legislation: 101-s-2228
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| 101-s-2228 | 101 | s | 2228 | Consumer Seafood Safety and Quality Assurance Act of 1990 | Commerce | 1990-03-01 | 1990-07-13 | Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 690. | Senate | Sen. Hollings, Ernest F. [D-SC] | SC | D | H000725 | 5 | Consumer Seafood Safety and Quality Assurance Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary), in cooperation with the Secretary of Commerce, to establish a comprehensive seafood safety and quality assurance program for fish and fish products. Sets forth program requirements. Requires the program to be consistent, to the extent practicable, with the guidelines for the National Shellfish Sanitation Program developed by the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. Directs the Secretary to: (1) prescribe health-based and other standards of sanitation and quality control for the processing of fish and fish products; and (2) prescribe standards of identity and composition, minimum quality, and fill of container for fish and fish products. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, to promote commerce in fish and fish products, to establish voluntary grading criteria for fish and fish products which exceed minimum quality standards. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) prescribe standards for fish growing and harvesting areas; and (2) assess the effectiveness of existing Federal standards and guidelines for classifying shellfish growing areas in minimizing hazards associated with the human consumption of shellfish and closure of growing areas containing safe and wholesome shellfish. Provides for the triennial review of Federal seafood standards. Directs the Secretary to contract with the National Academy of Sciences for a report to: (1) identify the contaminants likely to be found in fish and fish products and which are likely to cause such products to be injurious to health; (2) recommend priorities for standards for contaminant levels on the basis of health risks; and (3) provide other data or assistance, as necessary. Requires the Secretary to establish standards for contaminants most likely to be found in fish and fish products and most likely to be injurious to human health. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish procedures for the registration of processing facilities and persons engaged in the commercial importation of fish and fish products. Prohibits any facility or importer from handling such products unless registered by the Secretary of Commerce. Sets forth application requirements, sanctions for failures to comply with this Act, and registration reinstatement procedures. Directs the Secretary to establish an inspection system for fish and fish products to protect the public from adulteration or misbranding. Requires segregation, condemnation, and destruction of adulterated or misbranded fish and fish products, unless they are brought into compliance with this Act by relabeling or other action. Sets forth labeling requirements for processed fish and fish products. Requires a written report to be given to the owner or operator of a processing facility after inspection and before leaving the facility. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a system to monitor and classify geographical growing and harvesting areas from which significant quantities of fish or fish products not in compliance with this Act may be reasonably expected to originate. Requires the Secretary of Commerce, if it is determined that fish harvested from an area are likely to be unsafe, to designate such area as a restricted harvesting area. Deems an area as restricted for shellfish if the State with jurisdiction over the area: (1) does not have an equivalent monitoring and classification system in effect; or (2) has such a system and has prohibited the harvesting of shellfish from such area. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to periodically review designated areas and modify such designations, as appropriate. Requires the Secretary to require any person who owns or operates a processing facility or who is engaged in the importation of fish or fish products to recall any fish or fish product if there is a reasonable probability that the product will cause a serious, adverse health consequence or death. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations for tracing products in connection with a recall. Prohibits entering, or withdrawing from warehouse, any fish or fish product unless it complies with certain requirements. Requires that, upon entry for consumption in the United States, fish products satisfying such requirements be deemed to be and treated as domestic fish or fish products. Requires enforcement through random inspections, sampling, and any other procedures necessary. Requires destruction of fish and fish products in violation of these provisions unless exported or brought into compliance. Requires other costs resulting from denial of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, to be paid by the owner or consignee, with nonpayment constituting a lien against the fish or fish product and any other fish or fish product thereafter entered or withdrawn by such owner or consignee. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to enter into an agreement with each nation desiring to export fish or fish products to the United States. Directs the Secretary, prior to concluding such an agreement, to evaluate the seafood safety and quality assurance program of the foreign nation to determine if such program is equivalent to the program established under this Act. Requires such agreements to provide for reciprocity with respect to imports and exports of fish and fish products between the two nations. Directs the Secretary to issue certificates to nations having such programs. Provides for inspection of all fish or fish products from nations not having a valid agreement with the United States or not having certificates. Subjects fish or fish products from nations having such certificates to random inspections, sampling, testing, and other actions. Provides for the review of certificates at least every five years and the revocation of certificates of nations not maintaining equivalent inspection and quality assurance programs. Allows fish or fish products to be exempted from specific requirements of this Act if necessary to avoid conflict with a law or custom of the importing nation. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) inspect fish or fish products intended for export as necessary to ensure compliance with this Act; and (2) upon request, provide a certificate of export stating the condition of fish or fish products inspected. Prohibits specified acts relating to: processing; selling; transporting; adulterating or misbranding; labeling; forging; counterfeiting, or using without authorization marks or registrations; inspection; and records maintenance. Provides for civil and criminal penalties. Exempts common carriers from the penalties in certain circumstances. Prohibits discrimination against any employee who: (1) files a complaint or institutes or testifies in a proceeding relating to a violation of this Act; or (2) refuses to perform a duty which would result in a violation of this Act. Authorizes employees who believe they have been discriminated against to file complaints with the Secretary of Labor. Sets forth provisions concerning relief for employees who have been adversely affected. Requires the Secretary, through the Centers for Disease Control, to establish an active surveillance system to provide an estimate of the frequency and sources of human disease in the United States associated with the consumption of fish and fish products. Directs the Secretary to assess health hazards with respect to: (1) fish and fish products that are commercially harvested and processed as compared with those harvested for recreational or subsistence purposes and prepared noncommercially; (2) fish and fish products that are domestically harvested and processed as compared with imported fish and fish products; and (3) contamination originating from practices both prior to and after the sale of fish or fish products to consumers. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce to design and implement a national consumer education and information program on seafood, under which the Secretary is required to provide to consumers information on the health hazards associated with the consumption of fish and fish products. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a five-year shellfish indicator research program to develop a system of classification of shellfish growing waters based on the latest technological advancements in microbiology and epidemiological methods. Requires the research program to evaluate representative estuaries in each of the major U.S. shellfish growing regions and make recommendations pertaining to shellfish management and regulatory considerations. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) carry out the research program through grants to eligible applicants; and (2) establish an advisory panel to assist in the development and implementation of the research program. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce to publish a strategic research plan for the requirements of this Act. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce to encourage States to have programs at least equal to the program established by this Act. Authorizes the provision to a State of advice, technical and laboratory assistance and training, and financial and other aid. Allows the Governor of any State desiring to administer its own seafood safety and quality assurance program to apply to the Secretary for approval. Directs the Secretary to approve the State program for up to five years if certain requirements are met. Provides for monitoring of State programs. Directs the Secretary to annually grant to each State with an approved program 60 percent of the cost of operating a federally equivalent program. Authorizes the appropriate Secretary, for States not approved for their own programs, to deputize specific State employees to carry out inspection and monitoring activities. Exempts from this Act: (1) processing by an individual for the individual's own use; (2) processing facilities solely processing fish products not intended for human consumption; (3) any restaurant, retail store, or recreational vessel; and (4) contract or common carriers. Exempts from specified requirements of this Act certain vessels that harvest or commercially prepare fish or fish products. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to study: (1) the role of exempted vessels in providing fish and fish products; and (2) the necessity of including any particular type or class of such vessels in the registration or inspection system. Authorizes appropriations. | 2025-01-14T18:51:33Z |