Fish Safety Act of 1990

Summary

Fish Safety Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to create a new title setting forth a fish inspection program. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to exempt from specific provisions of the title: (1) fish processing by an individual for use in that individual's household; (2) custom processing for use in the household of the product owner; (3) processing of products not intended for nor capable of use as human food; (4) warehousing of up to 50 pounds or of product caught for other than commercial purposes in waters outside the United States; and (5) operations of types traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores or restaurants. Excludes from the application of the title recreational vessels, commercial fishing vessels, or fish tender vessels except where such vessels process fish. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with the appropriate agency in any State that has enacted a mandatory State fish product inspection law with requirements at least equal to those in the title. Prohibits State programs from permitting products to bear any official marks or certificates applicable to products in interstate commerce. Requires that fish products processed for intrastate commerce under a State program that are sold, transported, delivered, or offered for sale in interstate commerce be considered adulterated. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with State agencies concerning the State administration of the inspection and sampling components of the fish inspection program established under the title on behalf of the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to provide State agencies with advisory assistance, technical and laboratory assistance and training, and financial and other assistance for up to 50 percent of the cost of the cooperative program. Requires State program participants to submit operation plans to the Secretary annually. Directs the Secretary to establish standards for the efficient and effective administration of the sampling and inspection program by each approved State. Authorizes the Secretary to deputize specific State employees in approved States. Authorizes the Secretary to appoint advisory committees. Requires the appropriate State agency with which the Secretary may cooperate to be a single agency that is primarily responsible for the coordination of the State programs having objectives the same as the title. Directs the Secretary to develop and administer a comprehensive and efficient health-based inspection program for fish products designed to protect the consuming public from fish products that may be adulterated or misbranded. Sets forth program requirements. Directs the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to establish tolerances, except where tolerances are established by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, that shall be applicable to poisonous or deleterious substances that may adulterate fish products. Requires the tolerances to be: (1) established at levels so that fish products are not injurious to health; and (2) based on a scientific analysis of health risks. Directs the Commissioner to establish tolerances, except where tolerances are established by the Administrator under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, for harmful chemicals, toxins, parasites, pathogenic microorganisms, viruses, bacteria, and other harmful agents that may render fish products adulterated. Allows the tolerances to include the use of indicators, including indicator organisms. Directs the Secretary of Commerce and appropriate State authorities, for waters under their jurisdiction, to establish a system for the identification and classification of growing and harvesting areas for fish in coastal areas and the Great Lakes. Directs the Secretary to sample and test fish products regarding any instance or trend that may pose a significant threat to consumers' health and safety. Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial and other assistance to States to prevent the entry of adulterated fish products into establishments, including annual grants to each State that is a member of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, with regard to waters under the exclusive jurisdiction of that Secretary, to close waters or restrict harvesting of a species if fish of that species within the identified harvesting or growing areas are likely to be adulterated. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) periodically review the closure or restriction; and (2) establish procedures for review on petitions by affected persons. Requires reasonable public notice prior to closure or restriction, except in public health emergencies. Requires inspectors authorized by the Secretary to take actions as necessary to implement the title, including: (1) inspection of establishments, products, packages, equipment, procedures, and records; (2) sampling and testing of fish products; (3) detention and condemnation of adulterated or misbranded products; and (4) inspection, sampling, and testing of imports of fish products. Provides for: (1) segregation, seizure, condemnation, and destruction of adulterated or misbranded fish products; (2) processing of products to the extent necessary to prevent spoilage pending hearing and review; and (3) deferral of condemnation pending bringing of a product into compliance by relabeling or other action. Requires establishments to maintain premises, facilities, equipment, and operations in accordance with sanitation regulations set by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to establish regulations for the storage or handling of fish products by any person in the business of buying, selling, freezing, storing, transporting, or importing fish products. Authorizes the Secretary to establish guidelines for training persons employed by establishments involved in fish product sanitation and quality control. Authorizes the Secretary to exempt products from inspection requirements until a specified date if appropriated funds are insufficient or if the exemption will aid in the effective transition to the programs implemented under the title. Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for the annual certification of establishments and persons engaged in importing of fish and fish products. Prohibits importers from processing or handling any fish product for commercial purposes unless the establishment is certified. Authorizes the Secretary to refuse to certify or to decertify establishments or importers unfit to engage in any business as a result of Federal or State convictions for: (1) acquiring, handling, or distributing adulterated, mislabeled, or deceptively packaged food, or fraud in food transactions; or (2) any felony involving a lack of the integrity needed for the conduct of operations affecting the public health. Requires all products processed at any certified establishment to bear on their shipping containers and immediate containers information as the Secretary requires. Authorizes the Secretary to permit such products to bear a seal stating that the product was processed in accordance with Federal standards or similar language. