsely labeled 

2 as having a country of origin of the United States. 

3 (2) With respect to the 10-year period begin4 ning on January 1, 2013, an assessment of— 

5 (A) which packers falsely labeled beef as 

6 originating in the United States; and 

7 (B) in the case of beef so falsely labeled, 

8 the correct country of origin. 

9 (3) An assessment of the extent of economic 

10 losses sustained by United States ranchers during 

11 the 10-year period beginning on January 1, 2013, 

12 because consumers unknowingly purchased beef with 

13 a foreign country of origin under the assumption 

14 that such beef originated in the United States. 

15 (c) FALSE LABELING DEFINED.—In this section, the 

16 terms ‘‘false labeling’’ and ‘‘falsely labeled’’ mean, with 

17 respect to the labeling of beef, labeling such beef as exclu18 sively having a United States country of origin in a man19 ner that does not meet the criteria specified in paragraph 

20 (5) of section 282(a) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 

21 of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)) (as added by section 2(b) 

22 of this Act). 

Æ 


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