II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2819 

To amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection 

Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require processors 

of food products to certify to the applicable Secretary that the processed 

food products are not adulterated. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2009 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Federal 

Meat Inspection Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and 

Cosmetic Act to require processors of food products to 

certify to the applicable Secretary that the processed 

food products are not adulterated. 

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 ‘‘Processed Food Safety 

5 Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. POULTRY SAFETY. 

2 (a) DEFINITION OF MISBRANDED.—Section 4(h) of 

3 the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453(h)) 

4 is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (5)— 

6 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(5)’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘showing (A) the name’’ 

8 and inserting the following: ‘‘showing— 

9 ‘‘(i) the name’’; 

10 (C) by striking ‘‘distributor; and (B) an 

11 accurate’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘dis12 tributor; 

13 ‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (B), an accu14 rate’’; and 

15 (D) by striking ‘‘count: Provided, That 

16 under clause (B) of this subparagraph (5), rea17 sonable’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘count; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(iii) an accurate description of each cut of 

20 poultry or poultry product contained in the 

21 package or other container; and 

22 ‘‘(B) except that under subparagraph (A)(ii), 

23 reasonable’’; 

24 (2) in paragraph (7)(B), by striking ‘‘(other 

25 than spices, flavoring, and coloring)’’; and 


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1 (3) in paragraph (9)(B), by striking ‘‘; except 

2 that spices, flavorings, and colorings may, when au3 thorized by the Secretary, be designated as spices, 

4 flavorings, and colorings without naming each’’. 

5 (b) PROHIBITED ACTS.—Section 9 of the Poultry 

6 Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 458) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

8 the end and adding ‘‘or’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(6) sell, transport, offer for sale or transpor11 tation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, 

12 any poultry or poultry product that is capable of use 

13 as human food, unless the person (including any 

14 slaughterer, poultry products broker, renderer, proc15 essor, reprocessor, retail food store, or official estab16 lishment) affirmatively certifies to the Secretary 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(A) each ingredient in the poultry or 

19 poultry product that was added, modified, or 

20 otherwise handled by the person has undergone 

21 a pathogen reduction treatment in accordance 

22 with requirements of the Secretary that will re23 duce the presence of pathogens of public health 

24 concern and other harmful food borne contami25 nants; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) the person has tested and certified 

2 that each ingredient in the poultry or poultry 

3 product that was added, modified, or otherwise 

4 handled by the person contains no verifiable 

5 traces of pathogens.’’. 

6 (c) PHASE-IN PERIOD.—Paragraph (6) of section 9 

7 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (as added by sub8 section (b)(2)) shall not apply until the date that is 18 

9 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 3. MEAT SAFETY. 

11 (a) DEFINITION OF MISBRANDED.—Section 1(n) of 

12 the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601(n)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (5)— 

15 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(5)’’; 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘showing (A) the name’’ 

17 and inserting the following: ‘‘showing— 

18 ‘‘(i) the name’’; 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘distributor; and (B) an 

20 accurate’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘dis21 tributor; 

22 ‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (B), an accu23 rate’’; and 

24 (D) by striking ‘‘count: Provided, That 

25 under clause (B) of this subparagraph (5), reaVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:06 Nov 30, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2819.IS S2819

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1 sonable’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘count; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(iii) an accurate description of each cut of 

4 meat or meat food product contained in the 

5 package or other container; and 

6 ‘‘(B) except that under subparagraph (A)(ii), 

7 reasonable’’; 

8 (2) in paragraph (7)(B), by striking ‘‘(other 

9 than spices, flavoring, and coloring)’’; and 

10 (3) in paragraph (9)(B), by striking ‘‘; except 

11 that spices, flavorings, and colorings may, when au12 thorized by the Secretary, be designated as spices, 

13 flavorings, and colorings without naming each’’. 

14 (b) PROHIBITED ACTS.—Section 10 of the Federal 

15 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 610) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 10. No person’’ and in17 serting the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 10. PROHIBITED ACTS. 

