Title 21, Food and DrugsRelease 119-110
§607 Labeling, Marking, and Container Requirements
Title 21 › CHAPTER 12 — MEAT INSPECTION › SUBCHAPTER I — INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS; ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING › § 607
Summary
Requires that meat and meat products that have been inspected and approved be labeled and sealed under an inspector’s watch when packed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or other containers at a plant that has inspection. Meat and carcass parts that are not spoiled or contaminated must leave the plant with the required information clearly printed on the product or its container. The Secretary can set rules about label font sizes, definitions, what a product must be called or made of, and how full containers must be, and must talk with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and an advisory committee to avoid conflicts with other federal or state rules. No one may sell meat using false or misleading names, labels, markings, or containers, though established trade names and approved, accurate labels are allowed. If the Secretary thinks a label or container is misleading, use can be stopped until it is fixed; the user can ask for a hearing, use may be withheld during the process, and affected parties have 30 days to appeal to a federal court of appeals (the appeal rules in section 194 of title 7 apply). The Secretary must also set labeling rules for sheep meat that meet U.S. international obligations.
Full Legal Text
Title 21, §607
Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Labeling receptacles or coverings of meat or meat food products inspected and passed; supervision by inspectors
When any meat or meat food product prepared for commerce which has been inspected as hereinbefore provided and marked “Inspected and passed” shall be placed or packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained, the person, firm, or corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering, under the supervision of an inspector, which label shall state that the contents thereof have been “inspected and passed” under the provisions of this chapter; and no inspection and examination of meat or meat food products deposited or inclosed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained shall be deemed to be complete until such meat or meat food products have been sealed or inclosed in said can, tin, pot, canvas, or other receptacle or covering under the supervision of an inspector.
(b)Information on articles or containers; legible form
All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this subchapter and found to be not adulterated, shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers, as the Secretary may require, the information required under paragraph (n) of section 601 of this title.
(c)Labeling: type styles and sizes; definitions and standards of identity or composition; standards of fill of container; consistency of Federal and Federal-State standards
The Secretary, whenever he determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe: (1) the styles and sizes of type to be used with respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to avoid false or misleading labeling in marketing and labeling any articles or animals subject to this subchapter or subchapter II of this chapter; (2) definitions and standards of identity or composition for articles subject to this subchapter and standards of fill of container for such articles not inconsistent with any such standards established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.], and there shall be consultation between the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Services prior to the issuance of such standards under either Act relating to articles subject to this chapter to avoid inconsistency in such standards and possible impairment of the coordinated effective administration of these Acts. There shall also be consultation between the Secretary and an appropriate advisory committee provided for in section 661 of this title, prior to the issuance of such standards under this chapter, to avoid, insofar as feasible, inconsistency between Federal and State standards.
(d)Sales under false or misleading name, other marking or labeling or in containers of misleading form or size; trade names, and other marking, labeling, and containers approved by Secretary
No article subject to this subchapter shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation, in commerce, under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the Secretary are permitted.
(e)Use withholding directive respecting false or misleading marking, labeling, or container; modification of false or misleading matter; hearing; withholding use pending proceedings; finality of Secretary’s action; judicial review; application of section 194 of title 7
If the Secretary has reason to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any article subject to this subchapter is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the Secretary, such person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the Secretary so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Secretary. Any such determination by the Secretary shall be conclusive unless, within thirty days after receipt of notice of such final determination, the person, firm, or corporation adversely affected thereby appeals to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which such person, firm, or corporation has its principal place of business or to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The provisions of section 194 of title 7 shall be applicable to appeals taken under this section.
(f)Lamb and mutton
The Secretary, consistent with United States international obligations, shall establish standards for the labeling of sheep carcasses, parts of sheep carcasses, sheepmeat, and sheepmeat food products.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), is act
June 25, 1938, ch. 675, 52 Stat. 1040, which is classified generally to chapter 9 (§ 301 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 301 of this title and Tables. Either Act and these Acts, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), mean the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Federal Meat Inspection Act is titles I to V of act Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, as added Pub. L. 90–201, Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 584, and Pub. L. 110–246, title XI, § 11015(a),
June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 2124, which are classified generally to subchapters I to IV–A (§ 601 et seq.) of this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note under section 601 of this title and Tables. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 75 of this title.
Amendments
1996—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 104–127 added subsec. (f). 1967—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90–201, §§ 3(a), 6(a), (b), struck out “interstate or foreign” before “commerce” and provisions prohibiting sales of meat or meat food products in interstate or foreign commerce under any false or deceptive names and permitting trade names or names which are usual to such products and are not false and deceptive and are approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, now incorporated in subsec. (d), and designated remaining provisions as subsecs. (a), respectively. Subsecs. (b) to (e). Pub. L. 90–201, § 6(c), added subsecs. (b) to (e).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
“Secretary of Health and Human Services” substituted for “Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare” in subsec. (c)(2) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88, which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.
Effective Date
of 1967 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 90–201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that with respect to equines (other than horses) and their carcasses and parts thereof, meat, and meat food products thereof, amendment effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(b) of Pub. L. 90–201, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 601 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
21 U.S.C. § 607
Title 21, Food and Drugs
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110