Title 17, Food and Drugs

(a) The department may adopt regulations to establish a program of state inspection for the processing and sale of meat products, including meat products from amenable species. (b) The department may administer and enforce regulations adopted under (a) of this section for a progr…

(a) Food is adulterated if (1) it bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance the food is not considered adulterated under this paragraph if the quantity of the substance does n…

A poisonous or deleterious substance added to food, except where the substance is required in the production of food or cannot be avoided by good manufacturing practice, is unsafe for purposes of the application of AS 17.20.020(a)(2). When the substance is required or cannot be a…

(a) Food is misbranded if (1) its labeling is false or misleading in any particular; (2) it is offered for sale under the name of another food; (3) it is an imitation of another food, unless its label bears, in type of uniform size and prominence, the word “imitation” and, immedi…

(a) Meat, fish, or poultry that has been frozen may not be sold, represented, or advertised as a fresh food. (b) Meat, fish, and poultry that has been frozen must be labeled as a frozen food in accordance with regulations adopted by the commissioner. (c) The commissioner shall ad…

No person may label or offer for sale any food fish product designated as halibut, with or without additional descriptive words, unless the food fish product is Hippoglossus or Hippoglossus stenolepsis. A person who violates this section is guilty of misbranding food under provis…

(a) A person who sells halibut, salmon, or sablefish products at wholesale or retail in this state may label or advertise the product as being or containing a “wild” halibut, salmon, or sablefish product, an “antibiotic-free” halibut, salmon, or sablefish product, or a “hormone-f…

(a) Notwithstanding AS 17.20.048, a retail food establishment shall state on the menu of prepared food products that it is selling whether the fish in a prepared food product is wild fish or farmed fish. (b) In this section, (1) “farmed fish” means fish that is propagated, farmed…

When the department finds after investigation that the distribution in the state of a class of food may, by reason of contamination with microorganisms during the manufacture, processing, or packing, be injurious to health, and that the injurious nature cannot be adequately deter…

The commissioner may suspend immediately upon notice a permit issued under AS 17.20.050 if it is found that the conditions of the permit have been violated. The holder of a suspended permit may apply for the reinstatement of the permit, and the commissioner, immediately after pro…

(a) A person may not operate a seafood processing establishment or seafood processing vessel without a seafood processing permit issued by the department. A seafood processing permit issued under this section must be renewed annually. (b) A person may not operate a seafood proces…

(a) The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute established in AS 16.51 shall design an “inspection” seal that may be used to signify that a seafood product has been packed in compliance with the requirements of a permit issued under AS 17.20.065. (b) The Alaska Seafood Marketing Inst…

The commissioner may conduct studies, research, experiments, and demonstrations, directly or through grants to or contracts with public or private agencies, organizations, or individuals to (1) improve sanitation practices in the processing of fish and fisheries products; and (2)…

An officer or employee designated by the commissioner shall have access to a factory, aquatic farm, or establishment, the operator of which holds a permit from the commissioner, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the conditions of the permit are being complied with. Denial o…

The commissioner is responsible for enforcing AS 17.20.005 — 17.20.075, and may delegate that authority as appropriate. This section does not limit the authority of peace officers.

In AS 17.20.005 — 17.20.075, (1) “commissioner” means the commissioner of environmental conservation; (2) “department” means the Department of Environmental Conservation.

(a) A drug or device is adulterated if (1) it consists in whole or in part of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance; (2) it has been produced, prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions in which it may have been contaminated with filth, or in which it may have been…

(a) Notwithstanding a provision or rule of law to the contrary, a health care provider authorized to prescribe an opioid overdose drug may prescribe an opioid overdose drug directly or by standing order or protocol to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid overdose or to a fa…

A drug or device is misbranded (1) if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular; (2) if it is in package form unless it bears a label containing (A) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and (B) an accurate statement of the quanti…

A drug sold on a written prescription signed by a member of the medical, dental, or veterinary profession, except a drug sold in the course of the conduct of a business of selling drugs pursuant to diagnosis by mail, is exempt from the requirements of AS 17.20.090(2) and (5) if (…

(a) In preparing a drug prescription a pharmacist shall indicate on the drug container the name and strength of the drug contained in it, unless specifically directed otherwise by the prescribing physician, osteopathic physician, dentist, or veterinarian. If a drug is a mixture o…

(a) A person may not sell, deliver, offer for sale, hold for sale, or give away a new drug unless (1) an application for it has become effective under the federal act; or (2) when not subject to the federal act unless the drug has been tested and has not been found to be unsafe f…

The application provided for in AS 17.20.110 is effective on the 60th day after the filing of it. If the commissioner finds, after notice to the applicant and providing an opportunity for a hearing, that the drug is not safe for use under the conditions prescribed, recommended, o…

AS 17.20.110 does not apply to a drug (1) intended solely for investigational use by experts qualified by scientific training and experience to investigate the safety in drugs if the drug is plainly labeled “for investigational use only”; or (2) regulated under 42 U.S.C. 262.

