Sec.21a-115-11. Designation of ingredients. Misleading labels. Exemptions and variations

(a) The name of an ingredient, except a spice, flavoring or coloring which is an ingredient of a food other than one sold as a spice, flavoring or coloring, required by section 21a-102 of the general statutes to be borne on the label of a food, shall be a specific name and not a collective name. But if an ingredient, which itself contains two or more ingredients, conforms to a definition and standard of identity prescribed by regulations under section 21a-100 of the general statutes, such ingredient may be designated on the label of such food by the name specified in the definition and standard, supplemented, in case such regulations require the naming of optional ingredients present in such ingredient, by a statement showing the optional ingredients which are present in such ingredient.

(b) No ingredient shall be designated on the label as a spice, flavoring or coloring unless it is a spice, flavoring or coloring, as the case may be, within the meaning of such term as commonly understood by consumers. The term "coloring" shall not include any bleaching substance.

(c) An ingredient which is both a spice and a coloring, or both a flavoring and a coloring, shall be designated as spice and coloring, or flavoring and coloring, as the case may be, unless such ingredient is designated by its specific name.

(d) A label may be misleading by reason, among other reasons, of (1) the order in which the names of ingredients appear thereon, or the relative prominence otherwise given such names; or (2) its failure to reveal the proportion of, or other fact with respect to, an ingredient, when such proportion or other fact is material in the light of the representation that such ingredient was used in fabricating the food.

(e) (1) A food shall be exempt from the requirements of subdivision (2) of section 21a-102 (i) of the general statutes, if all words, statements, and other information required by or under authority of the act to appear on the label of such food, cannot, because of insufficient label space, be so placed on the label as to comply with the requirements of section 21a-102 (f) of the general statutes and regulations promulgated thereunder. But such exemption shall be on the condition that, if the omission from the label of the statement of the quantity of the contents affords sufficient space to state legibly thereon all the information required by such subdivision (2), such statement of the quantity of the contents shall be omitted as authorized by section 21a-115-8 (j) (2) and the information required by said subdivision (2) shall be so stated as prominently as practicable even though the statement is not of such conspicuousness as to render it likely to be read by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase. (2) In the case of an assortment of different items of food, when variations in the item which make up different packages packed from such assortment normally occur in good packing practice, and when such variations result in variations in the ingredients in different packages, such food shall be exempt from compliance with the requirements of subdivision (2) of subsection (i) of section 21a-102 of the general statutes with respect to any ingredient which is not common to all packages. But such exemption shall be on the condition that the label shall bear, in conjunction with the names of such ingredients as are common to all packages, a statement in terms which are as informative as practicable and which are not misleading, indicating that other ingredients may be present.

(Effective July 27, 1984)