IIB 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4167 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 9, 2006 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
provide for uniform food safety warning notification re-
quirements, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Uniformity 
for Food Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL UNIFORMITY FOR FOOD. 
(a) NATIONAL UNIFORMITY.—Section 403A of the 
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343– 
1) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in subsection (a)(5), by striking the period 
and inserting ‘‘, or’’; 
(3) in subsection (a), by inserting after para-
graph (5) the following: 
‘‘(6) any requirement for a food described in 
section 402(a)(1), 402(a)(2), 402(a)(6), 402(a)(7), 
402(c), 404, 406, 409, 512, or 721(a), that is not 
identical to the requirement of such section.’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c)(1) For purposes of subsection (a)(6) and section 
403B, the term ‘identical’ means that the language under 
the laws of a State or a political subdivision of a State 
is substantially the same language as the comparable pro-
vision under this Act and that any differences in language 
do not result in the imposition of materially different re-
quirements. For purposes of subsection (a)(6), the term 
‘any requirement for a food’ does not refer to provisions 
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of this Act that relate to procedures for Federal action 
under this Act. 
‘‘(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(6), a State or 
political subdivision of a State may enforce a State law 
that contains a requirement that is identical to a require-
ment in a section of Federal law referred to in subsection 
(a)(6) if— 
‘‘(A) the Secretary has promulgated a regula-
tion or adopted a final guidance relating to the re-
quirement and the State applies the State require-
ment in a manner that conforms to the regulation 
or guidance; or 
‘‘(B) the Secretary has not promulgated a regu-
lation or adopted a final guidance relating to the re-
quirement, except that if the Secretary has consid-
ered a proposal for a regulation or final guidance re-
lating to the requirement and has, after soliciting 
public comment, made a determination not to pro-
mulgate such regulation or adopt such guidance, 
which determination is published in the Federal 
Register, the State may not enforce any require-
ments in State law that are policies rejected by the 
Secretary through such determination.’’. 
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(b) UNIFORMITY IN FOOD SAFETY WARNING NOTI-
FICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Chapter IV of such Act (21 
U.S.C. 341 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating sections 403B and 403C 
as sections 403C and 403D, respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after section 403A the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 403B. UNIFORMITY IN FOOD SAFETY WARNING NOTI-
FICATION REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) UNIFORMITY REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-
sections (c) and (d), no State or political subdivision 
of a State may, directly or indirectly, establish or 
continue in effect under any authority any notifica-
tion requirement for a food that provides for a warn-
ing concerning the safety of the food, or any compo-
nent or package of the food, unless such a notifica-
tion requirement has been prescribed under the au-
thority of this Act and the State or political subdivi-
sion notification requirement is identical to the noti-
fication requirement prescribed under the authority 
of this Act. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of paragraph 
(1)— 
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‘‘(A) the term ‘notification requirement’ in-
cludes any mandatory disclosure requirement 
relating to the dissemination of information 
about a food by a manufacturer or distributor 
of a food in any manner, such as through a 
label, labeling, poster, public notice, advertising, 
or any other means of communication, except 
as provided in paragraph (3); 
‘‘(B) the term ‘warning’, used with respect 
to a food, means any statement, vignette, or 
other representation that indicates, directly or 
by implication, that the food presents or may 
present a hazard to health or safety; and 
‘‘(C) a reference to a notification require-
ment that provides for a warning shall not be 
construed to refer to any requirement or prohi-
bition relating to food safety that does not in-
volve a notification requirement. 
‘‘(3) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to prohibit a State from con-
ducting the State’s notification, disclosure, or other 
dissemination of information, or to prohibit any ac-
tion taken relating to a mandatory recall, civil ad-
ministrative order, embargo, detention order, or 
court proceeding involving food adulteration under a 
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State statutory requirement identical to a food adul-
teration requirement under this Act. 
‘‘(b) REVIEW
OF
EXISTING
STATE
REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(1) EXISTING STATE REQUIREMENTS; DEFER-
RAL.—Any requirement that— 
‘‘(A)(i) is a State notification requirement 
that expressly applies to a specified food or food 
component and that provides for a warning de-
scribed in subsection (a) that does not meet the 
uniformity requirement specified in subsection 
(a); or 
‘‘(ii) is a State food safety requirement de-
scribed in section 403A(6) that does not meet 
the uniformity requirement specified in that 
paragraph; and 
‘‘(B) is in effect on the date of enactment 
of the National Uniformity for Food Act of 
2005, shall remain in effect for 180 days after 
that date of enactment. 
‘‘(2) STATE
PETITIONS.—With respect to a 
State notification or food safety requirement that is 
described in paragraph (1), the State may petition 
the Secretary for an exemption or a national stand-
ard under subsection (c). If a State submits such a 
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