The Meat Inspection Act now provides for ante-mortem and postmortem inspection of meat and meat food products moving in interstate commerce to assure the wholesomeness of those articles. The bills before the subcommittee would further protect our meat supply by

(1) Making provision for inspection of meat and meat food products moving entirely within a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory;

(2) Authorizing regulation to prevent adulteration or misbranding during storage or handling after the product leaves the plant; and

(3) Requiring clear identification of animal products not intended for human food, and authorizing regulation of persons dealing in dead, dying, disabled, or diseased animals or their products to prevent those items from entering the food supply. The bills also provide for regulation, recordkeeping, seizure, and condemnation, and other new enforcement tools; strengthen and clarify the act; and limit exceptions under it.

The major difference between the bills before the subcommittee is in their treatment of intrastate commerce. S. 2147 and H.R. 12144 provide for assistance to State inspection programs, including financial assistance up to 50 percent of the cost of the program while S. 2218 extends Federal inspection to intrastate commerce, except in States where there is adequate State inspection.

There will be inserted in the record at this point copies of the three bills, a letter from the Department of Agriculture transmitting a draft bill identical to S. 2147, and a committee staff explanation of the three bills.

(The documents above referred to follow :)

[S. 2147, 90th Cong., first sess.]

A BILL To clarify and otherwise amend the Meat Inspection Act, to provide for cooperation with appropriate State agencies with respect to State meat inspection programs, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the Wholesome Meat Act and that the provisions appearing under the subheading "FOR MEAT INSPECTION:" under the heading "BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY" in the Act approved March 4, 1907, entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight" (34 Stat. 1260-1265, as amended; 21 U.S.C. 71-91), are hereby designated as the "Federal Meat Inspection Act"; the first twenty paragraphs thereof are hereby designated, respectively, as sections 3 through 22, and the twentyfirst and twenty-second paragraphs thereof as section 23; and said sections 3 through 23 are hereby designated as "TITLE I-INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS; ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING".

SEC. 2. The Federal Meat Inspection Act is hereby amended by adding, in title I, new sections 1 and 2 reading, respectively, as follows:

"SECTION 1. As used in this Act, except as otherwise specified, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below:

"(a) The term 'Secretary' means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States or his delegatee.

"(b) The term 'firm' means any partnership, association or other unincorporated business organization.

"(c) The term 'meat broker' means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of buying or selling carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat, or meat food products of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equine on commission, or otherwise negotiating purchases or sales of such articles other than for his own account or as an employee of another person, firm, or corporation.

"(d) The term 'renderer' means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of rendering carcasses, or parts or products of the carcasses, of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines, except rendering conducted under inspection or exemption under title I of this Act.

"(e) The term ‘animal food manufacturer' means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing or processing animal food derived wholly or in part from carcasses, or parts or products of the carcasses, of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines.

"(f) The term 'State' means any State of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

"(g) The term 'territory' means Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, and any other territory or possession of the United States, excluding the Canal Zone.

"(h) The term 'commerce' means commerce between any State, any territory, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or within any territory not organized with a legislative body, or the District of Columbia.

"(i) The term 'United States' means the States, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States.

"(j) The term 'meat food product' means any product capable of use as human food which is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, excepting products which contain meat or other portions of such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry, and which are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to effectuate the purposes of this Act. This term as applied to food products of equines shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this paragraph with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats.

"(k) The term 'capable of use as human food' shall apply to any carcass, or part or product of a carcass, of any animal, unless it is denatured or otherwise identified as required by regulations prescribed by the Secretary to deter its use as human food, or it is naturally inedible by humans.

"(1) The term 'prepared' means slaughtered, canned, salted, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed.

