Opinion ID: 2622966
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The FDCA Permits States to Establish Identical Requirements

Text: Congress amended the FDCA with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA). (Pub.L. No. 101-535 (Nov. 8, 1990) 104 Stat. 2353.) The purpose of the NLEA was to create uniform national standards regarding the labeling of food and to prevent states from adopting inconsistent requirements with respect to the labeling of nutrients. (Remarks of Rep. Waxman, 136 Cong. Rec. 5840 (daily ed. July 30, 1990) [debate on H.R. No. 3562, 101st Cong., 2d Sess.].) To that end, the NLEA included an explicit preemption provision in the form of section 343-1(a) (Pub.L. No. 101-535, § 6 (Nov. 8, 1990) 104 Stat. 2362-2364), which provides that no State or political subdivision of a State may directly or indirectly establish under any authority or continue in effect as to any food in interstate commerce[¶] ... [¶] (3) any requirement for the labeling of food of the type required by section ... 343(k) of this title that is not identical to the requirement of such section.... (§ 343-l(a), italics added.) [8] Although section 343-1 speaks in terms of what states may not do, by negative implication, section 343-1 also expresses what states may do, i.e., states may establish their own requirements pertaining to the labeling of artificially colored food so long as their requirements are identical to those contained in the FDCA in section 343(k). (60 Fed.Reg. 57120 (Nov. 13,1995) [under FDA regulations, if the State requirement is identical to Federal law, there is no issue of preemption]; Consumer Justice Center v. Olympian Labs, Inc. (2002) 99 Cal.App.4th 1056, 1065, 121 Cal.Rptr.2d 749 ( Consumer Justice ) [[s]tates can enforce labeling rules which are identical (original italics) ]; cf. Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr (1996) 518 U.S. 470, 495, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 ( Medtronic ) [reaching same conclusion regarding similar FDCA preemption provision in section 360k].)