SB2459 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 08840 AAS 18895 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB2459

Introduced 2/7/2025, by Sen. Javier L. Cervantes

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 650/2	from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 302
225 ILCS 650/21 new

Amends the Meat and Poultry Inspection Act. Provides that "amenable" includes edible portions of carcass, bird, or siluriformes fish (rather than edible portions of carcass or bird). Provides that all siluriformes, carcasses, or products entering any official establishment intended for wholesale distribution shall be inspected, handled, stored, prepared, packaged, marked, and labeled as required by provisions in the Code of Federal Regulations. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Meat and Poultry Inspection Act is amended by changing Section 2 and by adding Section 21 as follows:

(225 ILCS 650/2) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 302)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Adulterated" means any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product, or poultry or poultry food product under one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;

(2)(A) if it bears or contains (by reason of administration of any substance to the live animal or otherwise) any added poisonous or added deleterious substance (other than one which is (i) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of the Director, make such article unfit for human food;

(B) if it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical which is unsafe within the meaning of Section 346a of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(C) if it bears or contains any food additive which is unsafe within the meaning of Section 348 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(D) if it bears or contains any color additive which is unsafe within the meaning of Section 379e of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: Provided, That an article which is not adulterated under clause (B), (C), or (D) shall nevertheless be deemed adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive in or on such article is prohibited by regulations of the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture or under Section 13 or 16 of this Act;

(3) if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food;

(4) if it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health;

(5) if it is, in whole or in part, the product of an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter;

(6) if its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health;

(7) if it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption in effect pursuant to Section 348 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(8) if any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it; or

(9) if it is margarine containing animal fat and any of the raw material used therein consisted in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance.

"Amenable" means foods containing 3% or more raw, or more than 2% cooked, red meat or poultry, other edible portions of carcass, or bird, or siluriformes fish, or products that historically have been considered by customers as products of the meat or poultry industry.

"Animals" means cattle, calves, American bison (buffalo), catalo, cattalo, sheep, swine, domestic deer, domestic elk, domestic antelope, domestic reindeer, ratites, water buffalo, and goats.

"Capable of use as human food" means the carcass of any animal or poultry, or part or product of a carcass of any animal or poultry, unless it is denatured to deter its use as human food or it is naturally inedible by humans.

"Custom processing" means the cutting up, packaging, wrapping, storing, freezing, smoking, or curing of meat or poultry products as a service by an establishment for the owner or the agent of the owner of the meat or poultry products exclusively for use in the household of the owner and his or her nonpaying guests and employees or slaughtering with respect to live poultry purchased by the consumer at this establishment and processed by a custom plant operator in accordance with the consumer's instructions.

"Custom slaughter" means the slaughtering, skinning, defeathering, eviscerating, cutting up, packaging, or wrapping of animals or poultry as a service by an establishment for the owner or the agent of the owner of the animals or poultry exclusively for use in the household of the owner and his or her nonpaying guests and employees.

"Department" means the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois.

"Director" means, unless otherwise provided, the Director of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois or his or her duly appointed representative.

"Establishment" means all premises where animals, poultry, or both, are slaughtered or otherwise prepared either for custom, resale, or retail for food purposes, meat or poultry canneries, sausage factories, smoking or curing operations, restaurants, grocery stores, brokerages, cold storage plants, processing plants, and similar places.

"Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act" means the Act approved June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 1040), as now or hereafter amended.

"Federal inspection" means the meat and poultry inspection service conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture by the authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act.

"Federal Meat Inspection Act" means the Act approved March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1260), as now or hereafter amended by the Wholesome Meat Act (81 Stat. 584), as now or hereafter amended.

"Illinois inspected and condemned" means that the meat or poultry product so identified and marked is unhealthful, unwholesome, adulterated, or otherwise unfit for human food and shall be disposed of in the manner prescribed by the Department.

"Illinois inspected and passed" means that the meat or poultry product so stamped and identified has been inspected and passed under the provisions of this Act and the rules and regulations pertaining thereto at the time of inspection and identification was found to be sound, clean, wholesome, and unadulterated.

"Illinois retained" means that the meat or poultry product so identified is held for further clinical examination by a veterinary inspector to determine its disposal.

"Immediate container" means any consumer package or any other container in which livestock products or poultry products, not consumer packaged, are packed.

"Inspector" means any employee of the Department authorized by the Director to inspect animals and poultry or meat and poultry products.

"Label" means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon any article or the immediate container, not including package liners, of any article.

"Labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter (i) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers or (ii) accompanying the article.

"Meat broker", "poultry broker", or "meat and poultry broker" means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of buying, negotiating for purchase of, handling or taking possession of, or selling meat or poultry products on commission or otherwise purchasing or selling of such articles other than for the person's own account in their original containers without changing the character of the products in any way. A broker shall not possess any processing equipment in his or her licensed facility.

