By: White H.B. No. 242
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the advertising and labeling of certain food products.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 433.003, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subdivisions (1), (20), and (21) and adding
  Subdivisions (1-a), (1-b), (1-c), (2-a), (11-a), (13-a), and (19-a)
  to read as follows:
               (1)  "Advertising" has the meaning assigned by Section
  431.002.
               (1-a)  "Analogue product" means a food product derived
  by combining processed plant products, insects, or fungus with
  additives to approximate the texture, flavor, appearance, or other
  aesthetic qualities or the chemical characteristics of any specific
  type of meat, meat food product, poultry, or poultry product.
               (1-b)  "Animal food manufacturer" means a person in the
  business of manufacturing or processing animal food any part of
  which is derived from a carcass, or a part or product of a carcass,
  of livestock.
               (1-c)  "Beef" means any edible portion of a formerly
  live and whole cattle carcass. The term includes any commonly
  understood variation or abbreviation of the term. The term does not
  include a cell-cultured, plant-based, or insect-based food
  product.
               (2-a)  "Cell-cultured product" means a food product
  derived by engineering muscle tissue fibers from animal cells in a
  laboratory or similar setting.
               (11-a)  "Meat" means the part of the muscle of cattle,
  sheep, swine, or goats that is skeletal or is found in the tongue,
  diaphragm, heart, or esophagus, with or without the accompanying
  and overlying fat, and the portions of bone, including bone-in
  products, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels that normally
  accompany the muscle tissue and that are not separated from it in
  the process of dressing. The term has a comparable meaning as
  applied to equine food products. The term does not include:
                     (A)  muscle found in the lips, snout, or ears;
                     (B)  animal tissue containing 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; or
                     (C)  cell-cultured, plant-based, or insect-based
  food products.
               (13-a)  "Misleading" means the use of a false or
  deceptive oral or written statement, advertisement, label,
  display, picture, illustration, or sample.
               (19-a)  "Pork" means any edible portion of a formerly
  live and whole swine carcass. The term includes any commonly
  understood variation or abbreviation of the term. The term does not
  include a cell-cultured, plant-based, or insect-based food
  product.
               (20)  "Poultry" means any [a] live or dead domesticated
  bird, including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guineas, ratites,
  or squabs.
               (21)  "Poultry product" means any [a] poultry carcass,
  part of a poultry carcass, or [a] product [any part of which is]
  made wholly or partly from a poultry carcass or part of a poultry
  carcass. Unless the context requires otherwise, the term includes
  only articles capable of use as human food. The term does not
  include [, except a product that]:
                     (A)  a cell-cultured, plant-based, or
  insect-based food product [contains poultry ingredients only in a
  relatively small proportion or that historically has not been
  considered by consumers as a product of the poultry food industry];
  or [and]
                     (B)  a product that is exempted from the
  definition of poultry product under 9 C.F.R. Section 381.15 [by
  department rule under conditions assuring that the poultry
  ingredients in the product are unadulterated and that the product
  is not represented as a poultry product].
         SECTION 2.  Section 433.005, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  A livestock, [or] poultry product, analogue product, or
  cell-cultured product is misbranded if:
               (1)  any part of its labeling is false or misleading;
               (2)  it is offered for sale under the name of another
  food;
               (3)  it is an imitation of another food, unless its
  label bears, in prominent type of uniform size, the word
  "imitation" immediately followed by the name of the food imitated;
               (4)  its container is made, formed, or filled so as to
  be misleading;
               (5)  except as provided by Subsection (b), it does not
  bear a label showing:
                     (A)  the manufacturer's, packer's, or
  distributor's name and place of business; and
                     (B)  an accurate statement of the quantity of the
  product by weight, measure, or numerical count;
               (6)  a word, statement, or other information required
  by or under the authority of this chapter to appear on the label or
  labeling is not prominently placed on the label or labeling in
  sufficient terms and with sufficient conspicuousness, compared
  with other words, statements, designs, or devices in the label or
  labeling, to make it likely to be read and understood by the
  ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use;
               (7)  it purports to be or is represented as a food for
  which a definition and standard of identity or composition has been
  prescribed by department rule under Section 433.043 unless:
                     (A)  it conforms to the definition and standard;
  or
                     (B)  its label bears:
                           (i)  the name of the food specified in the
  definition and standard; and
                           (ii)  to the extent required by department
  rule, the common names of optional ingredients present in the food,
  other than spices, flavoring, and coloring;
               (8)  it purports to be or is represented as a food for
  which a standard of fill of container has been prescribed by
  department rule under Section 433.043 and the food does not meet the
  standard of fill of container, unless its label bears, in the manner
  and form prescribed by department rule, a statement that it does not
  meet the standard;
               (9)  except as provided by Subsection (c), it does not
  purport to be or is not represented as a food for which a standard of
  identity or composition has been prescribed by department rule
  unless its label bears:
                     (A)  any common or usual name of the food; and
                     (B)  if it is fabricated from two or more
  ingredients, the common or usual name of each ingredient;
               (10)  it purports to be or is represented for special
  dietary uses and its label does not bear the information concerning
  its vitamin, mineral, and other dietary properties that the
  department, after the executive commissioner or department
  consults with the United States Secretary of Agriculture, has
  determined, and the executive commissioner has prescribed by rule,
  to be necessary to fully inform purchasers of its value for those
  uses;
               (11)  it bears or contains artificial flavoring,
  artificial coloring, or a chemical preservative unless it bears
  labeling stating that fact, except as otherwise prescribed by
  department rule for situations in which compliance with this
  subdivision is impracticable; [or]
               (12)  it does not bear on itself or its container, as
  prescribed by department rule:
                     (A)  the inspection legend and establishment
  number of the establishment in which the product was prepared; and
                     (B)  notwithstanding any other provision of this
  section, other information required by department rule to assure
  that the product will not have false or misleading labeling and that
  the public will be informed of the manner of handling required to
  keep the product in wholesome condition;
               (13)  for an analogue product of meat, a meat food
  product, poultry, or a poultry product, its label does not bear in
  prominent type of uniform size immediately before the name of the
  product any of the following terms:
                     (A)  "analogue";
                     (B)  "meatless";
                     (C)  "plant-based";
                     (D)  "made from plants"; or
                     (E)  a similar qualifying term or disclaimer
  intended to clearly communicate to a consumer the contents of the
  product; or
               (14)  for a cell-cultured product, its label does not
  bear in prominent type of uniform size immediately before the name
  of the product any of the following terms:
                     (A)  "cell-cultured"; or
                     (B)  "lab-grown".
         (d)  If a food is alleged to be misbranded because the
  labeling or advertising is misleading, the department in
  determining whether the labeling or advertising is misleading shall
  consider, among other characteristics:
               (1)  a representation made or suggested by a statement,
  word, design, image, device, sound, or any combination of these;
  and
               (2)  the extent to which the labeling or advertising
  suggests the food is:
                     (A)  authentic meat or poultry if the food is not
  meat or poultry;
                     (B)  a meat product or poultry product if the food
  is not a meat product or poultry product; or
                     (C)  derived from livestock in any form if the
  food is not derived from livestock.
         SECTION 3.  As soon as practicable after the effective date
  of this Act, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
  Services Commission shall adopt rules as necessary to implement the
  changes in law made by this Act.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
  last day of the legislative session.