Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the Mississippi Legislature, fetched 2026-08-29. This is the enrolled version. The official bill page.
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE 2026 Regular Session To: Agriculture By: Representative Pigott House Bill 1153 (As Sent to Governor) AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-36-1, 75-36-3, 75-36-5, 75-36-7, 75-36-9, 75-36-11, 75-36-13 AND 75-36-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE LABELING OF PRODUCTS AT FOOD PROCESSING PLANTS, RETAILS OR OTHER ESTABLISHMENT, TO CLARIFY AND EXPAND DEFINITIONS RELATING TO MEAT, MANUFACTURED-PROTEIN, CULTIVATED-PROTEIN, INSECT-PROTEIN, PLANT-PROTEIN AND CELL-CULTURED DAIRY PRODUCTS; TO PROHIBIT THE MANUFACTURE, SALE OR OFFER FOR SALE OF CELL-CULTURED DAIRY PRODUCTS IN THIS STATE; TO STRENGTHEN AND CLARIFY MISBRANDING PROHIBITIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF IDENTIFYING MEAT TERMS AND REQUIRED QUALIFYING DISCLOSURES; TO REVISE INSPECTION AUTHORITY, COMPLAINT-BASED ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES, STOP-SALE AND EMBARGO POWERS AND JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE; TO REVISE CIVIL PENALTIES, DEPOSIT AND USE OF FINES AND APPEAL RIGHTS FOR VIOLATIONS; TO REQUIRE STATE AGENCIES, PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING TO ADOPT PROCUREMENT POLICIES PREVENTING THE PURCHASE OF MISBRANDED OR CULTIVATED-PROTEIN FOOD PRODUCTS; TO REQUIRE CLEAR CONSUMER DISCLOSURE AT THE FINAL POINT OF SALE BY RETAILERS, DISTRIBUTORS, WHOLESALERS AND FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS REGARDING THE AUTHENTICITY OF MEAT AND NONMEAT PRODUCTS; TO AUTHORIZE RECORD-KEEPING AND AUDIT TRAIL REQUIREMENTS TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE; TO MAKE TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS FOR CONSISTENCY, ENFORCEABILITY AND CLARITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: SECTION 1. Section 75-36-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-1. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Agricultural food animal" means a domesticated animal belonging to the bovine, caprine, ovine, or porcine species; or live domestic fowl limited to chickens or turkeys. (b) "Cell-cultured dairy product" means a product that is intended to replicate or to substitute for milk and that is derived from animal cells cultured outside of a live animal. This includes products produced through the growth of mammary or other animal cells in vitro. ( * * *bc) "Cultivated-protein food product" means a food product 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. ( * * *cd) "Department" means the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. ( * * *de) "Food processing plant" means a commercial operation that manufactures, packages, labels or stores food for human consumption and does not provide food directly to a consumer. The term does not include any of the following: (i) A premises covered by the legalized sale of beer, light spirit products and light wines under the provisions of Chapter 3, Title 67, Mississippi Code of 1972; (ii) A premises of a residence in which honey is stored, prepared, packaged, including by placement in a container, labeled or from which honey is distributed, as regulated under the provisions of Chapter 29, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972; (iii) The premises of a raw milk dairy where raw milk is produced, processed, labeled, marketed, or distributed by a raw milk producer in compliance with Chapter 31, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972; or (iv) The premises of a raw milk dairy where a raw milk product or raw milk dairy product is manufactured, labeled, marketed or distributed by a raw milk producer in compliance with Chapter 31, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972. ( * * *ef) "Food product" means a perishable or nonperishable item stored in a container or package, if the item is fit for human consumption. ( * * *fg) "Identifying meat term" means 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, but is not limited to, any of the following: (i) A common name for the species of the agricultural food animal subject to slaughter and processing, including a calf or cow, chicken, goat or kid, hog or pig, poultry, lamb or sheep or turkey. (ii) 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. (iii) Meat, including: 1. Beef or veal; 2. Broiler, fryer, poulet or yearling; 3. Cabrito or chevon; 4. Lamb or mutton; 5. Pork; 6. A common name used to describe a major cut of a meat of an agricultural food animal slaughtered and processed, including: a. A major meat cut specified in 9 CFR Section 317.344; b. A poultry product such as breast, drumstick, giblet, thigh or wing; or c. The common name of an organ or offal, including gizzard, heart, liver, kidney or tongue; and 7. Any other common name that a reasonable purchaser would immediately and exclusively associate with a meat product prepared for sale in normal commercial channels such as bacon, baloney, bologna, bone, brat or bratwurst, brisket, burger or hamburger, butt, chop, chuck, cold cut, cutlet, filet, flat iron, frank or frankfurter, ham, hock, hot dog, jerky, liverwurst, loin, London broil, lunch meat, New York strip, pepperoni, porterhouse, ribeye, roast, rib or sparerib, salami, sausage, shank, sirloin, tenderloin, or a comparable word or phrase as approved by the department. ( * * *gh) "Insect-protein food product" means a food product 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 insect parts. ( * * *hi) "Label" means a display of written, printed or graphic matter placed upon any container storing a food product that is offered for sale or sold on a wholesale or retail basis, regardless of whether the label is printed on the container's packaging or a sticker affixed to the container. ( * * *ij) "Manufactured-protein food product" means