OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 661 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 661’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Klopfenstein and Daniels
Effective date:
Jeff Grim, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
▪ Specifies that food is misbranded as a meat product or egg product if certain conditions
exist, including the food contains a manufactured-protein food product or fabricated-egg
product and the label for the food implies that it includes meat or eggs without
qualification.
▪ Requires the Directors of Health and Job and Family Services to submit waiver requests
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exclude cultivated-protein food products
and fabricated-egg products from SNAP and WIC program eligibility, but only if the USDA
approves those products for purchase under the programs.
▪ Requires the Department of Education and Workforce and each public school and state
institution of higher education to adopt a policy to prevent the purchase of cultivated-
protein food products or food misbranded as a meat or egg product.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Misbranding of food
Background
Current law establishes criteria for what is considered a misbranded food for purposes of
specified provisions of the Pure Food and Drug Law. These criteria include:
1. The food’s labeling is false or misleading in any particular;
2. The food is offered for sale under the name of another food;
3. The food’s container is so made, formed, or filled as to be misleading;
4. The food is an imitation of another food, unless its label bears in type of uniform size and
prominence, the word “imitation,” and immediately thereafter the name of the food
imitated;
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5. The food bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical
preservative, unless it bears labeling stating that fact; provided, subject to exemptions
established by rules adopted by the Director of Agriculture.1
Misbranded meat and egg products
The bill states that food is misbranded as a meat product or egg product if all of the
following apply:
1. The food is or contains a manufactured-protein food product or fabricated-egg product;
2. The food is offered for sale by a food processing establishment;
3. A label that is part of or placed on the package or other container storing the food includes
an identifying meat term or identifying egg term;
4. The label that is part of or placed on the package or other container storing the food does
not contain a conspicuous and prominent qualifying meat term near an identifying meat
term or a conspicuous and prominent qualifying egg term near to an identifying egg
term.2
Enforcement
The bill prohibits a food processing establishment from selling food that is misbranded as
a meat product or an egg product.3 Any person who violates this prohibition must pay a civil
penalty of up to $10,000 for each day a violation occurs. The Attorney General, upon written
request by the Director of Agriculture, must bring an action for penalties against any person who
violates the prohibition. That action is a civil action, governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure and
other rules of practice and procedure applicable to civil actions. Any civil penalties collected must
be paid into the General Revenue Fund.
If Department of Agriculture (ODA) has reasonable cause to believe that a food processing
establishment is selling food that is misbranded as a meat product or an egg product, ODA may
detain or embargo the product in accordance with current law.4 However, the Director may not
suspend or revoke a food processing establishment registration if the food processing
establishment violates the new prohibition established by the bill.5
In conducting a routine inspection of the premises of a food processing establishment,
the ODA is not required to determine if any food located on the premises is misbranded as a
meat product or an egg product. However, ODA must inspect an inventory of food offered for
1
R.C. 3715.60.
2
R.C. 3715.602(A) and (B).
3
R.C. 3715.602(C).
4
R.C. 3715.604.
5
R.C. 3715.604 and 3715.605.
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sale or sold by a food processing establishment based on a credible complaint that the food is
misbranded as a meat product or an egg product.
ODA must adopt rules in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act that are
necessary to administer and enforce the bill’s provisions governing the misbranding of meat and
egg products.6
WIC and SNAP waivers
The bill requires the Directors of Health and Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to each
submit a waiver request to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exclude
cultivated-protein food products and fabricated-egg products from eligibility under the following
programs in Ohio:
1. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC; and
2. Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The requirement, however, applies only if the USDA approves those products for
purchase under WIC or SNAP.7
WIC and SNAP background
WIC is a federal program that assists low-income women, infants, and children under age
five who are at nutritional risk with supplemental nutritious food, nutrition education and
counseling, and screening and referrals to health and other social services.8 Funded by grants
from the federal government, WIC is administered in Ohio by the Department of Health.9
SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program administered by
the states to provide low-income individuals and families benefits to pay for food at approved
retailers.10 The federal government fully funds program benefits and generally pays for half of
the program’s administrative expenses. The ODJFS Director is responsible for administering SNAP
in Ohio.11
Public education institution imitation meat and egg policies
The bill requires the Department of Education and Workforce and each school district,
community school, STEM school, college-preparatory boarding school, and state institution of
6
R.C. 3715.603.
7
R.C. 3701.132(E) and 5101.548.
8
42 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1786.
