Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1394 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1394
5	5	To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to define the term
6	6	natural cheese.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY14, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	TEIL(for himself and Mr. COSTA) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to
14	14	define the term natural cheese.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Codifying Useful Regu-4
19	19	latory Definitions Act’’ or the ‘‘CURD Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
21	21	Congress finds as follows: 7
22	22	(1) There is a need to define the term ‘‘natural 8
23	23	cheese’’ in order to maintain transparency and con-9
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26	26	•HR 1394 IH
27	27	sistency for consumers so that they may differen-1
28	28	tiate ‘‘natural cheese’’ from ‘‘process cheese’’. 2
29	29	(2) The term ‘‘natural cheese’’ has been used 3
30	30	within the cheese making industry for more than 50 4
31	31	years and is well-established. 5
32	32	SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF NATURAL CHEESE. 6
33	33	(a) D
34	34	EFINITION.—Section 201 of the Federal Food, 7
35	35	Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321) is amended by 8
36	36	adding at the end the following: 9
37	37	‘‘(ss)(1) The term ‘natural cheese’ means cheese that 10
38	38	is a ripened or unripened soft, semi-soft, or hard product, 11
39	39	which may be coated, that is produced— 12
40	40	‘‘(A) by— 13
41	41	‘‘(i) coagulating wholly or partly the pro-14
42	42	tein of milk, skimmed milk, partly skimmed 15
43	43	milk, cream, whey cream, or buttermilk, or any 16
44	44	combination of such ingredients, through the 17
45	45	action of rennet or other suitable coagulating 18
46	46	agents, and by partially draining the whey re-19
47	47	sulting from the coagulation, while respecting 20
48	48	the principle that cheese-making results in a 21
49	49	concentration of milk protein (in particular, the 22
50	50	casein portion), and that consequently, the pro-23
51	51	tein content of the cheese will be distinctly 24
52	52	higher than the protein level of the blend of the 25
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55	55	•HR 1394 IH
56	56	above milk materials from which the cheese was 1
57	57	made; or 2
58	58	‘‘(ii) processing techniques involving coagu-3
59	59	lation of the protein of milk or products ob-4
60	60	tained from milk to produce an end-product 5
61	61	with similar physical, chemical, and organolep-6
62	62	tic characteristics as the product described in 7
63	63	subclause (i); and 8
64	64	‘‘(iii) including the addition of safe and 9
65	65	suitable non-milk derived ingredients of the 10
66	66	type permitted in the standards of identity de-11
67	67	scribed in clause (B) as natural cheese; or 12
68	68	‘‘(B) in accordance with standards of identity 13
69	69	under part 133 of title 21, Code of Federal Regula-14
70	70	tions (or any successor regulations), other than the 15
71	71	standards described in subparagraph (2) or any fu-16
72	72	ture standards adopted by the Secretary in accord-17
73	73	ance with subparagraph (2)(I). 18
74	74	‘‘(2) Such term does not include— 19
75	75	‘‘(A) pasteurized process cheeses as defined in 20
76	76	section 133.169, 133.170, or 133.171 of title 21, 21
77	77	Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu-22
78	78	lations); 23
79	79	‘‘(B) pasteurized process cheese foods as de-24
80	80	fined in section 133.173 or 133.174 of title 21, Code 25
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83	83	•HR 1394 IH
84	84	of Federal Regulations (or any successor regula-1
85	85	tions); 2
86	86	‘‘(C) pasteurized cheese spreads as defined in 3
87	87	section 133.175, 133.176, or 133.178 of title 21, 4
88	88	Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu-5
89	89	lations); 6
90	90	‘‘(D) pasteurized process cheese spreads as de-7
91	91	fined in section 133.179 or 133.180 of title 21, Code 8
92	92	of Federal Regulations (or any successor regula-9
93	93	tions); 10
94	94	‘‘(E) pasteurized blended cheeses as defined in 11
95	95	section 133.167 or 133.168 of title 21, Code of Fed-12
96	96	eral Regulations (or any successor regulations); 13
97	97	‘‘(F) any products comparable to any product 14
98	98	described in any of clauses (A) through (E); 15
99	99	‘‘(G) cold pack cheeses as defined in section 16
100	100	133.123, 133.124, or 133.125 title 21, Code of Fed-17
101	101	eral Regulations (or any successor regulations); 18
102	102	‘‘(H) grated American cheese food as defined in 19
103	103	section 133.147 of title 21, Code of Federal Regula-20
104	104	tions (or any successor regulations); or 21
105	105	‘‘(I) any other product the Secretary may des-22
106	106	ignate as a process cheese. 23
107	107	‘‘(3) For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘milk’ 24
108	108	has the meaning given such term in section 133.3 of title 25
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111	111	•HR 1394 IH
112	112	21, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regula-1
113	113	tions) and includes the lacteal secretions from animals 2
114	114	other than cows.’’. 3
115	115	(b) L
116	116	ABELING.—Section 403 of the Federal Food, 4
117	117	Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343) is amended by 5
118	118	adding at the end the following: 6
119	119	‘‘(z) If its label or labeling includes the term ‘natural 7
120	120	cheese’ as a factual descriptor of a category of cheese un-8
121	121	less the food meets the definition of natural cheese under 9
122	122	section 201(ss), except that nothing in this paragraph 10
123	123	shall prohibit the use of the term ‘natural’ or ‘all-natural’, 11
124	124	or a similar claim or statement with respect to a food in 12
125	125	a manner that is consistent with regulations, guidance, or 13
126	126	policy statements issued by the Secretary.’’. 14
127	127	(c) N
128	128	ATIONALUNIFORMITY.—Section 403A(a)(2) of 15
129	129	the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 16
130	130	343–1(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘or 403(x)’’ and in-17
131	131	serting ‘‘403(x), or 403(z)’’. 18
132	132	Æ
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