I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5081 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit retailers from 
designating the United States as the country of origin of foreign beef, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2023 
Ms. HAGEMAN (for herself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WILLIAMS of New York, Mrs. 
BOEBERT, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit 
retailers from designating the United States as the coun-
try of origin of foreign beef, 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 ‘‘Country of Origin La-
beling Enforcement Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 281 of the Agricultural 
Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638) is amended— 
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(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 
(7) as paragraphs (2) through (8), respectively; 
(2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so re-
designated) the following: 
‘‘(1) BEEF.—The term ‘beef’ means meat pro-
duced from cattle (including veal).’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2)(A)(i) (as so redesignated), 
by striking ‘‘lamb and venison’’ and inserting ‘‘beef, 
lamb, and venison’’; and 
(4) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) (as so redesignated), 
by striking ‘‘ground lamb and ground venison’’ and 
inserting ‘‘ground beef, ground lamb, and ground 
venison’’. 
(b) NOTICE
OF
COUNTRY
OF
ORIGIN.—Section 
282(a) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 
U.S.C. 1638a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(5) DESIGNATION
OF
COUNTRY
OF
ORIGIN 
FOR BEEF.—A retailer of a covered commodity that 
is beef may designate the covered commodity as ex-
clusively having a United States country of origin 
only if the covered commodity is derived from an 
animal that was exclusively born, raised, slaugh-
tered, and packaged in the United States.’’. 
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(c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 283(b) of the Agricul-
tural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638b(b)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘$1,000 for each violation’’ and in-
serting ‘‘$1,000 for each violation (or in the case of a cov-
ered commodity that is beef, $5,000 for each pound of 
beef not in compliance with the requirements of section 
282)’’. 
(d) RULE
OF CONSTRUCTION.—No ruling by the 
World Trade Organization or by any other international 
organization of which the United States is a member that 
is established before, on, or after the date of enactment 
of this Act may be construed to limit, alter, or affect the 
authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to require coun-
try of origin labeling in accordance with the amendments 
made by this section. 
SEC. 3. REPORT ON FALSE LABELING OF FOREIGN BEEF AS 
ORIGINATING IN THE UNITED STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall submit to Congress a report on the false labeling of 
foreign beef as originating in the United States. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The report referred to in subsection 
(a) shall include the following: 
(1) An assessment of how much beef was sold 
in the United States during the 10-year period be-
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ginning on January 1, 2013, that was falsely labeled 
as having a country of origin of the United States. 
(2) With respect to the 10-year period begin-
ning on January 1, 2013, an assessment of— 
(A) which packers falsely labeled beef as 
originating in the United States; and 
(B) in the case of beef so falsely labeled, 
the correct country of origin. 
(3) An assessment of the extent of economic 
losses sustained by United States ranchers during 
the 10-year period beginning on January 1, 2013, 
because consumers unknowingly purchased beef with 
a foreign country of origin under the assumption 
that such beef originated in the United States. 
(c) FALSE LABELING DEFINED.—In this section, the 
terms ‘‘false labeling’’ and ‘‘falsely labeled’’ mean, with 
respect to the labeling of beef, labeling such beef as exclu-
sively having a United States country of origin in a man-
ner that does not meet the criteria specified in paragraph 
(5) of section 282(a) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 
of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)) (as added by section 2(b) 
of this Act). 
Æ 
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