"(m) The term 'adulterated' shall apply to any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product under one or more of the following circumstances:

"(1) if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;

“(2) (A) if it bears or contains (by reason of administration of any substance to the live animal or otherwise) any added poisonous or added deleterious substance (other than one which is (i) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of the Secretary, make such article unfit for human food;

"(B) if it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical which is unsafe within the meaning of section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,

"(C) if it bears or contains any food additive which is unsafe within the meaning of section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,

"(D) if it bears or contains any color additive which is unsafe within the meaning of section 706 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: Provided, That an article which is not adulterated under clause (B), (C), or (D) shall nevertheless be deemed adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive in or on such article is prohibited by regulations of the Secretary in establishments at which inspection is maintained under title I of this Act:

"(3) if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food;

"(4) if it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health;

“(5) if it is, in whole or in part, the product of an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter;

"(6) if its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health; "(7) if it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption in effect pursuant to section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

"(8) if any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is; or

"(9) If it is margarine containing animal fat and any of the raw material used therein consisted in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance.

"(n) The term 'misbranded' shall apply to any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product under one or more of the following circumstances:

"(1) if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular;

"(2) if it is offered for sale under the name of another food;

"(3) if it is an imitation of another food, unless its label bears, in type of uniform size and prominence, the word 'imitation' and immediately thereafter, the name of the food imitated;

"(4) if its container is so made, formed, or filled as to be misleading; "(5) if in a package or other container it bears a label showing (A) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and (B) an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight measure, or numerical count: Provided, That under clause (B) of this subparagraph (5), reasonable variations may be permitted, and exemptions as to small packages may be established, by regulations prescribed by the Secretary;

"(6) if any word, statement, or other information required by or under authority of this Act to appear on the label of other labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness (as compared with other words, statements, designs, or devices, in the labeling) and in such terms as to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use;

"(7) if it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a definition and standard of identity or composition has been prescribed by regulations of the Secretary under section 7 of this Act unless (A) it conforms to such definition and standard, and (B) its label bears the name of the food specified in the definition and standard and, insofar as may be required by such regulations, the common names of optional ingredients (other than spices, flavoring, and coloring) present in such food;

"(8) if it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a standard or standards of fill of container have been prescribed by regulations of the Secretary under section 7 of this Act, and it falls below the standard of fill of container applicable thereto, unless its label bears, in such manner and form as such regulations specify, a statement that it falls below such standard;

"(9) if it is not subject to the provisions of subparagraph (7), unless its label bears (A) the common or usual name of the food, if any there be, and (B) in case it is fabricated from two or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each such ingredient; except that spices, flavorings, and colorings may, when authorized by the Secretary, be designated as spices, flavorings, and colorings without naming each: Provided, That, to the extent that compliance with the requirements of clause (B) of this subparagraph (9) is impracticable, or results in deception or unfair competition, exemptions shall be established by regulations promulgated by the Secretary;

"(10) If it purports to be or is represented for special dietary uses, unless its label bears such information concerning its vitamin, mineral, and other dietary properties as the Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, determines to be, and by regulations prescribes as, necessary in order fully to inform purchasers as to its value for such uses;

"(11) If it bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical preservative, unless it bears labeling stating that fact: Provided, That, to the extent that compliance with the requirements of this subparagraph (11) is impracticable, exemptions shall be established by regulations promulgated by the Secretary; or

"(12) If it fails to bear, directly thereon or on its container, as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe, the inspection legend and, unrestricted by any of the foregoing, such other information as the Secretary may require in such regulations to effectuate the purposes of this Act. "(o) The term 'label' means a display or written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container (not including package liners) of any article. "(p) The term 'labeling' means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter (1) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or (2) accompanying such article,

"(q) The term 'Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act' means the Act so enacted, approved June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 1040), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.

"(r) The terms 'pesticide chemical,' 'food additive', 'color additive', and 'raw agricultural commodity' shall have the same meanings for purposes of this Act as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

"(s) The term 'official mark' means the official inspection legend or any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the Secretary to identify the status of any article or animal under this Act.

"(t) The term 'official inspection legend' means any symbol prescribed by regulations of the Secretary showing that an article was inspected and passed in accordance with this Act.

"(u) The term 'official certificate' means any certificate prescribed by regulations of the Secretary for issuance by an inspector or other person performing official functions under this Act.

