2015 California Code
Public Resources Code - PRC
DIVISION 12.1 - CALIFORNIA BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING AND LITTER REDUCTION ACT
CHAPTER 2 - Definitions
Section 14504.

14504. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), beverage means any of the following products if those products are in liquid, ready-to-drink form, and are intended for human consumption:

(1) Beer and other malt beverages.

(2) Wine and distilled spirit coolers.

(3) Carbonated water, including soda and carbonated mineral water.

(4) Noncarbonated water, including noncarbonated mineral water.

(5) Carbonated soft drinks.

(6) Noncarbonated soft drinks and sport drinks.

(7) Except as provided in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b), noncarbonated fruit drinks that contain any percentage of fruit juice.

(8) Coffee and tea drinks.

(9) Carbonated fruit drinks.

(10) Vegetable juice in beverage containers of 16 ounces or less.

(b) Beverage does not include any of the following:

(1) Any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container.

(2) Wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated.

(3) Milk, medical food, or infant formula.

(4) One hundred percent fruit juice in containers that are 46 ounces or more in volume.

(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) Infant formula means any liquid food described or sold as an alternative for human milk for the feeding of infants.

(2) (A) Medical food means a food or beverage that is formulated to be consumed, or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician, and that is intended for specific dietary management of diseases or health conditions for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.

(B) A medical food is a specially formulated and processed product, for the partial or exclusive feeding of a patient by means of oral intake or enteral feeding by tube, and is not a naturally occurring foodstuff used in its natural state.

(C) Medical food includes any product that meets the definition of medical food in the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 360ee (b)(3).

(3) Noncarbonated soft drink means a nonalcoholic, noncarbonated naturally or artificially flavored water containing sugar or sweetener or trace amounts of various elements from both natural and synthetic sources.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 731, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)