9
R.C. 3701.132(B).
10
7 U.S.C. 2013.
11
R.C. 5101.54(A).
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higher education to adopt a policy to prevent the purchase of cultivated-protein food products
or food misbranded as a meat or egg product.12
Defined terms
The bill defines the following terms related to the provisions governing misbranding or
meat and egg products:13
Term Definition
“Agricultural food animal” A domesticated animal belonging to the bovine,
caprine, ovine, or porcine species; and any type
of poultry.
“Cultivated-protein food product” A food having one or more sensory attributes
that resemble a type of tissue originating from
an agricultural food animal, but that, in lieu of
being derived from meat processing, is derived
from manufacturing cells in which one or more
stem cells are initially isolated from an
agricultural food animal, are grown in vitro, and
may be manipulated, as part of a manufacturing
operation.
“Egg” Food that is the reproductive output of an
agricultural food animal classified as a chicken.
“Egg” includes albumen and yolk encased in a
calcium-based shell.
“Egg product” Food derived from egg processing in which eggs
or egg parts are the primary ingredient.
“Egg processing” The processing of eggs, including either of the
following:
1. The handling, preparation, heating,
and packaging of whole shelled or
unshelled eggs; or
2. The breaking of eggs and the
separation of eggs; pasteurization;
filtering, mixing, stabilizing, or blending
parts of the egg; any cooling, freezing,
12
R.C. 3313.8110, 3314.03(A)(11)(d), 3326.11, 3328.24, and 3345.88.
13
R.C. 3715.601.
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Term Definition
or drying of parts of the egg; storage;
and packaging.
“Fabricated-egg product” Food, if it has one or more sensory attributes
that resemble an egg product but that, in lieu of
being the output of a laying hen, is derived from
manufactured plants or other organic materials.
“Food processing establishment” A premises or part of a premises where food is
processed, packaged, manufactured, or
otherwise held or handled for distribution to
another location or for sale at wholesale. “Food
processing establishment” includes the activities
of a bakery, confectionery, cannery, bottler,
warehouse, or distributor, and the activities of
an entity that receives or salvages distressed
food for sale or use as food.
A “food processing establishment” does not
include a cottage food production operation; a
processor of tree syrup who boils sap when at
least 75% of the sap used to produce the syrup
is collected directly from trees by that
processor; a processor of sorghum who
processes sorghum juice when at least 75% of
the sorghum juice used to produce the sorghum
is extracted directly from sorghum plants by
that processor; a beekeeper who jars honey
when at least 75% of the honey is from that
beekeeper’s own hives; or a processor of apple
syrup or apple butter who directly harvests from
trees at least 75% of the apples used to produce
the apple syrup or apple butter.
“Identifying egg term” Any word or phrase that states, indicates,
suggests, or describes an egg product,
regardless of whether the word or phrase is
used individually, as a portmanteau, or as a
compound word. “Identifying egg term”
includes any of the following:
1. A common name for a type of a
chicken, including laying hen, hen, or
layer, cage-free, poultry, or fowl;
2. A common name for a characteristic of
a chicken based on age, breed, or sex;
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Term Definition
3. A common name, or a comparable
word or phrase approved by ODA, that
a reasonable purchaser would
immediately and exclusively associate
with an egg product prepared for sale
in normal commercial channels such as
custard, eggnog, frittata, huevos
rancheros, omelette, mayonnaise,
meringue, sunny side up, over easy,
over hard, scrambled, or quiche; or
4. Any part of the egg, including its egg,
eggshell, egg white, or yolk.
“Identifying meat term” Any word or phrase that states, indicates,
suggests, or describes a meat product,
regardless of whether the word or phrase is
used individually, as a portmanteau, or as a
compound word. “Identifying meat term”
includes any of the following:
1. A common name for the species of an
agricultural food animal subject to
slaughter and processing, including a
calf or cow, goat or kid, hog or pig,
poultry, or lamb or sheep;
2. A common name for a characteristic of
a species of the agricultural food
animal subject to slaughter and
processing based on age, breed, or sex;
3. Meat, beef, or veal; broiler, fryer,
poulet, or yearling; cabrito or chevon;
lamb or mutton; or pork;
4. A common name used to describe a
major cut of a meat of an agricultural
food animal slaughtered and
processed, including a major meat cut
specified in federal law; a poultry
product such as breast, drumstick,
giblet, thigh, or wing; or the common
name of an organ or o