HOW FOOD & DRUGS ARE REGULATED

The State Department of Health and Services and the Department of Food and Agriculture have the responsibility of providing all the necessary standards relating to the identity and quality of food products that are sold and manufactured. This includes the power to dictate what optional ingredients are allowed in foods or to classify the word and to designate how optional ingredients are named on the label and to make sure that there is no deception in the sale and distribution of the product.

California has adopted standards and definitions for food that are provided by the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. These standards include regulation on the identity, quality, and fill of the container.

ADULTERATED FOODS

• These foods bear or contain poisonous or deleterious substances that may render the food injurious to the health of humans or any animals that may eat it. A food is not considered adulterated if it is a naturally occurring substance and if the quantity of the substance in the food does not make it harmful to the health of a human being.

• It is unlawful for any person to adulterate food as well as manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale any food that is adulterated. It is also unlawful to receive or deliver any food that is adulterated.

• A food dealer may not be prosecuted for selling adulterated food if the original, unbroken, and undamaged package bears the original labeling, and if the dealer has used reasonable care (care that an ordinary person would use) in the storage and handling of the food.

• A food is adulterated if it contains any unsafe food or color additives or if the food consists of a diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance. This includes food that has been held under unsanitary conditions, and intentionally subjected to ionizing radiation. It can be adulterated if any valuable constituent is omitted or removed from the food.

MISBRANDED FOODS

• Food is misbranded if it has a label that is false, misleading or if the labeling or packaging does not conform to the statutory requirements.

• If the food is packaged it must have a label on it that contains the name and place of the business that manufactured the food, packer, or the distributor. It must also contain an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents of the food.

• If the food contains two or more ingredients the label must state the common or usual name of each ingredient

• Food is misbranded if the quality of the food is prescribed or dictated by law and the food falls below that standard.

• It is unlawful for any person to misbrand a food or to manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale any food that is misbranded. No food dealer can be prosecuted for misbranded food that is contained in the original, unbroken, undamaged package that bears the original label if care that an ordinary person would use was done in the handling and storing of the food.

• The label on the food must follow the requirement for nutrition labeling and content.

• When the food is a retail cut of beef, veal, lamb or pork, the label must indicate the species of the food(beef, veal, lamb, pork), the primal cut from which the meat came, and the retail name.

WHOLESALE FOODS

• The applicable law for wholesale foods comes from the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law that regulates the storage and handling of wholesale food. This includes provisions that dictate the jars and bottles to be used as well as the beverage containers.

• It is unlawful to sell in bulk any jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades, peanut butter, horseradish, mayonnaise or salad dressings in any container that might allow flies, insects, dust, dirt, or foreign materials to contaminate the food.

• No beverage containers may be sold that are connected by rings that are not degradable.

• When a nonalcoholic soft drink is bottled, the name and address of the bottler or distributor must be permanently and distinctly printed on the bottle.

HOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES ENFORCES REGULATIONS

• The department has the authority to control and regulate the actions of all local health authorities and to investigate the preparation of foods and the sale of food and its adulteration. This includes the ability to seize food that is in violation of the law.

• The department has the ability to authorize the local health department of a city, county, city and county, or local health district to enforce provisions of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law.

• When a violation has occurred and is recorded, the alleged violator is entitled to notice and a hearing.

• The department has discretion in reporting minor infractions when they think that the public interest is best served through a warning. Other options include contacting the attorney general and having a proceeding instituted in court or assessing a civil penalty.

• Any person who violates the Sherman Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Law is subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both.

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