2021 Georgia Code
Title 26 - Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics
Chapter 2 - Standards, Labeling, and Adulteration of Food
Article 2 - Adulteration and Misbranding of Food
§ 26-2-26. When Food Deemed Adulterated

A food shall be deemed to be adulterated if:

1. It bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but, in case the substance is not an added substance, such food shall not be considered adulterated under this paragraph if the quantity of such substance in such food does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;
2. It bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance which is unsafe within the meaning of Code Section 26-2-27. In regard to pesticide residues, a food shall be deemed to be adulterated and unsafe if it bears a pesticide residue in excess of a tolerance established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act or if it bears a residue of a pesticide for which no tolerance has been established or is currently in effect for that food, if such residue appears at a level which is readily quantifiable by methods of assay for pesticide residues employed by the Commissioner on the date of the assay;
3. It consists in whole or in part of a diseased or contaminated, filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or if it is otherwise unfit for food;
4. It has been produced, prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth or whereby it may have been rendered diseased, unwholesome, or injurious to health;
5. It is the product of a diseased animal or an animal that has died otherwise than by slaughter or an animal that has been fed upon the uncooked offal from a slaughterhouse;
6. Its container is composed in whole or in part of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health;
7. Any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom;
8. Any substance has been substituted wholly or in part therefor;
9. Damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner;
10. Any substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight or reduce its quality or strength or make it appear better or of greater value than it is;
11. It is confectionary and it bears or contains any alcohol or nonnutritive article or substance except harmless coloring, harmless flavoring, harmless resinous glaze not in excess of four-tenths of 1 percent, harmless natural wax not in excess of four-tenths of 1 percent, harmless natural gum, and pectin, provided that this paragraph shall not apply to any confection containing less than one-half of 1 percent 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; or
12. It bears or contains a coal-tar color other than one from a batch which has been certified under authority of the federal act.

(Ga. L. 1956, p. 195, § 10; Ga. L. 1990, p. 8, § 26; Ga. L. 1990, p. 318, § 1.)

- Warranties relating to sales of goods generally, § 11-2-312 et seq.

Civil action for knowing or negligent selling of unwholesome provisions to another person by use of which damage results to purchaser or his family, § 51-1-23.

ANALYSIS

• 1. General Consideration

Candy that contains a small quantity of bourbon flavor or is bourbon flavored is adulterated. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 144.

- Former Code 1933, § 2103 was sufficient to prohibit the reuse of fiber separators between layers of apples unless adequate provisions had been made to sterilize or otherwise render the separators suitable for use. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 1.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 35A Am. Jur. 2d, Food, §§ 18, 20, 39.

- 36A C.J.S., Food, § 23.

- Seller's duty to ascertain at his peril that articles of food conform to food regulations, 28 A.L.R. 1385.

Preservative as adulterant within statute in relation to food, 50 A.L.R. 76.

Statutes or ordinances in relation to confectionery, 58 A.L.R. 293.

Constitutionality of statutes, ordinances or other regulations against adulteration of food products as applied to substances used for preservative purposes, 114 A.L.R. 1214.

Infected or tainted condition of milk or other food, or contamination in water, and its causation of the sickness of the consumer, as inferable from such sickness, 130 A.L.R. 616.

Liability of manufacturer or packer of defective article for injury to person or property of ultimate consumer who purchased from middleman, 140 A.L.R. 191; 142 A.L.R. 1490.

Implied warranty of fitness by one serving food, 7 A.L.R.2d 1027, 87 A.L.R.4th 804, 90 A.L.R.4th 12.

Construction and application of Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act § 402 (a)(3) [21 USC § 342 (a)(3)] as to food deemed "adulterated," if it is filthy or the like, or unfit for food, 45 A.L.R.2d 861.

Coloring matter as forbidden adulteration of food, 56 A.L.R.2d 1129.

Liability for injury or death allegedly caused by foreign object in food or food product, 1 A.L.R.5th 1.

Liability for injury or death allegedly caused by spoilage, contamination, or other deleterious condition of food or food product, 2 A.L.R.5th 1.

Liability for injury or death allegedly caused by food product containing object related to, but not intended to be present in, product, 2 A.L.R.5th 189.