Food Inspection Decision 26. Labeling Imported Food Products

By reason of representations which were made before this Department on June 14 by a committee representing the importers of New York, it is hereby ordered that all cases of inspection of imported food products to date, where exclusion thereof has been required by reason of misbranding or false labeling, may be reopened with permission to relabel, if granted by the Secretary of the Treasury, under supervision of an official detailed from the Treasury Department for that purpose. These labels shall be in the form of a paster attached securely to, or just above or below the principal label, in a manner not to be easily detached, and bearing a legend showing the contents of the package not of the nature represented by the principal label, in letters not smaller in size than long primer capitals of the usual facing, such labels to be submitted to the proper representative of this Department and be approved as satisfactory before the release of the invoice.

In order to more clearly set forth the requirements of this Department as contained in Circulars 18 and 21 of the Bureau of Chemistry (F. I. D. 4 and ) and in other publications of the Department, the following general principles of labeling of food products are to be observed:

1. A food product should be designated by its usual name, English name preferred, and need not bear any further description of its components or qualities. Food products which are prepared by established processes of refining need not bear upon the label any statement respecting the refining process. For illustration, the term “flour” is sufficient for the food product known by that name; the term “olive oil” is sufficient for the food product known by that name. The usual processes of manufacture and refining in these cases are not required to be stated.

2. When any foreign substance is added to a food product other than that necessary to its manufacture or refining, the label should bear a statement to that effect. For instance, a food product which is artificially colored or to which a preservative has been added should have these facts appear upon the label. If a substance which itself is not a coloring matter be added to a food product for the purpose of preserving or intensifying the natural color of the food, the name of the substance shall be specifically mentioned, as, for instance, when sulfate of copper is used to intensify or preserve the green color of food products.

3. Where a substance which is generally understood to have specific qualities in the preparation of a food product is replaced by another substance either of a similar nature or entirely different thereto but with some of the same qualities, the name of the substituted substance should appear upon the label. For instance, sugar is the usual sweetening substance in the preparation of certain food products. If the sugar is wholly or in part replaced by another substance, such as glucose, that fact should appear. If the sweetening substance used be saccharin, a substance which is not related to sugars at all, the label should indicate such substitution. Where olive oil is used in the preparation of foods and where it is understood by the term “oil” that olive oil is indicated, the substitution of any other edible oil for the olive oil should be noted on the label.

4. Where a substance is made up of fragments or scraps of the material usually known by the name upon the label, the name of the substance alone will be deemed a misbranding. For instance, if the fragments of stems and pieces of mushrooms which remain after the canning of the mushrooms themselves be labeled “mushrooms” alone it will be deemed misbranding. Such a package should be labeled “pieces and stems of mushrooms” or some similar appellation. If the cores and peelings of apples be labeled “apples” alone a similar condition is presented and the name will be deemed insufficient and misleading.

5. If any essential or important ingredient of a food product be abstracted, and such abstraction is not necessary nor usual in the preparation or refining of such food body, the label should plainly indicate the ingredient thus removed. For instance, if a portion of the butter fat be removed from milk, even if there remain a sufficient quantity of butter fat to comply with the standard, such an abstraction is to be noted on the label.

6. A food product which is misbranded in respect to the locality or country where it is made, produced, or manufactured, under the provisions of the law is misbranded and is not entitled to entry. For instance, if the product of one country, as the olive oils of Spain, be sent to an Italian port and there bottled and labeled as Italian oil, such a label will be deemed to be a misbranding. If wine grown in Algeria or Italy be bottled in France as a French wine it will be deemed a misbranded product.

7. If a food product bear a name which is in any way misleading in regard to the quality, character, or origin of the product it is a misbranding under the law and is a sufficient cause for the exclusion of the goods covered by the invoice from entry.

8. The addition of the ordinary condimental substances to a food product, such as sugar, vinegar, salt, spices, and wood smoke, may be practiced without any notice to this effect appearing upon the label.

9. Food products of any given name are to correspond in quality to the standards established by authority of Congress for such products, and if they vary from this standard a notice to that effect is to appear upon the label.

10. The presentation of properly labeled food products as outlined above does not insure their admission. Such products, even when properly labeled, may be refused entry because of threatened injury to health or because they are of a nature forbidden in the country in which they are made or from which they are exported.

11. The principal label on a food product, that is, the part of the label which declares the character of the product, should not be connected with any statement relating to the wholesomeness or hygienic qualities of the product itself, nor should it contain any reference to the laws relating to such products either applying to the country where made or to this country. These are questions which are reserved especially for the consideration of this Department by act of Congress, and any attempt to prejudice the consumer regarding the matter should not be connected in any way with the label itself.

12. The actual form and character of the label are left to the judgment of the manufacturer. The regulations require certain notings of added substances to be in the English language and of a size and distinctness easily legible and occupying a position directly on the label and not to the side nor on the margin, nor in any position where the label itself could be read without the attention of the reader being directed to the name of the added substance or other special inscription.

13. The privilege of relabeling after arrival at a port in this country, as hereby extended, shall cease on and after September 1, 1905, thus giving ample time for all cargoes now afloat to reach our ports.

14. The name of the added substance or of the abstracted substance required by the above regulations should appear as nearly as possible in connection with the name of the food product upon the original label and in a position as conspicuous as that of the food product itself and as legible. The size of type required, namely, not smaller than long primer capitals, is the minimum size which it is deemed would be easily legible to a consumer in looking at a package of food products as offered him in ordinary trade. The letters should be not less in size nor less distinct in facing than the following legend:

COLORED WITH SULFATE OF COPPER,

and in all cases this descriptive matter is to be printed in the English language, whatever be the language used in naming the food products. In all food products packed subsequent to September 1, 1905, the descriptive matter mentioned in this circular as necessary for proper labeling will be required to be a part of the original label and not attached as a paster. In food products packed and labeled prior to September 1, 1905, the paster above described will be admitted upon certificate of this fact until May 1, 1906, after which only original labels of correct form are to be admitted as sufficient for the purpose of correct labeling.

Previous decisions not in harmony with the present order are hereby modified in accordance with the above regulations.

Approved:
James Wilson,
Secretary of Agriculture.
Washington, D. C., June 22, 1905.

F. I. D. 27-30.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY,
H. W. WILEY, Chief of Bureau.