I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4881 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that con-
sumers can make informed decisions in choosing between meat products 
such as beef and imitation meat products, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 28, 2019 
Mr. MARSHALL (for himself and Mr. BRINDISI) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 
addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
ensure that consumers can make informed decisions in 
choosing between meat products such as beef and imita-
tion meat products, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Real Marketing Edible 
Artificials Truthfully Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Real MEAT 
Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Traditionally, food standards of identity and 
composition have provided a framework for identi-
fying products and helping to ensure these products 
meet consumer expectations regarding composition 
and characteristics, as well as safety. 
(2) The legislative intent of standards of iden-
tity is to ensure product integrity and prevent eco-
nomic adulteration. Both consumers and industry 
have relied on the current system of standards since 
the enactment in 1938 of the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘FFDCA’’) (52 Stat. 1040). 
(3) The Federal Meat Inspection Act (in this 
section referred to as the ‘‘FMIA’’) grants the De-
partment of Agriculture (in this section referred to 
as the ‘‘USDA’’) sole regulatory authority over all 
meat and meat food products. 
(4) Section 1002 of the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 392) limits the regu-
latory authority of the Food and Drug Administra-
tion (in this section referred to as the ‘‘FDA’’) to 
all meat and meat food products not otherwise regu-
lated by the USDA under the Federal Meat Inspec-
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tion Act, Poultry Products Inspection Act, or the 
Egg Products Inspection Act. 
(5) Both USDA and FDA are responsible for 
enforcing a universal standard that labels are truth-
ful and not misleading. 
(6) Several applicable terms are defined in law 
or regulation including— 
(A) the term ‘‘meat food product’’ defined 
in section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 
(21 U.S.C. 601); 
(B) the terms ‘‘meat’’, ‘‘meat broker’’, and 
‘‘meat byproduct’’ defined in section 301.2 of 
17 title 9, Code of Federal Regulations; 
(C) the term ‘‘beef’’ defined as the flesh of 
cattle in section 3 of the Beef Research and In-
formation Act (7 U.S.C. 2902); and 
(D) the term ‘‘beef products’’ defined as 
edible products produced in whole or in part 
from beef, exclusive of milk and milk products 
produced therefrom, in such section 3 (7 U.S.C. 
2902). 
(7) The definitions of ‘‘beef’’ and ‘‘beef prod-
ucts’’ were established under the Beef Research and 
Information Act for the purpose of strengthening 
the beef industry’s position in the marketplace and 
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to maintain and expand domestic and foreign mar-
kets and uses for beef and beef products only. 
(8) The lack of any Federal definition of ‘‘beef’’ 
or ‘‘beef products’’ for the purposes of meat food 
product labeling has led some to begin marketing 
imitation products as meat or beef, creating the op-
portunity for marketplace confusion and consumer 
fraud that Congress originally charged the various 
Federal food regulatory agencies with the duty to 
prevent. 
(9) Imitation products labeled as beef or as beef 
products create confusion in the marketplace. These 
products are in direct violation of the ‘‘Congressional 
Findings and Declaration of Policy’’ authorized 
under section 2 of the Beef Research and Informa-
tion Act (7 U.S.C. 2901) and undermine the integ-
rity of that Act. 
SEC. 3. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amend-
ed by inserting after section 403C of such Act (21 U.S.C. 
343–3) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 403D. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provision of 
section 403(c), any imitation meat food product, beef, or 
beef product shall be deemed to be misbranded unless its 
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label bears, in type of uniform size and prominence, the 
word ‘imitation’ immediately before or after the name of 
the food and a statement that clearly indicates the product 
is not derived from or does not contain meat. 
‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH SECRETARY
OF AGRI-
CULTURE.— 
‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION OF MISBRANDING.—If the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services finds that 
food is misbranded under subsection (a), the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services shall within 
60 days of such finding transmit a notice of such 
finding to the Secretary of Agriculture. 
‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT
FAILURE.—If the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services fails, within 
30 days of transmitting a notice under paragraph 
(1), to initiate an enforcement action, the Secretary 
of Agriculture may treat each such finding of mis-
branding under subsection (a) of this Act as a find-
ing of misbranding under section 1(n) of the Federal 
Meat Inspection Act. 
‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall 
not be construed as limiting the authority of the Secretary 
of Agriculture to take enforcement or other action under 
the Federal Meat Inspection Act or other applicable law. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section: 
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‘‘(1) The term ‘beef’ or ‘beef product’ means 
any product containing edible meat tissue harvested 
in whole form from domesticated Bos indicus or Bos 
taurus cattle. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘imitation meat food product’ is 
any product manufactured to appear as a meat food 
product or any food product which approximates the 
aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and ap-
pearance) and/or chemical characteristics of specific 
types of meat but does not contain any meat, meat 
food product, or meat byproduct ingredients. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘meat’ means meat as such term 
is used in the Federal Meat Inspection Act. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘meat food product’ has the 
meaning given to that term in section 1 of the Fed-
eral Meat Inspection Act.’’. 
Æ 
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