Chap. 320.—An ACT to provide for the regulation and control of the manufacture,
sale, advertising of and traffic in, certain dog food; to define adulterated, mis-
branded and unlabeled dog food, and to prohibit the manufacture, and sale of
and traffic in such dog food; to confer upon the Commissioner of Agriculture
and Immigration certain powers and duties with respect to certain dog food;
and to provide penalties for the violation of certain provisions of this act.

[H B 341]
Approved March 29, 1940

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as follows:

Section 1. Definitions as used in and for the purpose of this Act.

(a) The term dog food in cans, hereinafter referred to as “‘Canned
Dog Food”, means any article of food, whether simple, mixed or
compound, packed in cans or hermetically sealed containers and
used for food for dogs and cats.

(b) The term ‘‘Commissioner’’ means the Commissioner of
Agriculture and Immigration of Virginia, who is charged with the
enforcement of the law and regulations governing the distribution of
canned dog food in the State of Virginia.

-(c) The term ‘distributor’? means any manufacturer, importer,
wholesaler, retailer, or any person or persons manufacturing, dis-
tributing, selling, offering, or exposing for sale any canned dog food
as hereinbefore defined.

(d) The terms “meat” and ‘‘meat by-products’ mean the official
definitions for those terms as adopted by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, as follows:

(1) ‘‘Meat is the properly dressed flesh derived from cattle, from
swine, from sheep, or from goats, sufficiently mature and in good
health at the time of slaughter, but is restricted to that part of the
striated muscle which is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue,
in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in the esophagus, and does not
include that found in the lips, in the snout, or in the ears; with or
without the accompanying and overlaying fat, and the portions of
bone, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany
the flesh and which may not have been separated from it in the
process of dressing it for sale.

“The term ‘meat’ when used in a qualified form, as for example,
‘horse meat’, ‘reindeer meat’, ‘crab meat’, etc., is then, and then only,
properly applied to the corresponding portions of animals other than
cattle, swine, sheep and goats.
(2) ‘‘Meat by-products are any clean, sound, and properly
dressed edible parts, other than meat, which have been derived from
one or more carcasses of cattle, of swine, of sheep, or of goats, suff-
ciently mature and in good health at the time of slaughter.”’

The term ‘‘meat by-products’’ when used in a qualified form, as
in the case of the foregoing definition for ‘‘meat’’, and as, for example,
“horse meat by-products’, ‘‘reindeer meat by-products”, “‘crab meat
by-products’, etc., is then, and then only, properly applied to the
corresponding portions of animals other than cattle, swine, sheep and
goats.

(e) The term “nutritive ratio” means the ratio of the calories
obtained from fats and carbohydrates to the calories obtained from
proteins, the calorific values being as follows: proteins 4.0, carbo-
hydrates 4.0, fats 9.0.

(f) The term “‘label’’ means any written, printed, or graphic
matter upon any can or hermetically sealed container of canned dog
ood.

(g) The term “‘offer for sale” includes holding, keeping, exposing,
or offering for sale or commercial application.

(h) The term ‘person’? includes an individual, partnership,
corporation or association, or any legal representative of any of them.

(i) The term “edible” in this act shall be understood to mean
edible for dogs and cats.

Section 2. Sale of adulterated and mislabeled canned dog food
prohibited.—No person shall, within this State, manufacture, sell,
distribute, offer, or expose for sale any canned dog food which is
adulterated or mislabeled within the meaning of this Act.

Section 3. Adulteration——Canned dog food shall be deemed to
be adulterated:

(a) If it consists in whole or in part of any substance except
edible meat and meat by-products, edible cereals, other edible prod-
ucts, and edible mineral- or vitamin- containing substances necessary
to meet the nutritive requirements claimed, which comply with the
minimum and maximum standards provided in Section 9 of this Act; or

(b) If it has been prepared or packed under insanitary condi-
tions, or conditions whereby it may have been contaminated; or

(c) If it consists in whole or in part of any meat or meat by-
products or any other ingredient which has become tainted, unsound,
unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for food. _

Section 4. Mislabeling—Canned dog food shall be deemed to be
mislabeled: Co

(a) If it is not labeled; or

(b) If the label contains any inaccurate statements, or does not
conform in all particulars with the label approved by the Commis-
sioner in connection with the registration of the distributor’s canned
dog food under this Act. |

Section 5. Registration.—All distributors of canned dog food
within this State shall, before distributing, selling, offering or expos-
ing for sale in this State any brand or kind of canned dog food, have
certified to the Commissioner that his product meets with and con-
forms to all the provisions of this Act and such regulations as the
Commissioner may prescribe. Upon receipt of such certification, the
Commissioner shall make such investigation as may be necessary to
determine whether the distributor is complying with all provisions of
this Act and all regulations issued by the Commissioner thereunder.
If the Commissioner finds that the certificate furnished by the dis-
tributor is a correct statement, he shall, and then only, register the
brand or kind of canned dog food concerning which the distributor
has made a certification. Nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued as requiring the registration by any distributor of any brand
or kind of canned dog food which is then registered by the Commis-
sioner.