19 ‘‘No person’’; 

20 (2) in subsection (c)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘in commerce (1) any’’ and 

22 inserting the following: ‘‘in commerce— 

23 ‘‘(A) any’’; 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘which (A) are capable of 

2 use as human food and (B) are’’ and inserting 

3 the following: ‘‘that— 

4 ‘‘(i) are capable of use as human food; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(ii) are’’; and 

7 (C) by striking ‘‘(2) any’’ and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(B) any’’; 

10 (3) by redesignating subsections (a) through (d) 

11 as paragraphs (1) through (4), respectively, and in12 denting appropriately; 

13 (4) in paragraph (4) (as so redesignated), by 

14 striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

15 and 

16 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(5) sell, transport, offer for sale or transpor18 tation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, 

19 any meat or meat food product that is capable of 

20 use as human food, unless the person, firm, or cor21 poration (including any slaughterer, meat broker, 

22 renderer, processor, reprocessor, retail food store, or 

23 official establishment) affirmatively certifies to the 

24 Secretary that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) each ingredient in the meat or meat 

2 food product that was added, modified, or oth3 erwise handled by the person, firm, or corpora4 tion has undergone a pathogen reduction treat5 ment in accordance with requirements of the 

6 Secretary that will reduce the presence of 

7 pathogens of public health concern and other 

8 harmful food borne contaminants; or 

9 ‘‘(B) the person, firm, or corporation has 

10 tested and certified that each ingredient in the 

11 meat or meat food product that was added, 

12 modified, or otherwise handled by the person, 

13 firm, or corporation contains no verifiable 

14 traces of pathogens.’’. 

15 (c) PHASE-IN PERIOD.—Paragraph (5) of section 10 

16 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (as added by sub17 section (b)(5)) shall not apply until the date that is 18 

18 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 4. FOOD SAFETY. 

20 (a) PATHOGEN REDUCTION TREATMENT.—Chapter 

21 IV of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 

22 U.S.C. 351 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 418. PATHOGEN REDUCTION TREATMENT. 

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

3 regulations requiring each facility registered under section 

4 415 to apply pathogen reduction treatments to each food, 

5 as the Secretary determines appropriate, that such facility 

6 manufactures, processes, packages, or holds for consump7 tion in the United States. 

8 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall promul9 gate regulations requiring each facility described in sub10 section (a) to certify to the Secretary that— 

11 ‘‘(1) each food manufactured, processed, pack12 aged, or held (including each ingredient of such food 

13 that is added, modified, or otherwise handled) by 

14 such facility contains no verifiable traces of patho15 gens; or 

16 ‘‘(2) each food leaving such facility has received 

17 pathogen reduction treatments, as required by the 

18 regulations promulgated under such subsection.’’. 

19 (b) PHASE-IN PERIOD.—The requirements under 

20 section 418(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 

21 Act (as added by subsection (a)) shall not apply until the 

22 date that is 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

23 Act. 

24 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 402 of the 

25 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 342) 

26 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(j) If the facility has not provided a certification re2 quired under section 418.’’. 

3 (d) LABELING WITH RESPECT TO SPICES, FLA4 VORING, AND COLORING.—Section 403 of the Federal 

5 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in paragraph (g), by striking ‘‘(other than 

8 spices,’’ and inserting ‘‘(including spices,’’; 

9 (2) in paragraph (i), by striking ‘‘; except that 

10 spices, flavorings, and colors not required to be cer11 tified under section 721(c) unless sold as spices, 

12 flavorings, or such colors, may be designated as 

13 spices, flavorings, and colorings without naming 

14 each’’; 

15 (3) in paragraph (k), by striking ‘‘The provi16 sions of this paragraph and paragraphs (g) and (i) 

17 with respect to artificial coloring shall not apply in 

18 the case of butter, cheese, or ice cream.’’; and 

19 (4) in paragraph (x), by striking ‘‘Notwith20 standing subsection (g), (i), or (k), or any other law, 

21 a’’ and inserting ‘‘A’’. 

Æ 


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