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H.R. 42 · 96th CongressIn committee

Consumer Food Labeling Act

Latest action. Referred to House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. · January 15, 1979

Live record from Congress.gov, updated as the official record changes.
What this bill would do
Official summary · Congressional Research Service

Consumer Food Labeling Act - Title I: Truth in Food Labeling Act - Truth in Food Labeling Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require that the labels on all foods disclose each of their ingredients in order of predominance and the percentage of each ingredient in the food. Title II: Nutritional Labeling Act - Nutritional Labeling Act - Requires the processor to label any packaged consumer food product with specified information, including an analysis of nutritional contents, net weight and drained weight, where appropriate. Requires such label to state the nutritional value of the commodity, and to appear in conspicuous and easily legible type in distinct contrast with other matters on the package. Requires the conspicuous statement of any difference in weight or volume which may have occurred in the repackaging of a consumer product from a container of any given net content to a container of a different net content. Empowers the appropriate agencies to prescribe regulations and to petition for injunctive relief to carry out and enforce the provisions of this Act. Prescribes a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for willful violation of any provision of this Act. Title III: Open Dating of Perishable Food Act - Open Dating of Perishable Food Act - Amends the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act to require the manufacturer or packager of a perishable or semiperishable food to state on its label the pull date for such food and the optimum temperature and humidity conditions for its storage by the ultimate consumer. Requires pull dates also on shipping containers or wrappings. Prohibits, with specified exceptions, the display, offer for sale, or sale of any such food whose pull date has expired. Prohibits the change, alteration, defacement, or removal of any pull date before sale of such food to the ultimate consumer. Prescribes criminal penalties for the violation of this Act. Requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to report annually to Congress on the enforcement of this Act. Title IV: Marketing Practices Disclosure Act - Marketing Practices Disclosure Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require that labels on packaged foods contain the names and places of business of the manufacturer, the packer, and the distributor, not, as currently, only one of them. Title V: Consumer Food Grading Act - Consumer Food Grading Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and promulgate a system of retail quality grade designations for consumer food products expressed in a uniform nomenclature, giving consideration to nutritional quality and wholesomeness of food products, as well as acceptability. Title VI: Unit and Item Pricing Act - Unit and Item Pricing Act - Amends the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act to require retailers to mark plainly the total selling price of any packaged consumer commodity on its package, and the retail unit price on either the package or a point of display, like a shelf, in close proximity thereto. Exempts from the requirements of this Act certain small retail outlets, and any retail outlet in any State or political subdivision which has enacted mandatory unit pricing laws which are, in the judgment of the Federal promulgating authority, superior to the requirements of this Act. Title VII: New Ingredient Notification Act - New Ingredient Notification Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require any food product to carry a label setting forth in a conspicuous manner any change in its ingredients for six months after such change. Title VIII: Misleading Brand Names Act - Misleading Brand Names Act - Amends the Federal Trade Commission Act to make it an unfair or deceptive act or practice to advertise a brand name of a product which inherently misleads the public as to the product's value, quantity, quality of contents, or performance.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 15, 1979. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Status
Introduced
January 15, 1979
In committee
January 15, 1979
Passed a chamber
Cleared Congress
Enacted
Where this sits in the process
Common questions
Composed from the official record
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?

4 steps remain before this bill could become law.

The record's latest action, on January 15, 1979: Referred to House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

  1. Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
  2. Passage by the House
  3. Passage by the Senate
  4. The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?

Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.

In the 96th Congress (1979-80), 613 of the 12,581 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.

This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.

Has anyone actually voted on it?

No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.

A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.

Who is behind it?

BENJAMIN ROSENTHAL (D-NY) introduced it on January 15, 1979, and 46 members have since signed on as cosponsors.

They come from both major parties: 44 Democrats, 1 Republican, 1 independent.

Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.

How long has it been in play?

It was introduced on January 15, 1979, 17405 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 17405 days ago, on January 15, 1979.

Measures do not carry over. Anything the 96th Congress has not finished by January 3, 1981 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.

Vote history

  1. House
    In committee, no floor vote yet
  2. Senate
    Awaits House passage
  3. President
    Awaits both chambers
No recorded votes yet
No roll call in this Congress cites this bill. Most bills die in committee without ever reaching a recorded floor vote.