HB 1153

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.