To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to extend the country of origin labeling requirements of such Act to additional agricultural commodities, to provide for the implementation of such requirements to certain covered commodities, and for other purposes.

May 22, 2003

Mr. THORNBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to extend the country of origin labeling requirements of such Act to additional agricultural commodities, to provide for the implementation of such requirements to certain covered commodities, 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 `Farm Commodity Fair Labeling Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL COVERED COMMODITIES FOR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING.

(a) INCLUSION OF POULTRY AND GOATS- Section 281 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (2)(A)--

(A) by redesignating clauses (iii), (iv), (v), and (vi) as clauses (v), (vi), (vii), and (viii), respectively; and

(B) by inserting after clause (ii) the following new clauses:

`(iii) poultry products;

`(iv) muscle cuts and ground meat produced from goats.';

(2) by redesignating paragraphs (8) and (9) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (7) the following new paragraph:

`(8) POULTRY PRODUCT- The term `poultry product' means the carcass of a chicken or turkey, or any part thereof, or a product that is made wholly or in part from the carcass of a chicken or turkey, or any part thereof.'.

(b) DESIGNATION OF UNITED STATES AS COUNTRY OF ORIGIN- Section 282(a)(2)(B) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)(2)(B)) is amended by striking `and pork' and inserting `, pork, goats, and poultry products'.

(c) APPLICABILITY- Subtitle D of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by subsection (a), shall apply to the retail sale of covered commodities produced from goats, chickens, or turkeys beginning on the later of the following:

(1) September 30, 2004.

(2) 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING REQUIREMENTS TO COVERED COMMODITIES DERIVED FROM ANIMALS.

Section 285 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638d) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `However, section 282(a)(1) does not apply to the retailer of a covered commodity that is derived in whole or in part from an animal born before October 1, 2004, or likely born before that date, but whose birthdate is not readily verifiable.'.

END