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe: (1) labeling requirements to avoid false or misleading labeling; (2) definitions and standards of identity or composition and fill; and (3) procedures that permit statements on labels that indicate the State or location of the product's origin. Directs the Secretary to: (1) require that each package of fish product bears the appropriate identification, issued under the title, and an official mark; and (2) ensure that the official mark shall be available only on products processed in certified establishments. Prohibits articles from being sold or offered for sale under any name, marking, or labeling that is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size. Permits established trade names and other marking and labeling that are not false or misleading and that are approved by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary, if any marking, labeling, size, or form of any container is false or misleading, to require that use be withheld unless modified as prescribed by the Secretary so that it will not be false or misleading. Prohibits a fish product from being entered, or withdrawn from warehouses, for consumption in the United States, unless the product: (1) is not adulterated or misbranded; (2) complies with all requirements of the title; and (3) is marked and labeled as required for imports. Treats all such products as domestic fish products under the title, except that its labeling must identify the country of origin. Directs the Secretary to enforce these provisions through inspections, sampling, and any other necessary procedures. Requires products refused entry or entered, or withdrawn from warehouses, in violation of these provisions to be destroyed unless exported or brought into compliance. Requires storage, cartage, labor, and other costs from denial of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse to be paid by the owner or consignee. Declares that nonpayment constitutes a lien against the product and any other fish product thereafter entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption in the United States by such owner or consignee. Directs the Secretary, on request of a country desiring to export fish products to the United States, to review the inspection program of products offered for importation to determine whether the requirements and tolerances for the products are at least equal to those under the title and, if so, and if the country will permit the enforcement measures the Secretary determines necessary, to issue a certificate stating that the country meets the requirements. Requires all fish products imported from an uncertified country to be inspected by the Secretary to ensure compliance with these provisions. Directs the Secretary to enforce these provisions through inspections, sampling, testing, or other actions in the foreign country, during importation, or which otherwise as necessary. Declares that products intended for export shall not be considered adulterated or misbranded if they are consistent with the laws of the importing country and meet other requirements. Directs the Secretary to inspect products intended for export as necessary. Directs the Secretary, on request of the exporter, to provide a certificate for export stating the condition of fish products inspected under these provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to require any person who owns or operates an establishment or is in the business of importing fish products to recall any fish product that is adulterated or misbranded if it could cause serious health consequences. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, through the Centers for Disease Control, an active surveillance system, based on a representative portion of the U.S. population, to provide an estimate of the frequency of human disease in the United States associated with the consumption of food, including a comparison of each major food category. Sets forth a list of prohibited acts in connection with the processing, handling, selling, transporting, offering for sale or transportation, possessing, misbranding, or importation of fish products or in connection with inspections under the title. Provides civil monetary penalties and criminal penalties for violations. Prohibits a common or contract carrier, including carriers that are fish tender vessels, from being subject to penalties under the title unless the carrier: (1) had knowledge, or possessed facts that would cause a reasonable person to believe, that the products were adulterated or misbranded; or (2) refuses to furnish certain information and documents. Sets forth: (1) felony penalties for giving or receiving bribes; and (2) criminal penalties for forcibly assaulting, resisting, intimidating, or interfering with any inspector or other person while engaged in official duties under the title. Requires each establishment or import business subject to inspection under the title to be operated in accordance with such sanitary and other procedures and practices as the Secretary requires. Directs the Secretary to prescribe standards for marking fish or fish products handled or processed in accordance with the title, or their packages, with an official stamp. Directs the Secretary to establish priorities for fish and fish products safety research. Requires the appropriate Federal agencies to conduct research regarding the priorities. Directs the Secretary, through the Extension Service, to provide a specified sum each fiscal year out of funds appropriated for the title to award grants for demonstration projects by States with regard to providing food safety information and instruction regarding the proper handling, storage, and preparation of fish and fish products for human consumption. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish through grants and administer, for a five-year period, a shellfish indicator research program to develop a system of classification of shellfish harvesting areas. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory panel to assist in the development and implementation of the research programs under these provisions. Prohibits: (1) copying of any official mark; and (2) processing fish products except in compliance with the title. Authorizes the Secretary to limit the entry of fish products and other materials into any establishment consistent with the purposes of the title. Provides for administrative detention of any fish product meeting certain requirements if there is reason to believe the product is adulterated or misbranded. Makes any fish product capable of use as human food and adulterated or misbranded, or which otherwise is or has been in violation of the title, liable to be proceeded against and seized and condemned at any time, on a libel of information. Provides for disposal of a condemned product and for the delivery of the product to the owner on delivery of bond. Applies specified provisions of Federal law to the administration and enforcement of the title. Exempts the inspection, sampling, regulation, handling, processing, storage, or transportation of fish products from the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to the extent such matters are covered by the title. Requires that the cost of inspections be borne by the United States, except for overtime or holiday work required in an establishment, which must be borne by the establishment. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the title, earmarking: (1) certain sums for the research programs under the title; (2) certain percentage for the Food and Drug Administration; and (3) other percentages for the Department of Commerce. Amends Federal law to add a reference to food safety to provisions specifying the matters to be included in cooperative agricultural extension work. Authorizes appropriations for programs administered by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Extension Service to disseminate food safety information and instruction to consumers, restaurant food handlers, schools, and other persons. Requires the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to: (1) develop and implement a program to carry out and administer the title; and (2) enter into contracts with the National Academy of Sciences to identify chemical and microbiological contaminants, parasites, toxins, and other harmful substances that are most likely to be found in fish and fish products and that are most likely to cause fish and fish products to be adulterated. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to develop and implement a program to carry out the requirements of the title.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 26 July 1990

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 26 July 1990

   Introduced

   Introduced in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 738. Pursuant to the order of July 25, 1990.

