Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 50. HEALTH AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 31. MONTANA FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT

Part 2. Food and Bottled Water

When Food Adulterated

50-31-202. When food adulterated. A food is considered to be adulterated if:

(1) it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health. If the poisonous or deleterious substance is not an added substance, the food may not be considered adulterated under this subsection if the quantity of the substance in that food does not ordinarily render it injurious to health.

(2) it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance, other than one that is:

(a) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity;

(b) a food additive; or

(c) a color additive that is unsafe within the meaning of 50-31-109;

(3) it is a raw agricultural commodity and it bears or contains a pesticide chemical that is unsafe within the meaning of section 408(a) of the federal act (21 U.S.C. 346a(a)), as amended;

(4) it is or it bears or contains any food additive that is unsafe within the meaning of section 409 of the federal act (21 U.S.C. 348) as amended. However, if a pesticide chemical has been used in or on a raw agricultural commodity in conformity with an exemption granted or tolerance prescribed under section 408 of the federal act (21 U.S.C. 346) and the raw agricultural commodity has been subjected to processing, such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydrating, or milling, the residue of the pesticide chemical remaining in or on the processed food may, notwithstanding the provisions of 50-31-108, 50-31-109, and subsection (4) of this section, not be determined unsafe if the residue in or on the raw agricultural commodity has been removed to the extent possible in good manufacturing practice and the concentration of the residue in the processed food when ready to eat is not greater than the tolerance prescribed for the raw agricultural commodity.

(5) it consists in whole or in part of a diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or if it is otherwise unfit for food;

(6) it has been produced, prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions under which it may have become contaminated with filth or under which it may have been rendered diseased, unwholesome, or injurious to health;

(7) it is the product of a diseased animal or an animal that has died otherwise than by slaughter or that has been fed upon the uncooked offal from a slaughterhouse;

(8) its container is composed in whole or in part of any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render the contents injurious to health;

(9) any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted from the food;

(10) any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the food;

(11) damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner;

(12) any substance has been added to the food or mixed or packed with the food so as to increase its bulk or weight, reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is;

(13) it is confectionery and it bears or contains any alcohol or nonnutritive article or substance except harmless coloring, harmless flavoring, harmless resinous glaze not in excess of 0.4%, harmless natural wax not in excess of 0.4%, or harmless natural gum and pectin. However, this paragraph does not apply to any confectionery by reason of its containing less than 0.5% by volume of alcohol derived solely from the use of flavoring extracts or to any chewing gum by reason of its containing harmless nonnutritive masticatory substances.

(14) it is or bears or contains any color additive that is unsafe within the meaning of the federal act.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 307, L. 1967; R.C.M. 1947, 27-710; amd. Sec. 211, Ch. 42, L. 1997.