Title 7AgricultureRelease 119-73

§1431c Enrichment and packaging of cornmeal, grits, rice, and white flour available for distribution

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 35A— - PRICE SUPPORT OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 1431c

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Foods like cornmeal, grits, rice, and white flour given out for federal food programs, school lunches, or other similar programs must be enriched to meet federal enrichment rules under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They must be packed in sanitary containers. A filled container should weigh no more than 50 pounds unless the receiving agency asks for a larger size. Fortified parboiled rice with the same nutrition as enriched rice is allowed. A sanitary container means it keeps out foreign matter during normal shipping and handling and does not break down and contaminate the food for at least one year.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §1431c

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In order to insure the nutritional value of cornmeal, grits, rice, and white flour when such foods are made available for distribution under section 1431(3) 11 See References in Text note below. of this title or for distribution to schools under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act [42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.] or any other Act, such foods shall be enriched so as to meet the standards for enriched cornmeal, enriched corn grits, enriched rice, or enriched flour, as the case may be, prescribed in regulations promulgated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.]; and in order to protect the nutritional value and sanitary quality of such enriched foods during transportation and storage such foods shall be packaged in sanitary containers. For convenience and ease in handling, the weight of any sanitary container when filled shall not exceed fifty pounds unless a larger container is requested by the recipient agency. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the distribution of fortified parboiled rice which is substantially equal in nutritional value to that of enriched rice.
(b)The term “sanitary container” means any container of such material and construction as (1) will not permit the infiltration of foreign matter into the contents of such container under ordinary conditions of shipping and handling, and (2) will not, for a period of at least one year, disintegrate so as to contaminate the contents of the container, necessitating the washing of the contents prior to use.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 1431(3) of this title, referred to in subsec. (a), was redesignated as section 1431(a)(3) of this title by Pub. L. 98–258, title V, § 502(1), Apr. 10, 1984, 98 Stat. 137. The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 4, 1946, ch. 281, 60 Stat. 230, which is classified generally to chapter 13 (§ 1751 et seq.) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1751 of Title 42 and Tables. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 25, 1938, ch. 675, 52 Stat. 1040, which is classified generally to chapter 9 (§ 301 et seq.) of Title 21, Food and Drugs. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 301 of Title 21 and Tables. Codification Section was not enacted as part of the Agricultural Act of 1949 which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of the 1949 Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1421 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1999—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–78 substituted “Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act” for “National School Lunch Act”. 1962—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 87–803 inserted provisions requiring the enrichment of rice to meet the standards for enriched rice, empowered recipient agencies to request containers larger than 50 pounds, and provided that nothing in this section shall prohibit the distribution of fortified parboiled rice which is substantially equal in nutritional value to that of enriched rice.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 1431c

Title 7Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73