The commissioner is responsible for enforcing AS 17.20.080 — 17.20.135, and may delegate that authority as appropriate. This section does not limit the authority of peace officers.

In AS 17.20.080 — 17.20.135, (1) “commissioner” means the commissioner of health; (2) “department” means the Department of Health.

A cosmetic is adulterated if (1) it bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to a user under the conditions of use prescribed in the labeling or advertisement of it, or under conditions of use which are customary or usual; however, this…

A cosmetic is misbranded if (1) its labeling is false or misleading in any particular; (2) it is in package form unless it bears a label containing (A) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and (B) an accurate statement of the quantity of the…

The commissioner of environmental conservation is responsible for enforcing AS 17.20.140 — 17.20.155, and may delegate that authority as appropriate. This section does not limit the authority of peace officers.

In AS 17.20.140 — 17.20.155, “department” means the Department of Environmental Conservation.

An advertisement of a food, drug, device, or cosmetic is false if it is false or misleading in any particular.

The advertisement of a drug or device representing that it has an effect on albuminuria, appendicitis, arteriosclerosis, blood poison, bone disease, Bright's disease, cancer, carbuncles, cholecystitis, diabetes, diphtheria, dropsy, erysipelas, gallstones, heart and vascular disea…

The commissioner is responsible for enforcing AS 17.20.160 — 17.20.175, and may delegate that authority as appropriate. This section does not limit the authority of peace officers.

In AS 17.20.160 — 17.20.175, (1) “commissioner” means the commissioner of health; (2) “department” means the Department of Health.

The Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health may adopt regulations for the efficient enforcement of their respective portions of this chapter. Each department may make the regulations conform, in so far as practicable, with those adopted under the fed…

Hearings authorized or required by this chapter shall be conducted under the provisions of AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act).

(a) The commissioner of environmental conservation or an agent shall have free access at reasonable hours to a factory, warehouse, or establishment in which foods or cosmetics are manufactured, processed, packed, or held for introduction into commerce, to enter a vehicle being us…

(a) The commissioner of environmental conservation and the commissioner of health may have published from time to time reports summarizing judgments, decrees, and court orders which have been rendered under their respective portions of this chapter, including the nature of the ch…

(a) Whenever the commissioner of environmental conservation finds or has probable cause to believe that a food or cosmetic is adulterated, or so misbranded as to be dangerous or fraudulent within the meaning of this chapter, the commissioner shall affix to it a tag or other appro…

When an article detained or embargoed under AS 17.20.230 has been found by the commissioner of environmental conservation or the commissioner of health, as the case may be, to be adulterated or misbranded, the appropriate commissioner shall petition the superior court for a libel…

If the superior court finds that a detained or embargoed article is adulterated or misbranded, it shall, after entry of the decree, be destroyed at the expense of the claimant, under the supervision of the commissioner of environmental conservation or the commissioner of health, …

When the adulteration or misbranding can be corrected by proper labeling or processing of the article, and after entry of the decree and after costs, fees, and expenses have been paid and a good and sufficient bond, conditioned that the article will be properly labeled or process…

Meat, seafood, poultry, vegetable, fruit, or other perishable article in any room, building, vehicle of transportation, or other structure which is unsound, or contains filthy, decomposed, or putrid substance, or a substance that may be poisonous or deleterious to health or other…

The commissioner of environmental conservation and the commissioner of health may apply to the superior court for, and the court has jurisdiction to grant, a temporary or permanent injunction restraining a person from violating their respective portions of this chapter.

(a) The following acts and the causing thereof are prohibited: (1) the manufacture, or sale, or delivery, holding, or offering of sale of food, drug, device, or cosmetic that is adulterated or misbranded; (2) the adulteration or misbranding of food, drug, device, or cosmetic; (3)…

If an article is alleged to be misbranded because the labeling is misleading, or if an advertisement is alleged to be false because it is misleading, in determining whether the labeling or advertisement is misleading, there shall be taken into account among other things represent…