H-3484.1

HOUSE BILL 2712

ByRepresentatives Kretz, Riccelli, Maycumber, Lekanoff, Mosbrucker, Chopp, Walsh, Chapman, Harris, Blake, Dent, Pettigrew, Rude, Springer, Steele, Appleton, Caldier, Fitzgibbon, Leavitt, Eslick, Volz, Van Werven, Shea, Cody, Tharinger, Robinson, Young, and Ormsby

AN ACT Relating to requiring retailers to indicate the country of origin on beef sold to the public; and adding a new section to chapter 15.04 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 15.04 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A retailer who sells beef or offers beef for sale must use a conspicuous placard that is clearly visible and readily viewable by the public and placed in the immediate vicinity of the beef to designate and display the beef as either:

(a) "U.S.A. beef" if the beef is derived exclusively from animals that are either:

(i) Born, raised, and slaughtered exclusively in the United States; or

(ii) Born and raised exclusively in the United States and transported for a period of time not more than sixty days through any other country and slaughtered in the United States; or

(b) "Imported" if the beef does not meet the criteria described in (a) of this subsection. The placard for imported beef must indicate each country in which the animal was born, raised, and slaughtered.

(2) The department may adopt rules necessary to implement this section.

(3) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) "Beef" means meat from cattle, including veal.

(b)(i) "Meat" means the edible part of the muscle of an animal that is skeletal or that is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus, with or without the accompanying or overlying fat, and the portions of the bone, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels that normally accompany the muscle tissue and that are not separated from it in the process of dressing.

(ii)(A) "Meat" includes the edible part of the muscle that has been chopped or ground.

(B) "Meat" does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout, or ears, nor any edible part of the muscle that has been manufactured, cured, smoked, cooked, or processed.

(c) "Retailer" means a person regularly engaged in the business of selling meat at retail to the public and selling only to the user or consumer and not for resale.

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