Section 25-A1103. FOOD LABELING REQUIREMENTS - COMMINUTED MEATS

 

1103.1No person shall convey into the District, sell, offer for sale, or use any food that does not conform to this section.

 

1103.2All products identified under this section as "Chopped Beef," "Breakfast Sausage," and "Ground Beef," "Hamburger," "Fabricated Steak," "Fresh Pork Sausage," or “Sausage” when they are labeled, advertised, or indicated to be "lean," "extra lean," or of lesser fat content than the maximum fat content for that product, as allowed by the USDA, shall, at the time offered for retail sale, display by percentage the fat content of each product, in accordance with this Code.

 

1103.3Fat content shall be displayed on the package in which the product is sold, or shall be displayed on a sign placed conspicuously near the product.

 

1103.4Display of fat content shall be in letters no smaller than one-eighth inch (1/8 in.) on packages and no smaller than one-half inch (1/2 in.) on signs.                

 

1103.5Comminuted meats if offered for sale as being a specific cut shall be labeled as such, shall be made solely from such cut, and shall not contain added fat.

 

1103.6Meats that are labeled "Chopped Beef" or "Ground Beef" shall consist of comminuted meats which are fresh or frozen beef, or both, with or without seasoning, without the addition of beef fat and shall not contain added water, binders, extenders, color additives, preservatives, or more than thirty percent (30%) fat.

 

1103.7Meats that are labeled “Hamburger” shall consist of comminuted fresh or frozen beef, or both, with or without the addition of beef fat or seasoning, and shall not contain added water, binders, extenders, color additives, or preservatives.

 

1103.8Fabricated beef steaks, fabricated veal steaks, fabricated beef and veal steaks, and similar products, shall be prepared by comminuting and forming the product from fresh or frozen meat, or both, with or without added fat, and shall not contain added water, binders, color additives, extenders, hydrolyzed plant protein, or preservatives.

 

1103.9Meats that are labeled "Fresh Pork Sausage" shall consist of comminuted fresh pork or frozen pork, or both, not including pork by-products, with or without seasoning added.  To facilitate chopping or mixing, water or ice may be used in an amount not to exceed three percent (3%) of the total ingredients used. The product shall not contain color additives, preservatives, or more than fifty percent (50%) trimmable fat.

 

1103.10Meats that are labeled "Breakfast Sausage" shall consist of comminuted fresh or frozen meat, or both, or meat and meat by-products, with or without seasoning added.  To facilitate chopping or mixing, water or ice may be used in an amount not to exceed three percent (3%) of the total ingredients used.  Extenders or binders may be used to the extent of three and a half percent (3.5%) of the finished sausage. The product shall not contain color additives, preservatives, or more than fifty percent (50%) fat.

 

1103.11Meats that are labeled "Sausage", raw or cooked, shall consist of one (1) or more kinds of comminuted meat and meat by-products. The amounts of added water in raw sausage shall not exceed three percent (3%) of the total ingredients used.  Raw sausage shall not contain color additives, preservatives, or more than fifty percent (50%) fat.

 

1103.12In the case of cooked sausage, frankfurter, wiener, Vienna, bologna, garlic bologna, and knockwurst, the added water content shall not exceed ten percent (10%).  The product may be seasoned and may contain binders and extenders (for example, cereal, vegetables, starch vegetable flour, soy flour, soy protein concentrate, non-fat dry milk, calcium reduced skim milk, or dried milk); provided, that the finished product contains not more than three and a half percent (3.5%) of these additives individually or collectively. The fat content shall not exceed thirty percent (30%).

 

1103.13Packages in which raw and cooked sausages are sold shall be labeled as to the meat and meat by-products composition of the product in letters no smaller than one-eighth inch (1/8 in.).  If such products are not sold in packages, signs bearing letters no smaller than one half inch (1/2 in.) shall be conspicuously posted nearby.

 

1103.14Except where the manufacturer and the retail seller are under common ownership or control, it shall not be considered a violation of this section to sell at retail or offer for sale at retail, in the original package, any non-complying product which has been manufactured and packaged in a federally-inspected plant and shipped in interstate commerce into the District for sale at retail in the package in which shipped.

 

authority

Sections 4 and 10 of An Act Relating to the adulteration of foods and drugs in the District of Columbia, approved February 17, 1898 (30 Stat. 246: D.C. Official Code §§ 48-104 and 48-110 (2009 Repl.)); Section 7 of An Act Making Appropriations to provide for the expenses for the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and three, and for other purposes (32 Stat.627: D.C. Official Code § 47-2834(a)(1), (a)(2), and (b) (2005 Repl.)); and Mayor’s Order 2002-103, dated June 18, 2002 and Mayor’s Order 98-139, dated August 20, 1998.

source

Final Rulemaking published at 50 DCR 4394 (June 6, 2003), incorporating by reference the text of Proposed Rulemaking published at 49 DCR 6184, 6257-58 (July 5, 2002); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 59 DCR 13690 (November 30, 2012).