The legislature finds that it is important for consumers to know what they are purchasing and eating. In this era of increasing technology, meat substitutes, both plant-based and lab-cultured, are becoming increasingly popular. The legislature finds that it is important to ensure food labels are clear and unmistakable. Food labeling is regulated federally, but the legislature repeats the statement from the United States government accountability office that "federal regulators still lack information on technology, production methods, and composition of any final cultured cell products." Meat terminology is often used for vegan and vegetarian meat substitutes. Additionally, meat imported from other countries has also become exceedingly more available as the global economy grows. The legislature finds that it is important to clearly mark what is traditional United States-grown meat, what is a meat analogue, and what is cultured cell-based meat.
This section modifies existing section 15.130.110. Here is the modified chapter for context.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Advertisement" means all representations, other than by labeling, that directly or indirectly induce, or are likely to induce, the purchase of food.
"Carrier" means a person who undertakes the professional conveyance of food.
"Color additive" means the same as "color additive" in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 321.
"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 website; (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.
"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.
"Food additive" means the same as "food additive" in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 321.
"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.
"Fish" means fresh or saltwater finfish and other forms of aquatic animal life intended for human consumption other than mollusks, birds, and mammals.
"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.
"Label," "labeling" means the same as "label" and "labeling" in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 321.
"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.
"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.
"Process," "processing" means manufacturing, processing, packing, canning, bottling, or any other production, preparation, or putting up.
"Pull date" means the latest date a perishable packaged food may be offered for sale to the public.
"Raw agricultural commodity" means the same as "raw agricultural commodity" in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 321.
"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.
"Shelf life" means the length of time a perishable packaged food retains its safe consumption quality if stored under proper temperature conditions.
"Shellfish" means all crustaceans and mollusks intended for human consumption.
"Storage" and "store" means holding, storing, or any other possessing.
"Finfish product" means the product from fresh or saltwater finfish and other forms of aquatic animal life other than crustaceans, mollusks, birds, and mammals intended for human consumption.
"Identifiable meat term" includes, but is not limited to, terms such as meat, beef, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, fish, salmon, tuna, flounder, halibut, 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.
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"Meat product" means the part of the muscle of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats born, raised, and harvested in the traditional manner that is skeletal or that is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat, and the portions of bone (in bone-in products such as T-bone or porterhouse steak), skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels that normally accompany the muscle tissue and that are not separated from it in the process of dressing.
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"Meat product" does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout, or ears.
"Meat product" may not include significant portions of bone, including hard bone and related components, such as bone marrow, or any amount of brain, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, or dorsal root ganglia.
"Poultry food product" means any product capable of use as human food that is made in part from any poultry carcass or part thereof, excepting those exempted from definition as a poultry product in 9 C.F.R. Sec. 381.15.
"Poultry product" includes: Any poultry carcass or part thereof from poultry born, raised, and harvested in the traditional manner; or any product that is made wholly or in part from any poultry carcass or part thereof, excepting those exempted from definition as a poultry product in 9 C.F.R. Sec. 381.15. Except where the context clearly requires otherwise, "poultry product" is limited to articles capable of use as human food.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 15.130. Here is the modified chapter for context.
A food is considered misbranded under RCW 15.130.210 if it is a meat, poultry, or finfish analogue that is not a meat or poultry product from meat or poultry born, raised, and harvested in a traditional manner or a finfish product and the food's:
Labeling or advertisement utilizes an identifiable meat term; and
Labeling or advertisement does not clearly indicate that the product does not contain a meat, poultry, or finfish product by using one or more of the following words or phrases or a comparable qualifier including, but not limited to, "plant-based," "vegan," "meatless," "meat-free," "vegetarian," "veggie," "made from plants," "veggie-based," "cell-based," "cultured," or "lab-grown."
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.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 15.04. Here is the modified chapter for context.
A retailer who sells beef or offers beef for sale that is raised and processed in Washington state must make an effort to display information 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 "U.S.A. beef" if the beef is derived exclusively from animals that are either:
Born, raised, and harvested exclusively in the United States; or
Born and raised exclusively in the United States and transported for a period of time not more than 60 days through any other country and harvested in the United States.
The retailer is only required to comply with subsection (1) of this section if the Washington state beef shipped to the retailer is clearly marked as to its origin and is accompanied with a placard or similar signage compatible with the display case of the retailer.
The department may adopt rules as
necessary to implement this section.
The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
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"Beef" means meat from cattle born, raised, and harvested in a traditional manner, including veal, specifically, 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. "Beef" includes chopped or ground beef.
"Beef" 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.
"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.
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.