Food labeling; require any food containing any mRNA vaccines to be clearly and conspicuously labeled.

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To: Agriculture; Public
Health and Human Services
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative Eubanks

HOUSE BILL NO. 783

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-35-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, 1
TO PROHIBIT THE SALE OF ANY FOOD THAT CONTAINS A MESSENGER 2
RIBONUCLEIC ACID (MRNA) VACCINE OR VACCINE MATERIAL UNLESS THE 3
FOOD LABELING CONTAINS A CONSPICUOUS NOTIFICATION OF THE PRESENCE 4
OF THE MRNA VACCINE OR VACCINE MATERIAL IN THE FOOD; TO PROVIDE 5
THAT NOTHING PROHIBITS A PERSON FROM LABELING MEAT OR A MEAT 6
PRODUCT AS "MRNA FREE" IF THE ANIMALS FROM WHICH THE MEAT OR MEAT 7
PRODUCT WAS DERIVED WERE NOT ADMINISTERED AN MRNA VACCINE; AND FOR 8
RELATED PURPOSES. 9
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 10
SECTION 1. Section 75-35-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 11
amended as follows: 12
75-35-15. (1) When any meat or meat-food product has been 13
inspected as hereinbefore provided and marked "Mississippi 14
inspected and passed" or appropriate marking shall be placed or 15
packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or 16
covering in any establishment where inspection under the 17
provisions of this chapter is maintained, the person, firm, or 18
corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be 19
attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or 20
covering, under supervision of an inspector, which label shall 21
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state that the contents thereof have been "Mississippi inspected 22
and passed" or appropriate marking under the provisions of this 23
chapter, and no inspection and examination of meat or meat-food 24
products deposited or enclosed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or 25
other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection 26
under the provisions of this chapter is maintained shall be deemed 27
to be complete until such meat or meat-food products have been 28
sealed or enclosed in said can, tin, pot, canvas, or other 29
receptacle or covering under the supervision of an inspector. 30
(2) All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat-food 31
products inspected at any establishment under the authority of 32
this chapter and found to be not adulterated, shall at the time 33
they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, 34
directly thereon or on their containers, as the commissioner may 35
require, the information required under paragraph (k) of Section 36
75-35-3. 37
(3) The commissioner, whenever he determines such action is 38
necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe: 39
(a) The styles and sizes of type to be used with 40
respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to 41
avoid false or misleading labeling of any products or animals 42
subject to this article or Article 3 of this chapter; and 43
(b) Definitions and standards of identity or 44
composition for items subject to this article and standards of 45
fill of container for such products not inconsistent with any such 46
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standards established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 47
Act, or under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and there shall be 48
consultation between the commissioner and the Secretary of 49
Agriculture of the United States prior to the issuance of such 50
standards to avoid inconsistency between such standards and the 51
federal standards. 52
(4) (a) No item or product subject to this article shall be 53
sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, corporation, 54
retailer or food service establishment under any name or other 55
marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any 56
container of a misleading form or size, but established trade 57
names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not 58
false or misleading and which are approved by the commissioner, 59
are permitted. A food product or cultivated-protein food product 60
that contains cultured animal tissue produced from animal cell 61
cultures outside of the organism from which it is derived shall 62
not be manufactured or sold within the state. A plant-based, 63
plant-protein, insect-based or insect-protein food product shall 64
not be labeled as meat or a meat-food product. A 65
manufactured-protein food product, as defined in Section 1 of this 66
act, shall not be labeled as meat or a meat-food product. 67
(b) Every person, firm, corporation, retailer or food 68
service establishment governed by the provisions of this chapter 69
shall inform consumers, at the final point of sale, of the 70
products' authenticity as a meat or nonmeat product with 71
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appropriate labeling indicating such in a manner consistent with 72
the requirements of Section 75-36-15. 73
(5) If the commissioner has reason to believe that any 74
marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or 75
proposed for use with respect to any item subject to this article 76
is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such 77
use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is 78
modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be 79
false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or 80
proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not 81
accept the determination of the commissioner, such person, firm, 82
or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, 83
labeling, or container shall, if the commissioner so directs, be 84
withheld pending hearing and final determination by the 85
commissioner. Any party aggrieved by such final determination 86
may, within thirty (30) days after receipt of notice of such final 87
determination, effect an appeal therefrom to the chancery court of 88
the county in which such party resides or in which the principal 89
place of his business is domiciled; and, on appeal, such chancery 90
court shall affirm, modify, or set aside the commissioner's final 91
determination. 92
(6) The manufacture, sale, or delivery, holding, or offering 93
for sale of any food that contains a messenger ribonucleic acid 94
(mRNA) vaccine or vaccine material unless the food labeling 95
contains a conspicuous notification of the presence of the vaccine 96
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ST: Food labeling; require any food containing
any mRNA vaccines to be clearly and
conspicuously labeled.
or vaccine material in the food. For purposes of this subsection 97
"mRNA vaccine or vaccine material" means a substance intended for 98
use in humans to stimulate the production of antibodies and 99
provide immunity against disease, prepared from the causative 100
agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, 101
treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease, that is 102
authorized or approved by the United States Food and Drug 103
Administration. 104
(7) Nothing in this section or any other law prohibits a 105
person from labeling meat or a meat product as "mRNA free" or any 106
similar designation, if the animals from which the meat or meat 107
product was derived were not administered a mRNA vaccine or 108
vaccine material. 109
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 110
and after July 1, 2026. 111