Opinion ID: 1713505
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Justification as a regulation to promote wholesome products.

Text: The Division argues that the perishable nature of malt beverages demands that beer be shipped directly to Florida in order to ensure freshness, and that both of the requirements in Section 563.06(1) reasonably advance this objective. Belk-James disputes any logical connection between the word Florida on the container top and the wholesomeness of the product inside, inasmuch as the stamp is imprinted by the manufacturer without limitations against the imprinting of several states' names on the crown or lid. The Division meets this contention by suggesting that the labelling requirement is all that is needed to induce commercial self-policing, since manufacturers would find it commercially infeasible to do what Belk-James suggests they might. We have to agree with the Division that the Legislature may regulate by commercial self-compulsion, and that in this case it might reasonably have relied on the motivations of beer manufacturers to preserve the freshness of their own product. By directing that only manufacturers may imprint containers, the Legislature might reasonably have provided the regulatory impetus to achieve quality control, based on a subsidiary assumption that others in the beer distribution chain are not as keenly motivated as the manufacturer to ensure the freshness of any particular product. [5]