F. I. D. 32.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY,
H. W. WILEY, Chief of Bureau.
FOOD INSPECTION DECISION 32.
FOODS ENTERED FOR THE PURPOSE OF SALE TO OUTGOING SHIPS.
An importer has made the following statement relating to the labeling of certain products, namely:
We should like, however, to point out to you that our trade is one by itself, and these
goods, and mostly all the other goods that we import, are not for consumption in the United
States, but are shipped by us on board foreign-going vessels. Our business is the ship-supply
trade, and these importations are brought in to enable us to give the same supplies
to the different vessels as we are in the habit of furnishing in Great Britain. Under the
circumstances, therefore, we hope if we furnish bonds or give you a guarantee that any
goods, such as marmalade, imported by us would not be consumed in the United States it
would enable you to pass the goods as they have been of late.
This is a case similar to F. I. D. 25, "Food Products Offered for Entry and Afterwards
Declared to be for Technical Purposes." The principle involved is that a declaration respecting
the uses to which a food may be put does not in any way affect its inspection when
offered for entry and delivered to the consignee. If a food product be regularly offered for
importation into the United States the subsequent use to which it may be put is not a matter
which can affect in any way the duties of the inspecting officers. It is not the duty of
these officers to follow the food into consumption nor to see what becomes of it after it is
delivered to the consignee. The duty of these officers is to see that the food at the time of
inspection conforms to the provisions of the law, that it has had no injurious substance
added to it, that it is in a state fit for consumption, that it is properly labeled, and that it is
not of a character forbidden sale or restricted in sale in the country where it is made or
from which it is exported. If the foods in question conform to these provisions of the law,
they are permitted to be delivered to the consignee. The purpose of the consignee in securing
the goods and the disposition which he makes of them after they are secured do not
appear to have any bearing upon the subject of the inspection itself. In the present case
it is declared that the goods are intended to be sold to outgoing steamships. At the time
of sailing these steamships are subject to the laws of the United States. The provisioning
of these ships is made under the laws of the United States with articles of food produced
in or imported into the United States.
In the enforcement of the law it makes no difference whether the foods are intended for disposition in this way or for ordinary consumption. If it is desired to use such foods for transshipment, they could be entered in bond, never passed through the custom-house, and removed from bond and reshipped. If the foods are treated in this way, and thus never brought within the jurisdiction of the United States, this Department will have no control over them in any way whatever. They would remain solely under the control of the Treasury Department, and that Department would see to it that they were reshipped beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. Even in this case it does not seem, however, that
