WILD GAME SAUSAGE                                                                         H.B. 5195 (H-2):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                      REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 5195 (Substitute H-2 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Andrea LaFontaine

House Committee:  Agriculture

Senate Committee:  Agriculture

CONTENT

The bill would amend provisions of the Food Law that govern the ingredients and preparation of sausage, to specify that if wild game not butchered by a licensed food establishment were made into wild game sausage that contained wild game from more than one owner, the final consumer would have to be provided with a written advisory. The advisory would have to state that the sausage was made from multiple wild game sources that had not received a whole carcass examination by a licensed food establishment.

The Food Law requires wild game, wild game product, and processing times to be kept separate from other meats and meat processing. The bill specifies, instead, that the following categories of foods would have to be kept physically separate during storage and could not be processed, prepared, or held simultaneously in the same space:

-- Raw wild game butchered by a licensed food establishment.

-- Raw wild game from sources other than a licensed food establishment, except when added to raw wild game butchered by a licensed food establishment.

-- All other foods, except for foods that would be added as ingredients to raw wild game during final product preparation.

The bill also would require a person preparing wild game sausage to comply with one of the following requirements: a) food contact surfaces would have to be thoroughly washed, rinsed, and sanitized between the processing of raw wild game butchered by a licensed food establishment, raw wild game not butchered by a licensed food establishment, and any other food, or b) processing would have to be done in the following order: foods other than raw wild game, raw wild game butchered by a licensed food processor, raw wild game not butchered by a licensed food establishment. After sequential processing, food contact surfaces would have to be thoroughly washed, rinsed, and sanitized.

MCL 289.7115                                                                  Legislative Analyst:  Jeff Mann

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

Date Completed:  10-17-14                                                   Fiscal Analyst:  Bruce Baker

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.