Sponsors (7)
The bill creates nationwide clarity and consumer protection by defining “natural cheese,” but shifts compliance costs and labeling limits onto some small and specialty producers while limiting states' ability to set their own rules.
Consumers nationwide get a clear, uniform federal definition of “natural cheese,” making it easier to distinguish true natural cheese from processed products and reducing misleading “natural” claims.
Cheese producers that already meet the federal standard can market products as “natural cheese” across states without facing inconsistent state rules, enabling broader marketing and potentially expanding sales.
A uniform federal standard reduces labeling confusion and creates regulatory consistency for producers and regulators, simplifying compliance and enforcement across state lines.
Small cheesemaking businesses may face new regulatory and labeling costs to comply with the federal definition, imposing financial and administrative burdens.
Manufacturers of processed or cold-pack cheeses will be barred from labeling their products as “natural,” which could reduce sales, force rebranding, and harm some niche producers.
Federal preemption of state labeling rules reduces states' ability to adopt stricter or alternative labeling standards tailored to local preferences or protections.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Ron Johnson · Last progress January 22, 2025
Creates a federal statutory definition of “natural cheese,” limits labeling using the words “natural,” “all-natural,” or “natural cheese” to products that meet that definition, and makes that labeling rule federally uniform by preempting conflicting state requirements. The definition ties “natural cheese” to cheeses produced by coagulating milk or milk products (including non-cow lacteal secretions) or by processing techniques that produce equivalent physical and sensory characteristics, and it expressly excludes a set of processed cheese categories and other designated process cheeses.