a cultivated-protein food product, insect-protein food product or plant-protein food product. ( * * *jk) "Meat processing" means the handling, preparation, and slaughter of an agricultural food animal; the dressing of its carcass; or the cutting, storage, and packaging of its tissue or other parts as a food product. ( * * *kl) "Meat product" means a food product derived from meat processing. ( * * *lm) "Plant-protein food product" means a food product having one or more sensory attributes that resemble a type of tissue found in a species of agricultural food animal but that, in lieu of being derived from meat processing, is derived from manufacturing plant parts. ( * * *mn) "Qualifying term" means a word, compound word or phrase that would clearly disclose to a reasonable purchaser of meat products from a food processing plant that a food product is not a meat product. "Qualifying term" includes, but is not limited to, cell-cultivated, cell-cultured, fake, grown in a lab, imitation, insect, insect-based, insect-protein, lab-created, lab-grown, meat free, meatless, plant, plant-based, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian, veggie, or a comparable word or phrase as approved by the department. * * * (n) "Regulatory authority" means the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the State Department of Health, or the United States Department of Agriculture, with whom the Department of Agriculture and Commerce has a cooperative relationship under Section 75‑35‑201 for the purpose of carrying out the enforcement of this chapter pursuant to authority granted in Section 75‑35‑203. SECTION 2. Section 75-36-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-3. * * *(1) In conducting a routine inspection of the premises of a food processing plant licensed under Chapter 33, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972, retail or food establishment, the Department of Agriculture and Commerce is not required to determine if any food product located on the premises is misbranded as a meat product as provided in Section 75‑36‑5. ( * * *21) The department shall inspect an inventory of food products offered for sale or sold at a food processing plant, retail or food establishment based on a credible complaint that the food products are misbranded as meat products as provided in Section 75-36-5. ( * * *32) The department shall have the same powers to inspect a food processing plant under this chapter as it does under Chapters 33 and 35, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972. SECTION 3. Section 75-36-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-5. (1) A food product is misbranded as a meat product if all of the following apply: (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), the food product is a manufactured-protein food product or the food product contains a manufactured-protein food product; (b) The food product is not misbranded as a meat product only because it contains a trace amount of one or more plant-protein food products as determined by the department; (c) The food product is offered for sale * * *or sold by a food processing plant in Mississippi; (d) A label that is part of or placed on the package or other container storing the food product includes an identifying meat term; and * * *(e) Paragraph (d) does not apply (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, a food product is not misbranded if the label contains a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term in close proximity to an identifying meat term. ( * * *23) A food processing plant, retail or food establishment shall not offer for sale or sell a food product that is misbranded as a meat product as provided in this section. SECTION 4. Section 75-36-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-7. (1) If the department has reasonable cause to believe that a food processing plant, retail or food establishment is offering for sale or selling a food product that is misbranded as a meat product in violation of Section 75-36-5, the department shall issue a stop order. Upon being issued the stop order, the food processing plant, retail or food establishment shall not offer for sale or sell the food product until the department determines that the food product is or is not misbranded as a meat product. (2) The department may require that the food product be held by the food processing plant, retail or food establishment and be secured from purchase. (3) If the department determines that the food product being offered for sale or sold by a food processing plant, retail or food establishment is misbranded as a meat product, the * * *appropriate regulatory authority department may issue an embargo order requiring the food processing plant, retail or food establishment to dispose of the misbranded meat product other than by sale to purchasers in this state. (4) Upon notification of the violation by the department * * *or, the Attorney General shall enforce the stop order or embargo order by petitioning the chancery court of * * *that the county where the violation occurred. SECTION 5. Section 75-36-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-9. (1) * * *A food processing plant, retail or food establishment No entity subject to the provisions in this chapter shall * * *not misbrand a food product as a meat product as provided in Section 75-36-5 as determined by the department. (2) No person shall manufacture, sell or offer for sale in this state any cell-cultured dairy product as defined in Section 75-36-1. ( * * *23) A food processing plant, retail or food establishment violating subsections (1) or (2) of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), per day for all violations. Each day shall constitute a continuing violation subject to an additional Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per day penalty. The total penalties for violations arising out of the same