"SEC. 2. Meat and meat food products are an important source of the Nation's total supply of food. They are consumed throughout the Nation and the major portion thereof moves in interstate or foreign commerce. It is essential in the public interest that the health and welfare of consumers be protected by assuring that meat and meat food products distributed to them are wholesome, not adulterated, and properly marked, labeled, and packaged. Unwholesome, adulterated, or misbranded meat or meat food products impair the effective regulation of meat and meat food products in interstate or foreign commerce, are injurious to the public welfare, destroy markets for wholesome, not adulterated, and properly labeled and packaged meat and meat food products, and result in sundry losses to livestock producers and processors of meat and meat food products, as well as injury to consumers. The unwholesome, adulterated, mislabeled, or deceptively packaged articles can be sold at lower prices and compete unfairly with the wholesome, not adulterated, and properly labeled and packaged articles, to the detriment of consumers and the public generally. It is hereby found that all articles and animals which are regulated under this Act are either in interstate or foreign commerce or substantially affect such commerce, and that regulation by the Secretary and cooperation by the States and other jurisdictions as contemplated by this Act are appropriate to prevent and eliminate burdens upon such commerce, to effectively regulate such commerce, and to protect the health and welfare of consumers."

SEC. 3. Said Act is hereby further amended by

(a) deleting the phrase "interstate or foreign" wherever it appears in title I of said Act; and

(b) deleting in section 3 of said Act (21 U.S.C. 71) the phrase "the Secretary of Agriculture, at his discretion, may" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "the Secretary shall" and deleting the words "of Agriculture" wherever they appear after the word "Secretary" thereafter in title I of the Act.

SEC. 4. Section 4 of said Act (21 U.S.C. 72) is hereby amended by deleting the phrases "for human consumption" and "for transportation or sale", and by inserting after the word "commerce" the phrase "which are capable of use as human food".

SEC. 5. Section 5 of said Act (21 U.S.C. 73) is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "The Secretary may limit the entry of carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products, and other materials into any

establishment at which inspection under this title is maintained, under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that allowing the entry of such articles into such inspected establishments will be consistent with the purposes of this Act."

SEC. 6. Section 7 of said Act (21 U.S.C. 75) is hereby amended by

(a) deleting the provisions thereof reading as follows: ", and no such meat or meat food products shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation in interstate or foreign commerce under any false or deceptive name; but established trade name or names which are usual to such products and which are not false and deceptive and which shall be approved by the Secretary are permitted";

(b) designating the remaining provisions as paragraph (a); and

(c) adding at the end of said section the following provisions as paragraphs (b) through (e), respectively:

"(b) All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this title and found to be not adulterated, shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers, as the Secretary may require, the information required under paragraph (n) of section 1 of this Act.

"(c) The Secretary, whenever he determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe: (1) the styles and sizes of type to be used in marking and labeling any articles or animals subject to this title or title II of this Act; and (2) definitions and standards of identity or composition for articles subject to this title and standards of fill of container for such articles not inconsistent with any such standards established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and there shall be consultation between the Secretary and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare prior to the issuance of such standards under either Act relating to articles subject to this Act to avoid inconsistency in such standards and possible impairment of the coordinated effective administration of these Acts. There shall also be consultation between the Secretary and an appropriate advisory committee provided for in section 301 of this Act, prior to the issuance of such standards under this Act, to avoid, insofar as feasible, inconsistency between Federal and State standards.

"(d) No article subject to this title shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation, in commerce, under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the Secretary are permitted.

"(e) If the Secretary has reason to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any article subject to this title is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the Secretary, such person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the Secretary so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Secretary. Any such determination by the Secretary shall be conclusive unless, within thirty days after receipt of notice of such final determination, the person, firm. or corporation adversely affected thereby appeals to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which such person, firm, or corporation has its principal place of business or to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The provisions of section 204 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (42 Stat. 162, as amended: 7 U.S.C. 194), shall be applicable to appeals taken under this section."

SEC. 7. Section 10 of said Act (21 U.S.C. 78) is hereby amended to read: "SEC. 10. No person, firm, or corporation shall, with respect to any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines, or any carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or meat food products of any such animals—

"(a) slaughter any such animals or prepare any such articles which are capable of use as human food, at any establishment preparing any such