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American Beef Labeling Act of 2025
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish country of origin labeling requirements for beef, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require country of origin labeling for beef and ground beef sold in the United States. Beef is added to the list of commodities subject to mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) requirements, placing it on equal footing with lamb and other covered products. The bill requires the U.S. Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, to determine within 180 days a means of implementing the beef labeling requirement that complies with World Trade Organization rules, and to implement that means within one year of enactment. The labeling requirements become effective on the earlier of the date the Secretary of Agriculture publishes confirmation that the WTO-compliant implementation has been completed, or one year after the bill's enactment. This legislation aims to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling for beef after such labeling was previously suspended due to trade disputes.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD)
11 cosponsors
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA)
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND] (R-ND)
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS)
- Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT)
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Lummis, Cynthia M. [R-WY] (R-WY)
- Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA)
- Sen. Ricketts, Pete [R-NE] (R-NE)
- Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] (R-SD)
Actions (2)
- Feb 5, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (text: CR S668) · senate
- Feb 5, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 5, 2025
Mr. Thune (for himself, Mr. Booker, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Fetterman, and Mr. Hoeven) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish country of origin labeling requirements for beef, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “American Beef Labeling Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF.
(a) Definitions.—Section 281 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (7) as paragraphs (2) through (8), respectively;
(2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) the following:
“(1) Beef.—The term ‘beef’ means meat produced from cattle (including veal).”; and
(3) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) (as so redesignated)—
(A) in clause (i), by inserting “, beef,” after “lamb”; and
(B) in clause (ii), by inserting “, ground beef,” after “lamb”.
(b) Notice of Country of Origin.—Section 282(a)(2) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in the paragraph heading, by inserting “beef,” after “for”;
(2) in each of subparagraphs (A) through (D), by inserting “beef,” before “lamb” each place it appears; and
(3) in subparagraph (E)—
(A) in the subparagraph heading, by inserting “beef,” after “Ground”; and
(B) by inserting “ground beef,” before “ground lamb” each place it appears.
(c) Means of Reinstating MCOOL for Beef.—
(1) Determination of means.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall determine a means of reinstating mandatory country of origin labeling for beef in accordance with the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) that is in compliance with all applicable rules of the World Trade Organization.
(2) Implementation of means.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture shall implement the means determined under paragraph (1).
(d) Effective Date.—The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) take effect on the earlier of—
(1) the date on which the Secretary of Agriculture publishes a determination in the Federal Register that the means determined under paragraph (1) of subsection (c) have been implemented under paragraph (2) of that subsection; and
(2) the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. <all>
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