transaction or occurrence shall not * * *to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) * * * total for violations arising out of the same transaction or occurrence. Each day that a violation continues constitutes a separate offense. Civil penalties collected under this subsection shall be deposited in the State General Fund. ( * * *34) * * *A food processing plant, retail or food establishment Any entity having been found to be in violation may contest the civil penalty imposed by the department through judicial review. ( * * *45) An appeal from the decision of the department to impose a civil penalty shall be made by filing a written notice of appeal with the circuit court clerk of the county where the accused resides, or in the case of a nonresident accused, in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County. The notice of appeal and the payment of costs must be filed and paid with the circuit clerk, within thirty (30) days of the entry of the order being appealed. The appeal shall be on the record and otherwise be conducted in accordance with existing laws and rules. ( * * *56) Any party aggrieved by the action of the circuit court may appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court in the manner provided by law and rules. SECTION 6. Section 75-36-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, grants the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce with authority to suspend or revoke licenses issued to a food processing plant, retail or food establishment, is repealed. SECTION 7. Section 75-36-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-13. * * *(1) The executive administrative officers of state institutions of higher learning under the authority of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, the respective boards of trustees of public community and junior colleges and local school boards, shall establish policies to prevent the purchase of food products that are misbranded as a meat product as prohibited in this chapter, or is a cultivated-protein food product as defined in this chapter. SECTION 8. Section 75-36-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 75-36-15. (1) All retail and food service establishments of food products, meats, meat-food products, cultivated-protein food products, manufactured-protein food products, insect-protein food products and plant-protein food products shall inform consumers, at the final point of sale, of the products' authenticity as a meat or nonmeat product with appropriate labeling indicating such. Notwithstanding the above reference to regulation, labeling, and recordkeeping for cultivated-protein food products, nothing contained herein is meant to legalize or authorize the manufacture or sale of such products, which are specifically made illegal by Section 75-35-15(4). (2) The methods of notification required under subsection (1) shall be accomplished as follows: (a) Retailers shall provide information to consumers by means of a label, stamp, mark, placard or other clear and visible sign on the meat or nonmeat product or on the package, display, holding unit or bin containing the meat or nonmeat at the final point of sale to consumers. If the product is already individually labeled for retail sale regarding its authenticity as a meat or nonmeat product, the retailer shall not be required to provide any additional information to comply with this section. (b) Food service establishments shall provide information to the consumer by indications on the menu of the food service establishment. For inauthentic meat items derived from cultivated-protein food products, manufactured-protein food products, insect-protein food products and plant-protein food products, the information shall be adjacent to the item on the menu and printed in the same font style and size as the item. If the food service establishment offers for sale only authentic meat and meat-food products as defined in Section * * *75‑35‑3 75-33-3, then the food service establishment may generally disclose this in a prominent location in the food service establishment in lieu of disclosure on the menu. The signage disclosing the sale of only authentic meat and meat-food products, that is to be placed in a prominent location in the food service establishment, shall be approved by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, which shall be held harmless in a cause of action for a retail or food service establishment's failure to disclose or fraudulent disclosure. Any liability arising from failure to disclose authenticity shall remain with the processor, distributor, wholesaler and the retail or food service establishment. (3) The commissioner may require that any person that prepares, stores, handles or distributes food products, meats, meat-food products, cultivated-protein food products, manufactured-protein food products, insect-protein food products and plant-protein food products for retail sale maintains a verifiable record-keeping audit trail that permits the commissioner to verify compliance with this chapter and any regulations promulgated hereunder. (4) Any distributor or wholesaler engaged in the business of supplying * * *meat, meat‑food products, cultivated-protein food products, manufactured-protein food products, insect-protein food products and plant-protein food products to a retailer or food service establishment shall provide information to the retailer or food service establishment indicating the authenticity of product as a meat or nonmeat. * * *The information shall include certification of origin through a state or federal agency that regulates the processing of meat or through a federal agency that verifies that meat and/or other products produced in countries other than the United States meets similar sanitation requirements. SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.
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