"Meat food product" means any product capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, except products that contain meat or other portions of such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or products that historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry and that are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Director under such conditions as the Director may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portions of such carcass contained in such product are not adulterated and that such products are not represented as meat food products. This term as applied to food products of equines or domestic deer shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this definition with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats.

"Misbranded" means any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product, or poultry or poultry food product if:

(1) its labeling is false or misleading in any particular;

(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 type of uniform size and prominence, the word "imitation" followed immediately by the name of the food imitated;

(4) its container is made, formed, or filled so as to be misleading;

(5) it does not bear a label showing (i) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor and (ii) an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count; however, reasonable variations in such statement of quantity may be permitted;

(6) any word, statement, or other information required by or under authority of this Act to appear on the label or other labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness as compared with other words, statements, designs, or devices in the labeling and in such terms as to make the label likely to be read and understood by the general public 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 is prescribed in Sections 13 and 16 of this Act unless (i) it conforms to such definition and standard and (ii) its label bears the name of the food specified in the definition and standard and, as required by such regulations, the common names of optional ingredients other than spices and flavoring present in such food;

(8) it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a standard of fill of container is prescribed in Section 13 of this Act and it falls below the applicable standard of fill of container applicable thereto, unless its label bears, in such manner and form as such regulations specify, a statement that it falls below such standard;

(9) it is not subject to the provisions of paragraph (7), unless its label bears (i) the common or usual name of the food, if any, and (ii) if it is fabricated from 2 or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each ingredient, except that spices and flavorings may, when authorized by standards or regulations adopted in or as provided by Sections 13 and 16 of this Act, be designated as spices and flavorings without naming each;

(10) it purports to be or is represented for special dietary uses, unless its label bears such information concerning its vitamin, mineral, and other dietary properties as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States in order to fully inform purchasers as to its value for such uses;

(11) it bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical preservative, unless it bears labeling stating that fact or is exempt; or

(12) it fails to bear, directly thereon or on its container, the inspection legend and unrestricted by any of the foregoing provisions, such other information as necessary to assure that it will not have false or misleading labeling and that the public will be informed of the manner of handling required to maintain the article in a wholesome condition.

"Official establishment" means any establishment as determined by the Director at which inspection of the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the preparation of livestock products or poultry products is maintained under the authority of this Act.

"Official mark of inspection" means the official mark of inspection used to identify the status of any meat product or poultry product or animal under this Act as established by rule.

Prior to the manufacture, a complete and accurate description and design of all the brands, legends, and symbols shall be submitted to the Director for approval as to compliance with this Act. Each brand or symbol that bears the official mark shall be delivered into the custody of the inspector in charge of the establishment and shall be used only under the supervision of a Department employee. When not in use, all such brands and symbols bearing the official mark of inspection shall be secured in a locked locker or compartment, the keys of which shall not leave the possession of Department employees.

"Person" means any individual or entity, including, but not limited to, a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, cooperative, association, limited liability company, estate, or trust.

"Pesticide chemical", "food additive", "color additive", and "raw agricultural commodity" have the same meanings for purposes of this Act as under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

"Poultry" means domesticated birds or rabbits, or both, dead or alive, capable of being used for human food.

"Poultry products" means the carcasses or parts of carcasses of poultry produced entirely or in substantial part from such poultry, including but not limited to such products cooked, pressed, smoked, dried, pickled, frozen, or similarly processed.

"Poultry Products Inspection Act" means the Act approved August 28, 1957 (71 Stat. 441), as now or hereafter amended by the Wholesome Poultry Products Act, approved August 18, 1968 (82 Stat. 791), as now or hereafter amended.

"Poultry Raiser" means any person who raises poultry, including rabbits, on his or her own farm or premises who does not qualify as a producer as defined under this Act.

"Processor" means any person engaged in the business of preparing food from animals, including poultry, derived wholly or in part from livestock or poultry carcasses or parts or products of such carcasses.

"Shipping container" means any container used or intended for use in packaging the product packed in an immediate container.

"Slaughterer" means an establishment where any or all of the following may be performed on animals or poultry: (i) stunning; (ii) bleeding; (iii) defeathering, dehairing, or skinning; (iv) eviscerating; or (v) preparing carcasses for chilling.

"State inspection" means the meat and poultry inspection service conducted by the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois by the authority of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 100-843, eff. 8-14-18.)

(225 ILCS 650/21 new)

Sec. 21. Wholesale distribution standard. All siluriformes, carcasses, or products entering any official establishment intended for wholesale distribution shall be inspected, handled, stored, prepared, packaged, marked, and labeled as required by 9 CFR 3.125 through 9 CFR 3.142, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.