Title: Real MEAT Act of 2019
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Real Marketing Edible Artificials Truthfully Act of 2019 or the Real MEAT Act of 2019
This bill prohibits the sale of any imitation meat food product unless its label includes (1) the word imitation, and (2) a statement that clearly indicates the product is not derived from or does not contain meat.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3016 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3016

   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 imitation meat products, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 11, 2019

 Mrs. Fischer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 imitation meat products, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

SEC. 2. LABELING OF IMITATION MEAT PRODUCTS.

    The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amended 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 section 101.3(e) of title 21, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations), without 
respect to the relative nutritional value of the food, any imitation 
meat food product, imitation beef, or imitation beef product shall be 
deemed to be misbranded unless its 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 Agriculture.--
            ``(1) Notification of misbranding.--If the Secretary 
        determines that food is misbranded under subsection (a), the 
        Secretary shall, within 60 days of such determination, transmit 
        a notice of such determination to the Secretary of Agriculture.
            ``(2) Enforcement failure.--If the Secretary fails, within 
        30 days of transmitting a notice under paragraph (1), to 
        initiate an enforcement action with respect to the food that is 
        the subject of such notice, the Secretary of Agriculture may 
        treat each such determination of misbranding under subsection 
        (a) with respect to the food as a determination 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 with respect to a food subject to subsection (a).
    ``(d) Definition.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `beef' or `beef product' means any food 
        containing edible meat tissue from domesticated Bos indicus or 
        Bos taurus cattle.
            ``(2) The term `imitation beef' means any food manufactured 
        to appear as beef or any food that approximates the aesthetic 
        qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and appearance) or the 
        chemical characteristics of specific types of beef but does not 
        contain any meat, meat food product, or meat byproduct 
        ingredients.
            ``(3) The term `imitation beef product' means any food 
        manufactured to appear as a beef product or any food that 
        approximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, 
        flavor, and appearance) or the chemical characteristics of 
        specific types of beef products but does not contain any meat, 
        meat food product, or meat byproduct ingredients.
            ``(4) The term `imitation meat food product' means any food 
        manufactured to appear as a meat food product or any food that 
        approximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, 
        flavor, and appearance) or chemical characteristics of specific 
        types of meat but does not contain any meat, meat food product, 
        or meat byproduct ingredients.
            ``(5) The term `meat' is within the meaning of the Federal 
        Meat Inspection Act.
            ``(6) The term `meat byproduct' is within the meaning of 
        the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
            ``(7) The term `meat food product' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.''.
                                 <all>