ByRepresentatives Dent, Blake, McCaslin, Callan, Eslick, Springer, Griffey, Boehnke, Maycumber, Dye, Chandler, Kretz, and Schmick

AN ACT Relating to misbranding of meat and poultry products; amending RCW 15.130.110; and adding a new section to chapter 15.130 RCW.

(1) "Advertisement" means all representations, other than by labeling, that directly or indirectly induce, or are likely to induce, the purchase of food.

(4) "Direct seller" means an entity that: (a) Receives prepackaged food from a food processor licensed or inspected, or both, by a state or federal regulatory agency or the department; (b) delivers the food directly to consumers who placed and paid for an order on the entity's web site; (c) delivers food without opening the packaging and without dividing it into smaller packages; (d) provides no interim storage; and (e) delivers the food by means of vehicles equipped with either refrigeration or freezer units, or both. A direct seller is not a "carrier" under this chapter.

(5) "Food" means the same as "food" in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 321 and includes any article used for food or drink by humans or other animals.

(7) "Food facility" means any part of an operation, factory, establishment, or vehicle engaged in the sale, processing, storage, transport, or holding of food in intrastate commerce. A food facility includes, but is not limited to, grounds, premises, buildings, room, area, facilities, vehicles, appurtenances, and equipment.

(8) "Fish" means fresh or saltwater finfish and other forms of aquatic animal life intended for human consumption other than mollusks, birds, and mammals.

(9) "Intrastate commerce" means all commerce, including but not limited to the operation of any business or service establishment; and the manufacturing or processing of articles intended for sale, held for sale, sold, stored, transported, handled, or distributed in Washington state.

(11) "Perishable packaged food" means all food intended for human consumption that is canned, bottled, or packaged at a time other than at the point of retail sale, has a risk of spoilage within thirty days, and is determined by the department in rule to be perishable. The term does not include raw agricultural commodities, alcoholic beverages, frozen foods, fresh meat, fresh poultry, fresh fish, and fresh shellfish.

(12) "Pesticide chemical" means any substance defined as a pesticide in chapter 15.58 RCW or recognized as a pesticide chemical under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 346.

(13) "Process," "processing" means manufacturing, processing, packing, canning, bottling, or any other production, preparation, or putting up.

(16) "Sale," "sell," "selling" means all parts of transactions concerning food including, but not limited to, advertising, offering, acceptance, dispensing, giving, delivering, serving, bartering, trading, or other supplying, holding for sale, and preparing for sale.

(17) "Shelf life" means the length of time a perishable packaged food retains its safe consumption quality if stored under proper temperature conditions.

(20) "Identifiable meat term" includes, but is not limited to, terms such as meat, beef, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, lamb, goat, jerky, steak, hamburger, burger, ribs, roast, bacon, bratwurst, hot dog, ham, sausage, tenderloin, wings, breast, and other terms for food that contain any meat, meat food product, poultry product, or poultry food product.

(22) "Poultry product" and "poultry food product" have the same meaning as provided in 9 C.F.R. Sec. 381.1 (January 1, 2020).

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 15.130 RCW under the subchapter heading "special quality or labeling requirements" to read as follows:

(1) A food is considered misbranded under RCW 15.130.210 if it is a meat analogue and (a) its labeling or advertisement utilizes an identifiable meat term; and (b) the labeling or advertisement does not have a disclaimer in the same font, style, and size immediately before or after the identifiable meat term, stating "this product does not contain meat."

(2) A food labeled as "imitation" in compliance with 21 C.F.R. Sec. 101.3(e) (2019) is not subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.