2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART III - Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics (§§ 711 — 1031d) › Chapter 54 - Wholesome Meat (§§ 771 — 774h) › Subchapter I - Inspection, Adulteration and False Labeling Requirements (§§ 771 — 771p) › § 771f - Labeling

(a) When the meat or the meat food products prepared for intrastate commerce, inspected and marked “P.R. Inspected and Approved”, is placed or packed in a can, jar, container, burlap or wrapping in an establishment subject to inspection under this chapter, there shall be affixed to said can, jar, container, burlap or wrapping a tag or label indicating that the contents thereof have been “P.R. Inspected and Approved” under the provisions of this chapter. The inspection and examination of said products so placed and packed shall not be considered completed until said containers or wrappings have been closed and sealed in the presence of an inspector.
(b) All meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this chapter and found to be unadulterated shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers or wrappings the information required under subsection (l) of § 771a of this title.
(c) The Secretary, whenever he determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe:
(1) The styles and sizes of the printed type or letter to be used with respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to avoid false or misleading labeling of any articles or meats covered by the provisions of this chapter.
(2) The definitions and standards of identity or composition for articles covered by this chapter and the standards of fill of containers for such articles not inconsistent with any such standards established under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, shall be established by consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, prior to the issuance thereof to avoid inconsistency between such standards and the federal standards.
(d) No article covered by the provisions of this chapter shall be sold or offered for sale in intrastate commerce by any person, under any name, mark or label which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the Secretary are permitted.
(e) If the Secretary has reasons to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any article covered by the provisions of this chapter is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the Secretary, such person may request an administrative hearing to be held within the ten (10) days of the notice of the determination; but if the Secretary so directs, said person shall abstain from using the tag, label or container until the administrative hearing is held and the final determination by the Secretary is made. From such final determination the person aggrieved may request a review before the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico, within the thirty (30) days following the official notice thereof, it being understood for such date the sending of the notice by certified mail to the aggrieved party or to his attorney. The review shall be limited to issues of law and the findings of fact of the Secretary sustained by substantial evidence in the record shall be conclusive. The person aggrieved by the judgment rendered by the Court of First Instance may request a review thereof through certiorari before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico within the twenty (20) days of having been notified of said judgment. The Supreme Court may issue the writ on considering the petition meritorious, but in no case shall it stay the effects of the judgment of the Court of First Instance while the case is being settled.
History —June 28, 1969, No. 120, p. 334, § 7.