   Source: Calendars

3. 12 September 1990

   Floor

   Measure laid before Senate.

   Source: Floor

4. 12 September 1990

   Passed

   Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.

   Source: Floor

5. 17 September 1990

   Floor

   Message on Senate action sent to the House.

   Source: Floor

6. 17 September 1990

   Floor

   Held at the desk.

   Source: Floor

7. 17 September 1990

   Floor

   Received in the House.

   Source: Floor

8. 16 October 1990

   Reported

   Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 511 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of S. 2924 with 1 hour and 30 minutes of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. The amendment printed in part one of the Rules Committee report shall be considered as having been adopted. No other amendment shall be in order except the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part two of the report. Said amendment shall be considered as having been read, shall be debatable for one hour and is not subject to amendment. All points of order for failure to comply with the provisions of clause 7 of rule XVI are waived.

   Source: Floor

9. 24 October 1990

   Floor

   Message on House action received in Senate and held at desk: House amendment to Senate bill.

   Source: Floor

10. 24 October 1990

    Passed

    Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

    Source: Floor

11. 24 October 1990

    Vote

    On passage Passed by recorded vote: 324 - 106 (Roll No. 515).

    Source: Floor

12. 24 October 1990

    Vote

    Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by recorded vote: 324 - 106 (Roll No. 515).

    Source: Floor

13. 24 October 1990

    Passed

    The House adopted the amendment as agreed to by the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

    Source: Floor

14. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.

    Source: Floor

15. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    The House rose from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to report S. 2924.

    Source: Floor

16. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    Rule provides for consideration of S. 2924 with 1 hour and 30 minutes of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. The amendment printed in part one of the Rules Committee report shall be considered as having been adopted. No other amendment shall be in order except the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part two of the report. Said amendment shall be considered as having been read, shall be debatable for one hour and is not subject to amendment. All points of order for failure to comply with the provisions of clause 7 of rule XVI are waived.

    Source: Floor

17. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    The Speaker designated the Honorable Lindy (Mrs. Hale) Boggs to act as Chairwoman of the Committee.

    Source: Floor

18. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 511 and Rule XXIII.

    Source: Floor

19. 24 October 1990

    Floor

    Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 511.

    Source: Floor

20. 24 October 1990

    Passed

    Rule H. Res. 511 passed House.

    Source: Floor

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Engrossed Amendment House · — · Download file
• Engrossed in Senate · — · Download file
• Introduced in Senate · — · Download file
• Placed on Calendar Senate · — · Download file

Documents

6 official files

• Placed on Calendar Senate (text)

  Placed on Calendar Senate · EN

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• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN

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• Engrossed in Senate (text)

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• Engrossed Amendment House (text)

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• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 24 October 1990

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 26 July 1990

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Sponsors

• Sen. Mitchell, George J. [D-ME] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Cochran, Thad [R-MS] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Lugar, Richard G. [R-IN] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Cohen, William S. [R-ME] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Lott, Trent [R-MS] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Daschle, Thomas A. [D-SD] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Pryor, David H. [D-AR] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Dixon, Alan J. [D-IL] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Cranston, Alan [D-CA] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Nunn, Sam [D-GA] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Graham, Bob [D-FL] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Pell, Claiborne [D-RI] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Simon, Paul [D-IL] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Burdick, Quentin N. [D-ND] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Sanford, Terry [D-NC] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. D'Amato, Alfonse [R-NY] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Kerrey, J. Robert [D-NE] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Wirth, Timothy [D-CO] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Reid, Harry [D-NV] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Conrad, Kent [D-ND] · D · Cosponsor
• Sen. Kohl, Herb [D-WI] · D · Cosponsor
• Sen. Boschwitz, Rudy [R-MN] · R · Cosponsor
• Sen. Symms, Steven D. [R-ID] · R · Cosponsor
• Sen. Chafee, John H. [R-RI] · R · Cosponsor

Related records

• related to → Providing for the consideration of the bill (S. 2924) to expand the meat inspection programs of the United States by establishing a comprehensive inspection program to ensure the quality and wholesomeness of all fish products intended for human consumption in the United States, and for other purposes.
• amends ← The Consumer Seafood Safety and Quality Assurance Act of 1990.
• amends ← An amendment in the nature of a substitute that would establish a national shellfish inspection program to be administered by the FDA (the bill establishes an inspection program for all fish, to be administered by the Department of Agriculture.) The amendment calls upon the FDA to establish standards for growing, harvesting, handling, processing, and shipping shellfish; and sets water quality standards for growing and harvesting shellfish. The amendment would direct the National Academy of Sciences to develop priorities for health standards for fish and fish products (including standards for chemical and microbiological contaminants, parasites, and toxins), and establishes a timetable for FDA to establish and implement regulatory standards based upon the recommendations of the Academy.