---
kind: "section"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 602"
title: "21"
title_heading: "Food and Drugs"
number: "602"
heading: "Congressional statement of findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/602"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Meat Inspection"
  - "Subchapter I — Inspection Requirements; Adulteration and Misbranding"
---

# §602. Congressional statement of findings


Meat and [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j) are an important source of the Nation’s total supply of food. They are consumed throughout the Nation and the major portion thereof moves in interstate or foreign [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h). It is essential in the public interest that the health and welfare of consumers be protected by assuring that meat and [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j) distributed to them are wholesome, not [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), and properly marked, labeled, and packaged. Unwholesome, [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), or [misbranded](/usc/21/601.md?p=n) meat or [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j) impair the effective regulation of meat and [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j) in interstate or foreign [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), are injurious to the public welfare, destroy markets for wholesome, not [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), and properly labeled and packaged meat and [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j), and result in sundry losses to livestock producers and processors of meat and [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j), as well as injury to consumers. The unwholesome, [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), mislabeled, or deceptively packaged articles can be sold at lower prices and compete unfairly with the wholesome, not [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), and properly labeled and packaged articles, to the detriment of consumers and the public generally. It is hereby found that all articles and animals which are regulated under this chapter are either in interstate or foreign [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h) or substantially affect such [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), and that regulation by the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) and cooperation by the [States](/usc/21/601.md?p=f) and other jurisdictions as contemplated by this chapter are appropriate to prevent and eliminate burdens upon such [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), to effectively regulate such [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), and to protect the health and welfare of consumers.


## Source credit

(Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, title I, § 2, as added Pub. L. 90–201, § 2, Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 587.)