View all text of Subpart A [§ 501.1 - § 501.18]
§ 501.4 - Animal food; designation of ingredients.
(a) Ingredients required to be declared on the label of a food, including foods that comply with standards of identity that require labeling in compliance with this part 501, except those exempted by § 501.100, shall be listed by common or usual name in descending order of predominance by weight on either the principal display panel or the information panel in accordance with the provisions of § 501.2.
(b) The name of an ingredient shall be a specific name and not a collective (generic) name, except that:
(1) Spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives shall be declared according to the provisions of § 501.22.
(2) An ingredient which itself contains two or more ingredients and which has an established common or usual name, conforms to a standard established pursuant to the Meat Inspection or Poultry Products Inspection Acts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or conforms to a definition and standard of identity established pursuant to section 401 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, shall be designated in the statement of ingredients on the label of such food by either of the following alternatives:
(i) By declaring the established common or usual name of the ingredient followed by a parenthetical listing of all ingredients contained therein in descending order of predominance except that, if the ingredient is a food subject to a definition and standard of identity established in this subchapter E, only the ingredients required to be declared by the definition and standard of identity need be listed; or
(ii) By incorporating into the statement of ingredients in descending order of predominance in the finished food, the common or usual name of every component of the ingredient without listing the ingredient itself.
(3) Skim milk, concentrated skim milk, reconstituted skim milk, and nonfat dry milk may be declared as skim milk or nonfat milk.
(4) Milk, concentrated milk, reconstituted milk, and dry whole milk may be declared as milk.
(5) Bacterial cultures may be declared by the word cultured followed by the name of the substrate, e.g., made from cultured skim milk or cultured buttermilk.
(6) Sweetcream buttermilk, concentrated sweetcream buttermilk, reconstituted sweetcream buttermilk, and dried sweetcream buttermilk may be declared as buttermilk.
(7) Whey, concentrated whey, reconstituted whey, and dried whey may be declared as whey.
(8) Cream, reconstituted cream, dried cream, and plastic cream (sometimes known as concentrated milkfat) may be declared as cream.
(9) Butteroil and anhydrous butterfat may be declared as butterfat.
(10) Dried whole eggs, frozen whole eggs, and liquid whole eggs may be declared as eggs.
(11) Dried egg whites, frozen egg whites, and liquid egg whites may be declared as egg whites.
(12) Dried egg yolks, frozen egg yolks, and liquid egg yolks may be declared as egg yolks.
(13) A livestock or poultry feed may be declared by a collective name listed in § 501.110 if it is an animal feed within the meaning of section 201(w) of the act and meets the requirements for the use of a collective name as prescribed in § 501.110 for certain feed ingredients.
(14) [Reserved]
(15) When all the ingredients of a wheat flour are declared in an ingredient statement, the principal ingredient of the flour shall be declared by the name(s) specified in §§ 137.105, 137.200, 137.220, 137.225 of this chapter, i.e., the first ingredient designated in the ingredient list of flour, or bromated flour, or enriched flour, or self-rising flour is flour, white flour, wheat flour, or plain flour; the first ingredient designated in the ingredient list of durum flour is durum flour; the first ingredient designated in the ingredient list of whole wheat flour, or bromated whole wheat flour is whole wheat flour, graham flour, or entire wheat flour; and the first ingredient designated in the ingredient list of whole durum wheat flour is whole durum wheat flour.
(c) When water is added to reconstitute, completely or partially, an ingredient permitted by paragraph (b) of this section to be declared by a class name, the position of the ingredient class name in the ingredient statement shall be determined by the weight of the unreconstituted ingredient plus the weight of the quantity of water added to reconstitute that ingredient, up to the amount of water needed to reconstitute the ingredient to single strength. Any water added in excess of the amount of water needed to reconstitute the ingredient to single strength shall be declared as water in the ingredient statement.