House Bill 643

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-35-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT THE SALE OF ANY FOOD THAT CONTAINS A MESSENGER RIBONUCLEIC ACID (MRNA) VACCINE OR VACCINE MATERIAL UNLESS THE FOOD LABELING CONTAINS A CONSPICUOUS NOTIFICATION OF THE PRESENCE OF THE MRNA VACCINE OR VACCINE MATERIAL IN THE FOOD; TO PROVIDE THAT NOTHING PROHIBITS A PERSON FROM LABELING MEAT OR A MEAT PRODUCT AS "MRNA FREE" IF THE ANIMALS FROM WHICH THE MEAT OR MEAT PRODUCT WAS DERIVED WERE NOT ADMINISTERED AN MRNA VACCINE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 75-35-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

75-35-15. (1) When any meat or meat food product has been inspected as hereinbefore provided and marked "Mississippi inspected and passed" or appropriate marking shall be placed or packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained, the person, firm, or corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering, under supervision of an inspector, which label shall state that the contents thereof have been "Mississippi inspected and passed" or appropriate marking under the provisions of this chapter, and no inspection and examination of meat or meat food products deposited or enclosed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained shall be deemed to be complete until such meat or meat food products have been sealed or enclosed in said can, tin, pot, canvas, or other receptacle or covering under the supervision of an inspector.

(2) All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this chapter and found to be not adulterated, shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers, as the commissioner may require, the information required under paragraph (k) of Section 75-35-3.

(3) The commissioner, whenever he determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe:

(a) The styles and sizes of type to be used with respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to avoid false or misleading labeling of any products or animals subject to this article or Article 3 of this chapter; and

(b) Definitions and standards of identity or composition for items subject to this article and standards of fill of container for such products not inconsistent with any such standards established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and there shall be consultation between the commissioner and the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States prior to the issuance of such standards to avoid inconsistency between such standards and the federal standards.

(4) No item or product subject to this article shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation, under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the commissioner, are permitted. A food product that contains cultured animal tissue produced from animal cell cultures outside of the organism from which it is derived shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product. A plant-based or insect-based food product shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product.

(5) If the commissioner has reason to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any item subject to this article is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the commissioner, such person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the commissioner so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the commissioner. Any party aggrieved by such final determination may, within thirty (30) days after receipt of notice of such final determination, effect an appeal therefrom to the chancery court of the county in which such party resides or in which the principal place of his business is domiciled; and, on appeal, such chancery court shall affirm, modify, or set aside the commissioner's final determination.

(6) The manufacture, sale, or delivery, holding, or offering for sale of any food that contains a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine or vaccine material unless the food labeling contains a conspicuous notification of the presence of the vaccine or vaccine material in the food. For purposes of this subsection "mRNA vaccine or vaccine material" means a substance intended for use in humans to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against disease, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease, that is authorized or approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

(7) Nothing in this section or any other law prohibits a person from labeling meat or a meat product as "mRNA free" or any similar designation, if the animals from which the meat or meat product was derived were not administered a mRNA vaccine or

vaccine material.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.