I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1605

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

APRIL 26, 2001

Mrs. BONO (for herself an Mr. CONDIT) 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

5 Right-to-Know Act’’.
2

•HR 1605 IH

1 SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE

2 AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF LABELING REQUIRE4 MENT.—The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act,

5 1930, is amended by inserting after section 17 (7 U.S.C.

6 499q) the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 18. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE

8 AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.

9 ‘‘(a) NOTICE OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN REQUIRED.—

10 Except as provided in subsection (b), a retailer of a perish11 able agricultural commodity shall inform consumers, at

12 the final point of sale of the perishable agricultural com13 modity to consumers, of the country of origin of the per14 ishable agricultural commodity. This requirement shall

15 apply to imported and domestically produced perishable

16 agricultural commodities.

17 ‘‘(b) EXEMPTION FOR FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISH18 MENTS.—

19 ‘‘(1) EXEMPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not

20 apply to a perishable agricultural commodity to the

21 extent that the perishable agricultural commodity

22 is—

23 ‘‘(A) prepared or served in a food service

24 establishment; and

25 ‘‘(B) offered for sale or sold at the food

26 service establishment in normal retail quantities
3

•HR 1605 IH

1 or served to consumers at the food service es2 tablishment.

3 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term

4 ‘food service establishment’ means a restaurant, caf5 eteria, lunch room, food stand, saloon, tavern, bar,

6 lounge, or other similar facility, which is operated as

7 an enterprise engaged in the business of selling

8 foods to the public.

9 ‘‘(c) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.—

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

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

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

13 clear and visible sign on the perishable agricultural

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

15 or bin containing the commodity at the final point

16 of sale to consumers.

17 ‘‘(2) LABELED COMMODITIES.—If a perishable

18 agricultural commodity is already individually la19 beled regarding country of origin by a packer, im20 porter, or another person, the retailer shall not be

21 required to provide any additional information to

22 comply with this section.

23 ‘‘(d) VIOLATIONS.—If a retailer fails to indicate the

24 country of origin of a perishable agricultural commodity

25 as required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Agriculture
4

•HR 1605 IH

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

2 not to exceed—

3 ‘‘(1) $1,000 for the first day on which the viola4 tion occurs; and

5 ‘‘(2) $250 for each day on which the same vio6 lation continues.

7 ‘‘(e) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—Amounts collected under

8 subsection (d) shall be deposited in the Treasury of the

9 United States as miscellaneous receipts.’’.

10 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.—Section 18 of

11 the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as

12 added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to a per13 ishable agricultural commodity offered for retail sale after

14 the end of the six-month period beginning on the date of

15 the enactment of this Act.

Æ