[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 21, Volume 6]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 21CFR501.3]

[Page 17-18]
 
                        TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
 
CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN 
                          SERVICES (CONTINUED)
 
PART 501--ANIMAL FOOD LABELING--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart A--General Provisions
 
Sec.  501.3  Identity labeling of animal food in package form.

    (a) The principal display panel of a food in package form shall bear 
as one of its principal features a statement of the identity of the 
commodity.
    (b) Such statement of identity shall be in terms of:
    (1) The name now or hereafter specified in or required by any 
applicable Federal law or regulation; or, in the absence thereof,
    (2) The common or usual name of the food; or, in the absence 
thereof,
    (3) An appropriately descriptive term, or when the nature of the 
food is obvious, a fanciful name commonly used by the public for such 
food.
    (c) Where a food is marketed in various optional forms (whole, 
slices, diced, etc.), the particular form shall be considered to be a 
necessary part of the statement of identity and shall be declared in 
letters of a type size bearing a reasonable relation to the size of the 
letters forming the other components of the statement of identity; 
except that if the optional form is visible through the container or is 
depicted by an appropriate vignette, the particular form need not be 
included in the statement. This specification does not affect the 
required declarations of identity under definitions and standards for 
foods promulgated pursuant to section 401 of the act.
    (d) This statement of identity shall be presented in bold type on 
the principal display panel, shall be in a size reasonably related to 
the most prominent printed matter on such panel, and shall be in lines 
generally parallel to the base on which the package rests as it is 
designed to be displayed.
    (e) Under the provisions of section 403(c) of the Federal Food, 
Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a food shall be deemed to be misbranded if it is 
an imitation of another food unless its label bears, in type of uniform 
size and prominence, the word imitation and, immediately thereafter, the 
name of the food imitated.
    (1) A food shall be deemed to be an imitation and thus subject to 
the requirements of section 403(c) of the act if it is a substitute for 
and resembles another food but is nutritionally inferior to that food.
    (2) A food that is a substitute for and resembles another food shall 
not be deemed to be an imitation provided it meets each of the following 
requirements:
    (i) It is not nutritionally inferior to the food for which it 
substitutes and which it resembles.
    (ii) Its label bears a common or usual name that complies with the 
provisions of Sec.  502.5 of this chapter and that is not false or 
misleading, or in the absence of an existing common or usual name, an 
appropriately descriptive term that is not false or misleading. The 
label may, in addition, bear a fanciful name which is not false or 
misleading.
    (3) A food for which a common or usual name is established by 
regulation (e.g., in a standard of identity pursuant to section 401 of 
the act, in a common or usual name regulation and may, in

[[Page 18]]

addition, bear a fanciful name which is not false or misleading, and 
established pursuant to part 502 of this chapter), and which complies 
with all of the applicable requirements of such regulation(s), shall not 
be deemed to be an imitation.
    (4) Nutritional inferiority includes:
    (i) Any reduction in the content of an essential nutrient that is 
present in a measurable amount.
    (ii) If the Commissioner concludes that a food is a substitute for 
and resembles another food but is inferior to the food imitated for 
reasons other than those set forth in this paragraph, he may propose 
appropriate revisions to this regulation or he may propose a separate 
regulation governing the particular food.
    (f) A label may be required to bear the percentage(s) of a 
characterizing ingredient(s) or information concerning the presence or 
absence of an ingredient(s) or the need to add an ingredient(s) as part 
of the common or usual name of the food pursuant to part 502 of this 
chapter.

[41 FR 38619, Sept. 10, 1976, as amended at 42 FR 14091, Mar. 15, 1977; 
54 FR 18279, Apr. 28, 1989]