Section 6. Registration Fee.—Upon registration of each brand
or kind of canned dog food, the distributor thereof shall pay to the
Commissioner an annual registration fee of fifteen dollars, payable at
the time of registration, and thereafter on or before the last day of
December of each year. Whenever any brand or kind of canned
dog food is registered for the first time after the last day of June of
any calendar year, the registration fee for that year shall be one-half
the annual fee. However, when, in the course of a year, a distributor
changes the wording or design of a registered label, which change, in
the opinion of the Commissioner, is not material to such label, the
Commissioner shall file such new label for the balance of such year
without charge. Any change in the statements required by Section 7
(c) of this Act shall be deemed to be a material change in such label.

Section 7. Certification.—The certification made by a distributor
for the purpose of registration of any brand or kind of canned dog
food shall contain the following information and such other informa-
tion as the Commissioner may require, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the brand or kind of said dog food submitted for registration
conforms with the provisions of this Act and all regulations issued
thereunder.

(a) A statement concerning the type of inspection under which
the distributor’s canned dog food is produced.

(b) <A certified copy of the most recent chemical analysis of the
distributor’s canned dog food, which gives in detail information con-
cerning all of the essential requirements of this Act and of the regula-
tions issued thereunder relative to quality standards. Such analysis
shall have been made not more than three months prior to the date
it is furnished to the Commissioner; provided that the Commissioner
may waive any item of information which he shall deem to be unneces-
sary.

(c) A copy of the label of the brand or kind of canned dog food
which is being submitted for registration. The label must have im-
printed thereon, in a conspicuous manner, a clear and legible state-
ment in the English language, which covers the following:

(1) The net weight of the contents.

(2) The name, brand or trade-mark.

(3) The name and principal address of the distributor or persons
responsible for placing the commodity on the market.
518 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [VA..,

(4) Minimum percentage of crude protein.

(5) Minimum percentage of crude fat.

(6) Maximum percentage of crude fiber.

(7) The principal ingredients.

(d) Satisfactory proof as to any claims made by the distri
as to mineral and vitamin contents and any other special biol
properties claimed for the brand or kind of canned dog food wh
being submitted for registration.

Section 8. Inspection.

(a) The edible meat and the edible meat by-products us
canned dog food shall be acceptable for the purpose of this A
such meat and meat by-product ingredients are from animals \
had been inspected and passed by the Bureau of Animal Indust
the United States Department of Agriculture, or by an offici:
spection agency approved by the Commissioner.

In the case of canned dog food distributor whose plant i
operated under Federal inspection, the inspection in such f
shall be subject to such regulations as the Commissioner may
scribe, but including the following:

(1) That the inspectors shall be persons who are skilled i
inspection of meat and meat by-products.

(2) That the establishment where animals are slaughterec
where canned dog food is prepared, as well as all equipment anc
tainers, shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition continuo

(3) That all of the non-meat ingredients used in the distrib
canned dog food are clean, wholesome and edible.

(b) No brand or kind of canned dog food shall be register
the Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 u
in addition to other requirements specified in the Act, the distri
of such dog food has complied with the provisions of paragrar
of this section.

Section 9. Standards.—The following quality minimum s
ards are hereby established for the purposes of this Act:

(1) Protein content: A minimum of 8 per cent total prote
per cent of which minimum of 8 per cent, or 5.60 per cent, mt
from meat and meat by-products.

(2) Fat content: A minimum of 2 per cent.

(3) Fiber content: A maximum of 1.50 per cent.

(4) Moisture content: A maximum of 74 per cent.

(5) Calcium content: A minimum of .25 per cent.

(6) Phosphorus content: A minimum of .30 per cent.

(7) Ash content: A maximum of 3.50 per cent.

(8) Nutritive Ratio not greater than 2.2.

Section 10. Chemical Analysis——In addition to the che
analysis required to be submitted by any canned dog food distri
applying for registration under this Act, such a distributor
submit to the Commissioner, at least twice each year if request
the Commissioner, a chemical analysis of each brand or kind of c:
dog food, which previously has been registered by the Commiss
in accordance with the provisions of this Act, in order that
pliance with the standards provided in Section 9 may be verified.
Such analysis shall conform with the requirements of paragraph (b)
of Section 7 of this Act.

Section 11. Penalties.—Any violation of the provisions of this
Act, or failure to comply with such provisions, shall be a misdemeanor,
and punishable as such.

A violation of any of the provisions of this Act by a partnership,
corporation or association shall also be deemed a violation by the
individual partners, directors, officers, agents or employees of such
partnership, corporation or association, who personally ordered, did,
or knowingly permitted any of the acts or omissions constituting in
whole or in part such violations.

Section 12. Regulations—The Commissioner is authorized to
promulgate regulations in order to effectuate any of the purposes of
this Act.

Section 13. Inspections and seizures——Canned dog food may be
inspected and seized by the Commissioner under the provisions of
Section 1161 of the Code of Virginia.

Section 14. Repeals.—All laws or parts of laws in conflict with
the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 15. Separability clause.—If any provision of this Act is
declared unconstitutional or the applicability thereof to any persons
or circumstances is held invalid, the constitutionality of the remainder
of the Act and the applicability thereof to other persons and circum-
stances shall not be affected thereby.