§317.2. Labels: definition; required features. — Inbound Citations

(a) The official inspection legend required by § 316.12 or § 317.2 of this subchapter to identify inspected and passed horse carcasses and parts of carcasses, or horse meat food products shall be in the appropriate form as hereinafter specified: 1

(a) Meat food products prepared in casing or link form (whether or not thereafter subdivided), other than sausage, which possess the characteristics of or resemble sausage, shall bear on each link or piece the word “imitation” prominently displayed: Provided, That the following need not be so marked if they bear on each link or piece the name of the product in accordance with § 317.2 of this subchapter: Such products as coppa, capocollo, lachschinken, bacon, pork loins, pork shoulder butts, and similar cuts of meat which are prepared without added substance other than curing materials or condiments; meat rolls, bockwurst, and similar products which do not contain cereal or vegetables; headcheese, souse, sulze, scrapple, blood pudding, and liver pudding; and other products such as loaves, chili con carne, and meat and cheese products when prepared with sufficient cheese to give definite characteristics to the finished products: And provided further, That imitation sausage packed in properly labeled containers having a capacity of 3 pounds or less and of a kind usually sold at retail intact, need not bear the word “imitation” on each link or piece if no other marking or labeling is applied directly to the product.

Each tank car and each tank truck carrying inspected and passed product from an official establishment shall bear a label containing the name of the product in accordance with § 317.2 of this subchapter, the official inspection legend containing the number of the official establishment and the words “date of loading,” followed by a suitable space in which the date the tank car or tank truck is loaded shall be inserted. The label shall be located conspicuously and shall be printed on material of such character and so affixed as to preclude detachment or effacement upon exposure to the weather. Before the car or truck is removed from the place where it is unloaded, the carrier shall remove or obliterate such label.

(a) When, in an official establishment, any inspected and passed product is placed in any receptacle or covering constituting an immediate container, there shall be affixed to such container a label as described in § 317.2 except that the following do not have to bear such a label.

(1) Wrappings of dressed carcasses and primal parts in an unprocessed state, bearing the official inspection legend, if such wrappings are intended solely to protect the product against soiling or excessive drying during transportation or storage, and the wrappings bear no information except company brand names, trade marks, or code numbers which do not include any information required by § 317.2;

(2) Uncolored transparent coverings, such as cellophane, which bear no written, printed, or graphic matter and which enclose any unpackaged or packaged product bearing all markings required by part 316 of this subchapter which are clearly legible through such coverings;

(3) Animal and transparent artificial casings bearing only the markings required by part 316 of this subchapter;

(4) Stockinettes used as “operative devices”, such as those applied to cured meats in preparation for smoking, whether or not such stockinettes are removed following completion of the operations for which they were applied;

(5) Containers such as boil-in bags, trays of frozen dinners, and pie pans which bear no information except company brand names, trademarks, code numbers, directions for preparation and serving suggestions, and which are enclosed in a consumer size container that bears a label as described in § 317.2;

(6) Containers of products passed for cooking or refrigeration and moved from an official establishment under § 311.1 of this subchapter.

(a) With respect to sections 1(n) (7), (9), and (12) of the Act and § 317.2, any substance mixed with another substance to cure a product must be identified in the ingredients statement on the label of such product. For example, curing mixtures composed of such ingredients as water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate, sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrite or other permitted substances which are added to any product, must be identified on the label of the product by listing each such ingredient in accordance with the provisions of § 317.2.

(a) “Chopped Beef” or “Ground Beef” shall consist of chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders. When beef cheek meat (trimmed beef cheeks) is used in the preparation of chopped or ground beef, the amount of such cheek meat shall be limited to 25 percent; and if in excess of natural proportions, its presence shall be declared on the label, in the ingredient statement required by § 317.2 of this subchapter, if any, and otherwise contiguous to the name of the product.

(b) Frankfurter, frank, furter, hot-dog, wiener, vienna, bologna, garlic bologna, knockwurst and similar cooked sausages that are labeled with the phrase “with byproducts” or “with variety meats” in the product name are comminuted, semisolid sausages consisting of not less than 15 percent of one or more kinds of raw skeletal muscle meat with raw meat byproducts, or not less than 15 percent of one or more kinds of raw skeletal muscle meat with raw meat byproducts and raw or cooked poultry products; and seasoned and cured, using one or more of the curing ingredients in accordance with a regulation permitting that use in this subchapter or in 9 CFR chapter III, subchapter E, or in 21 CFR chapter I, subchapter A or subchapter B. They may or may not be smoked. Partially defatted pork fatty tissue or partially defatted beef fatty tissue, or a combination of both, may be used in an amount not exceeding 15 percent of the meat and meat byproducts or meat, meat byproducts, and poultry products ingredients. The finished products shall not contain more than 30 percent fat. Water or ice, or both, may be used to facilitate chopping or mixing to dissolve the curing and seasoning ingredients, the sausage shall contain no more than 40 percent of a combination of fat and added water. These sausage products may contain only phosphates approved under part 318 of this chapter. These sausage products may contain poultry products and/or Mechanically Separated (Kind of Poultry) used in accordance with § 381.174, individually or in combination, not in excess of 15 percent of the total ingredients, excluding water, in the sausage, and may contain Mechanically Separated (Species) used in accordance with § 319.6. Such poultry products shall not contain kidneys or sex glands. The amount of poultry skin present in the sausage must not exceed the natural proportion of skin present on the whole carcass of the kind of poultry used in the sausage, as specified in § 381.117(d) of this chapter. The poultry products used in the sausage shall be designated in the ingredient statement on the label of such sausage in accordance with the provisions of § 381.118 of this chapter. Meat byproducts used in the sausage shall be designated individually in the ingredient statement on the label for such sausage in accordance with § 317.2 of this chapter.

