I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1121

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require retailers of

beef, lamb, and pork to inform consumers, at the final point of sale

to consumers, of the country of origin of the commodities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 20, 2001

Mr. POMEROY (for himself, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. UDALL of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require

retailers of beef, lamb, and pork to inform consumers,

at the final point of sale to consumers, of the country

of origin of the commodities.

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

5 Meat Labeling Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING.

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

3 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘Subtitle C—Country of Origin

6 Labeling

7 ‘‘SEC. 271. DEFINITIONS.

8 ‘‘In this subtitle:

9 ‘‘(1) BEEF.—The term ‘beef ’ means meat pro10 duced from cattle (including veal).

11 ‘‘(2) COVERED COMMODITY.—The term ‘cov12 ered commodity’ means—

13 ‘‘(A) muscle cuts of beef, lamb, and pork;

14 and

15 ‘‘(B) ground beef, ground lamb, and

16 ground pork.

17 ‘‘(3) FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT.—The

18 term ‘food service establishment’ means a res19 taurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, food stand, saloon,

20 tavern, bar, lounge, or other similar facility operated

21 as an enterprise engaged in the business of selling

22 food to the public.

23 ‘‘(4) LAMB.—The term ‘lamb’ means meat,

24 other than mutton, produced from sheep.

25 ‘‘(5) PORK.—The term ‘pork’ means meat pro26 duced from hogs.
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1 ‘‘(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

2 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ag3 ricultural Marketing Service.

4 ‘‘SEC. 272. NOTICE OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

6 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in

7 subsection (b), a retailer of a covered commodity

8 shall inform consumers, at the final point of sale of

9 the covered commodity to consumers, of the country

10 of origin of the covered commodity.

11 ‘‘(2) UNITED STATES COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.—A

12 retailer of a covered commodity may designate the

13 covered commodity as having a United States coun14 try of origin only if the covered commodity is exclu15 sively from an animal that is exclusively born,

16 raised, and slaughtered in the United States.

17 ‘‘(b) EXEMPTION FOR FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISH18 MENTS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to a covered com19 modity if the covered commodity is—

20 ‘‘(1) prepared or served in a food service estab21 lishment; and

22 ‘‘(2)(A) offered for sale or sold at the food serv23 ice establishment in normal retail quantities; or

24 ‘‘(B) served to consumers at the food service es25 tablishment.
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1 ‘‘(c) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The information required

3 by subsection (a) may be provided to consumers by

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

5 clear and visible sign on the covered commodity or

6 on the package, display, holding unit, or bin con7 taining the commodity at the final point of sale to

8 consumers.

9 ‘‘(2) LABELED COMMODITIES.—If the covered

10 commodity is already individually labeled for retail

11 sale regarding country of origin, the retailer shall

12 not be required to provide any additional informa13 tion to comply with this section.

14 ‘‘(d) AUDIT VERIFICATION SYSTEM.—The Secretary

15 may require that any person that prepares, stores, han16 dles, or distributes a covered commodity for retail sale

17 maintain a verifiable recordkeeping audit trail that will

18 permit the Secretary to ensure compliance with the regula19 tions promulgated under section 274.

20 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION.—Any person engaged in the

21 business of supplying a covered commodity to a retailer

22 shall provide information to the retailer indicating the

23 country of origin of the covered commodity.

24 ‘‘SEC. 273. ENFORCEMENT.

25 ‘‘Section 253 shall apply to a violation of this subtitle.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 274. REGULATIONS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may promulgate

3 such regulations as are necessary to carry out this subtitle.

4 ‘‘(b) PARTNERSHIPS WITH STATES.—In promul5 gating the regulations, the Secretary shall, to the max6 imum extent practicable, enter into partnerships with

7 States with enforcement infrastructure to carry out this

8 subtitle.

9 ‘‘SEC. 275. APPLICATION.

10 ‘‘This subtitle shall apply to the retail sale of a cov11 ered commodity beginning 180 days after the date of the

12 enactment of this subtitle.’’.

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