OFFlCE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable f&or&s W. CO%
state Health Officer
Auattn, %rms
'DearSir: opiplon No. 04049
Ref State Deal&h Citioer my'not
require~labelingof foods so
a8 to inalude the rmmt3.u
thereof or a list of the in-
grediants ooctainsd.
Your request for an oyfnion of this deprtmmt
reads:
".
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*Pros tine to time; the State liealth
~haspromulgatedrules and.adopted
..Otfioer
standards for foods as authorized byEFri1:. _.,(
,~:.
,StatutesVol. 1, Chaptor 3, Article 4433.
. c
"The,Federallhureailof AnislalIndustry
vt Inspeot$on Serviae, by and through the
. S. Seoretary of Agriculture,haa recerttly .
.adogtedregulations concernin& the labeling
of neat.and produets whioh affects a l&rga
pro:?ortlon of the pack& industry, except
that part of the industry pot under yederal
inspection.
"Ron-FederalInsyeoted lzaokershave
.comulted me concening the advfeabllitg of
prmul.gatinCre&etitns ainilar to those
of the yede:al.Covermaent,nheroby Lnfoma-
tivc labeliu is raq;liradwithout referenoe
to adultontion or nlsbrandln+ Any regu-
1at:on gronulgated pursuant to this request
~would require such labeling to include the
fomula or list cf lfigrodients.
Wrlninal Statutes Title 12: Ch%ctor 2;
f,rtlcle70::deals with the lzbelrng of foods
Honorable Oyzge 98.Coz, Page S
and art&, In order to be consistent with
the law, it would be naoaesary that any rul-
lnr:adocted 'bythe State Health OtflOer in
raiieren~eto the labal.iryof foods coz~ply
with the provfeions of that Artiale. The
question arises aa to whether any regulatloa
~~~~atedbymerequiringlab~~asa3ws
,statedwould'be ooasistentwith the law whea
taking Into coasiderationArticle 7OS, whioh
reads~npartaefollow8t 'Nothing in thl+
law shall be oormtrued as raqulrlng proprie-
: tars or nkamafaoturers of proprietaryfooda
which aontain no unwho~esaaa added lngre-
dients to disolosa their trade formulas ex-
: cept in sa far as the provisloas of this law
raquire to seoum:‘freedpan from adulteration
or mlsbrantllng.~
.I
Will you please advise me upon this
question, eiaoe any effort upon my part to
j?~ require this ty;leof labeling would neo-
$.:1.
,, essarily entail considerable expesse to the
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.._,.I:
F;-
~*- : ._.;_
T: ~lndustry,*
-.
Article 4400, RCN~BCJ~Civil Statutes,'arovidesLn.
part thst thenState Realth OfSlo~r or an agent within .hia
Repastv.e;lt
subdect to the control of the iieslthOfficar vzayr
"2. Rake, pubgish and eatorcterules
aosslstsnt with this law, and adopt stand-
ards for foods, food.produota,beverages,
dru$%, ate. . . T" .
ArtLola 4471 Revised Civil Statutes, deals with
the aduloeratlonand n~ebrand@g of foods and drugs;
Article &72, Revised Civil Statutes;reads:
*The term *adulterated*anO *nisbraaded*,
as used In t&is chapter, shall be held to have
tta same naaikingas is :;lventhose terms in
chapter two of tlt1e.M of the ?etal Code.*
Artlolo 7c17of the PerrdLCode defines in detail the
tarn %vdulteratedv.
,.!i. 1.,.) (., i
-I
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.
Honorable tiorge IV,Cor,'Paga 9
.
Arti0le 708 or th4 Peaal c0a4, afir .dtaiaing; the
term 'Mabranded", provide@:
I9
. . . flotbiq i.?tbitilaw ahall be OOLI-
atmed as~requlring proprietors or manuiactm
a-s or proprietary roods whioh contain no un-
wholeeom added ingredients to disclose their
trade formulas except in 80 rar as the provi-
t3i0=~0r this law rsquire to 440~~4 freedom
rraa adulteration or miabra+ng.W
A careful oonsiderationor these and other statutes
dealing with the sower and authority of the StateHealtb Orri-
aor leads us to the conclusion that the Legislature of this
State baa not vested you with ml4 makIng authority eurri-
aiently broad to sustain h: rule rsfiuiringthe type or labeil-
ing inquired about.
\
Yours vary truly
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