Citrus Hill Manufacturing Co. v. State

29 Fla. Supp. 2d 217
CourtState of Florida Division of Administrative Hearings
DecidedDecember 9, 1987
DocketCase No. 87-1611
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Fla. Supp. 2d 217 (Citrus Hill Manufacturing Co. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering State of Florida Division of Administrative Hearings primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citrus Hill Manufacturing Co. v. State, 29 Fla. Supp. 2d 217 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

DIANE D. TREMOR, Hearing Officer.

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, an administrative hearing was held before Diane [218]*218D. Tremor, Hearing Officer with the Division of Administrative Hearings, on September 24, 1987, in Lakeland, Florida. The issue for determination in this proceeding is whether the Department of Citrus may require the petitioner to eliminate the word “juice” from its labels for diluted citrus products produced, manufactured, packaged and distributed in Florida.

INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to § 120.57(1), Florida Statutes, petitioner, the Citrus Hill Manufacturing Company, sought a hearing on the issue of whether the Department of Citrus may compel it to change the labels on its diluted citrus fruit products by removing the word “juice” from the labels. This proceeding was consolidated for hearing purposes with Division of Administrative Hearing’s Case No. 87-3078R, bearing the same caption, which challenged the validity of Rule 20-66.001(4), Florida Administrative Code. The latter proceeding is the subject of a separate Final Order entered on this same date.

In support of its position that the Department may not lawfully ban the word “juice” from appearing on the labels of diluted citrus fruit beverages, petitioner presented the testimony of Charles Anthony Parsons, the manager of purchases for Citrus Hill Manufacturing Company (Citrus Hill); Richard J. Coomes, the regulatory affairs manager for the beverage products division of Proctor and Gamble; and Joseph Ottaviani, a vice president and regional manager with Burke Marketing Research. Petitioners’ Exhibits 1, 2, 6 and 7 were received into evidence.

The respondent, Department of Citrus, presented the testimony of Douglas Hoffer, the former marketing director with the Department of Citrus, and Dr. Poonam Mittal, a market research coordinator with the Department of Citrus. The respondent’s Exhibits A through D were received into evidence.

Official notice was taken of the documents listed in Hearing Officer’s Exhibit 1. Subsequent to the hearing, both parties submitted proposed orders. To the extent that the parties’ proposed findings of fact are not included in this Recommended Order, they are rejected for the reasons set forth in the Appendix hereto.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Upon consideration of the oral and documentary evidence adduced at the hearing, the following relevant facts are found:

(1) Citrus Hill Manufacturing Company (Citrus Hill) is a wholly [219]*219owned subsidiary of Proctor and Gamble. Citrus Hill is in the business of producing, manufacturing, packaging and distributing citrus products throughout the United States. It’s main product has been “Select” orange juice which is 100% orange juice. Its principle manufacturing facility is located in Frostproof, Florida. While Citrus Hill has four other manufacturing sites outside the State of Florida, its Florida plant is the only facility for manufacturing frozen products. While it can produce chilled products at its plants located outside Florida, Citrus Hill’s Florida plant is necessary to supply the demand for its chilled products on a national basis.

(2) In an effort to expand its market, Citrus Hill developed three products which it produces and packs at its plant in Frostproof, Florida. These products are and have been labeled as follows:

(a) “Lite Citrus Hill Orange Juice Beverage — 60% Orange Juice,”

(b) “Lite Citrus Hill Grapefruit Juice Beverage — 45% Grapefruit Juice,” and

(c) “Plus Calcium Citrus Hill, Calcium Fortified Grapefruit Juice Beverage — 60% Grapefruit Juice.”

The “lite” beverages are reduced calorie diluted juice beverages with the addition of Nutrasweet. The third product is a diluted grapefruit juice beverage fortified with calcium.

(3) By a letter dated March 19, 1987, the Department of Citrus ordered Citrus Hill to change its diluted citrus products labels and informed Citrus Hill that the Department would enforce Rule 20-66.001(4), Florida Administrative Code. That rule provides

“Labels for diluted citrus products shall not include the word “juice” in the name of the product.”

By a Final Order entered this same date, that Rule was declared to be an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority.

(4) As noted above, Citrus Hill markets and sells its product line throughout the United States. It desires to utilize the names of its diluted juice products as indicated in paragraph two above for three reasons. First, Citrus Hill believes that its labeling is in compliance with federal law. Second, it believes that a product name which includes the word “juice” more fully informs the consumer of the nature of the product because it is more exact, descriptive and less ambiguous than any name not using the word “juice”, such as “drink”, “ade”, or “beverage”. Third, Citrus Hill fears that if it were unable to disclose through its product name that the product is primarily a juice product, it would be placed at a competitive disadvantage in the [220]*220national marketplace where non-Florida producers of similar products would not be bound by the challenged Rule’s ban on the use of the word “juice” in the name of diluted juice products. While Citrus Hill could move its packaging facilities outside the state and utilize two products labels (one for Florida shipment and one for the non-Florida market), this alternative would be extremely expensive and would constitute a “distribution nightmare.” Many distributors and large retail grocery stores work in multi-state regions and may not be willing to segregate and keep track of petitioner’s different product labels for shipment in Florida and in non-Florida states.

(5) No other state in the United States prohibits the word “juice” in the labeling of diluted citrus juice products.

(6) In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the subject of proper labeling of diluted fruit juice beverages was under discussion by both the Florida Department of Citrus and the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The FDA ultimately rejected the proposal of prohibiting the word “juice” from the name of any product that was not 100% pure juice, and also rejected the approach of defining different products through “standards of identity.” This latter method of labeling products would have defined a product as “ades” only if containing more than 10%, but less than 20%, juice, and various other category names based upon the percentage of fruit juice contained in the product. The prohibition against the word “juice” and the “standards of identity” proposals for the labeling of diluted juice products were rejected by the FDA in favor of a common or usual name approach, with a percent declaration of any characterizing ingredient.

(7) The pertinent federal regulations addressing the labeling of food products are contained in 21 C.F.R. Chapter 1. The more general regulation appears in 21 C.F.R. 102.5(a) and (b), and states, in pertinent part, as follows:

“Section 102.5 General Principles.

(a) The common or usual name of a food . . .

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Bluebook (online)
29 Fla. Supp. 2d 217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citrus-hill-manufacturing-co-v-state-fladivadminhrg-1987.