(1) Shall bear a label showing in accordance with § 317.2 of this subchapter all information required by that section (except that the establishment number assigned by the foreign meat inspection system and certified to the Program and the official inspection mark of the foreign meat inspection system shall be shown instead of the official inspection legend of the United States) and in addition the name of the country of origin preceded by the words “product of,” immediately under the name or descriptive designation of the product as required by § 317.2: Provided, That such establishment number may be omitted from a label lithographed directly on a can if said number is lithographed or embossed elsewhere on the can; and

(1) The name or descriptive designation of the product in accordance with § 317.2 of this subchapter;

(4) The service will be available for products moved in tank cars and tank trucks from an official establishment or from a location operating under this service only if such tank cars or tank trucks bear a label before leaving such official establishment or such other location, in accordance with 9 CFR §§ 316.14 and 317.2.

(b) Any product, such as bacon and pepperoni, which is required to be labeled by a common or usual name or descriptive name in accordance with § 317.2(c)(1) and to which nitrate or nitrite is permitted or required to be added may be prepared without nitrate or nitrite and labeled with such common or usual name or descriptive name when immediately preceded with the term “Uncured” as part of the product name in the same size and style of lettering as the product name, provided that the product is found by the Administrator to be similar in size, flavor, consistency, and general appearance to such product as commonly prepared with nitrate or nitrite, or both.

(iii) When the descriptive designation includes all ingredients in the solution, a separate ingredients statement is not required on the label. When the descriptive designation includes multi-ingredient components and the ingredients of the component are not declared in the descriptive designation, all ingredients in the product must be declared in a separate ingredients statement on the label as required in § 317.2(c)(2) and (f).

(i) The labels on packages of meat food and poultry products irradiated in their entirety, in conformance with this section and with 21 CFR 179.26(a) and (b), must bear the logo shown at the end of this paragraph. Unless the word “Irradiated” is part of the product name, labels also must bear a statement such as “Treated with radiation” or “Treated by irradiation.” The logo must be placed in conjunction with the required statement, if the statement is used. The statement is not required to be more prominent than the declaration of ingredients required under § 317.2(c)(2) of this chapter.

This part prescribes the procedures to be followed for determining net weight compliance and prescribes the reasonable variations allowed from the declared net weight on the labels of immediate containers of products in accordance with 9 CFR 317.2(c)(4), 317.2(h), and 381.121.

(iii) When the descriptive designation includes all ingredients in the solution, a separate ingredients statement is not required on the label. When the descriptive designation includes multi-ingredient components and the ingredients of the component are not declared in the descriptive designation, all ingredients in the product must be declared in a separate ingredients statement on the label as required in § 317.2(c)(2) and (f).

(ii) Any ingredient not designated in § 317.2(f)(1)(i) of this part whose function is flavoring, either in whole or in part, must be designated by its common or usual name. Those ingredients which are of livestock and poultry origin must be designated by names that include the species and livestock and poultry tissues from which the ingredients are derived.

(2) This disclaimer shall be in easily legible print or type and in a size no less than that required by § 317.2(h) for the net quantity of contents statement, except where the size of the claim is less than two times the required size of the net quantity of contents statement, in which case the disclaimer statement shall be no less than one-half the size of the claim but no smaller than 1/16-inch minimum height, except as permitted by § 317.400(d)(2).

This part prescribes the procedures to be followed for determining net weight compliance and prescribes the reasonable variations allowed from the declared net weight on the labels of immediate containers of products in accordance with 9 CFR 317.2(c)(4), 317.2(h), and 381.121.

The label of any package of a meat or meat food product that bears a representation as to the number of servings contained in such package shall meet the requirements of § 317.2(h)(10).

(c) A cooked sausage as defined in paragraph (a) of this section shall be labeled by its generic name, e.g., frankfurter, frank, furter, hotdog, wiener, vienna, bologna, garlic bologna, or knockwurst. When such sausage products are prepared with meat from a single species of cattle, sheep, swine, or goats they shall be labeled with the term designating the particular species in conjunction with the generic name, e.g., “Beef Frankfurter,” and when such sausage products are prepared in part with Mechanically Separated (Species) in accordance with § 319.6, they shall be labeled in accordance with § 317.2(j)(13) of this subchapter.

Antimicrobial agent. A substance in or added to an RTE product that has the effect of reducing or eliminating a microorganism, including a pathogen such as L. monocytogenes, or that has the effect of suppressing or limiting growth of L. monocytogenes in the product throughout the shelf life of the product. Examples of antimicrobial agents added to RTE products are potassium lactate and sodium diacetate.

(4) Meat or meat products intended for further processing at another official establishment are exempt from the requirements prescribed in paragraphs (l)(1) through (l)(3) of this section.

(4) Meat or meat products intended for further processing at another official establishment are exempt from the requirements prescribed in paragraphs (l)(1) through (l)(3) of this section.

(4) Meat or meat products intended for further processing at another official establishment are exempt from the requirements prescribed in paragraphs (l)(1) through (l)(3) of this section.