United States v. H. J. Heinz Co.

26 C.C.P.A. 9, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 191
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedApril 4, 1938
DocketNo. 4128; No. 4129
StatusPublished

This text of 26 C.C.P.A. 9 (United States v. H. J. Heinz Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. H. J. Heinz Co., 26 C.C.P.A. 9, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 191 (ccpa 1938).

Opinion

Garrett, Presiding Judge,

delivered tbe opinion of the court:2

These are cross-appeals from a judgment of the United States Customs Court, Third Division.

In the latter part of 1934 H. J. Heinz Co. made a number of importations of merchandise invoiced as “Tomato ‘B’ Sauce.” The importations came from Canada and were entered at the port of Pittsburgh, Pa. The Collector of Customs classified the merchandise under paragraph 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as “Tomatoes * * * prepared or preserved in any manner,” duty being assessed and collected at 50 per centum ad valorem. The importer brought suits for recovery of a part of the duties paid by filing two protests. The two suits were consolidated for trial, the issues being the same in both cases. In the protests were alternative claims, the two claims relied upon being for classification either under that portion of paragraph 775 of the act which provides for “sauces of all kinds, not specially provided for” at 35 per centum ad valorem, or under paragraph 1558 of the act as “articles manufactured” with duty assessment at 20 per centum ad valorem.

The trial court sustained the claim under paragraph 775. The Government appealed, asserting the correctness of the collector’s classification. The importer cross-appealed in order to enable it to make its alternative claim under paragraph 1558.

The pertinent parts of the respective paragraphs at issue read:

Par. 772. Tomatoes in their natural state, 3 cents per pound; prepared or preserved in any manner, 50 per centum ad valorem.

[11]*11Par. 775. Vegetables (including horseradish), if cut, sliced, or otherwise reduced in size, or if reduced to flour, or if parched or roasted, or if pickled, or packed in salt, brine, oil, or prepared or preserved in any other way and not specially provided for; sauces of all kinds, not specially provided for; soy beans, prepared or preserved in any manner; bean stick, miso, bean cake, and similar products, not specially provided for; soups, soup rolls, soup tablets or cubes, and other soup preparations, pastes, balls, puddings, hash, and all similar forms, composed of vegetables, or of vegetables and meat or fish, or both, not specially provided for, 35 per centum ad valorem * * *.
Par. 1558. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on the importation of * * * all articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not specially provided for, a duty of 20 per centum ad valorem.

It appears from the record that the Heinz Co. manufactured the imported product at a plant owned and operated by it at Leamington, Ontario, Canada, in the same manner that it manufactures a similar product at some of its plants in the United States and that it is not placed on the market in its imported or manufactured form — that is, it is not sold in that form to anyone, but is used solely by the Heinz Co. in the preparation of its product of baked beans and pork. Samples of the merchandise in the form imported were placed in evidence as were samples of the beans and pork product. The label upon the latter contains the statement:

Oven Baked Beans with Pork and Tomato Sauce
Select Beans and Pork Prepared with Tomato Sauce After Our Own Recipe, Containing Tomatoes, Onions, Sugar, Salt, Heinz Distilled Vinegar and Spices.

Mr. Herbert N. Riley, chief chemist in charge of the manufacturing processes of the importing company, in which he is a director, gave the following description of the manufacture of the merchandise at issue:

The tomatoes are received at the factory from the farmers, and they are washed, assorted, and defective parts trimmed out, and are then scalded, after which they are screened to remove the seed, skin, and core content of the tomato. The liquid remaining from this screening operation is pumped to the kitchen where it is placed in a 250 gallon steam jacketed kettle. A batch consists of 120 gallons, or approximately, depending on the character of the thin pulp gotten from the whole tomato. To this pulp is added the 50 pounds of sugar, 12 pounds of onions, garlic, and various spices, and the mass is boiled down to approximately 80 gallons, at which time vinegar is added. After, the vinegar is added, the cooking process is continued until we have the mass reduced to a standard consistency of which is usually reached when the batch will yield 52 gallons, or very nearly that amount. After this cooking operation is complete, the product is again sieved to remove the onions, the garlic, and the whole spice, so that we have when we are through, a finished sauce which is dropped to the floor below, and filled into suitable containers for our purpose, usually 5 gallon cans. Although at times it may be filled into a one gallon container. * * *

Elsewhere the witness stated that the product is made by a secret formula; that in the concentrated form in which imported, it is a "complete sauce”; that in using it with the pork and beans product, [12]*12“We dilute itowith water, add salt, pepper, and a slight amount of arrow root. Put it on the beans when we prepare the beans * * * To make the beans taste better”; that as imported, it is not a commercial product, but one designed solely to be used with the Heinz Co. baked beans product.

There were admitted in evidence certain chemical analyses of the merchandise made on behalf of the respective parties. These do not materially differ. The opinion of the trial court says:

The importer’s chemist’s report shows 2.32 per centum of the substance to be protein, while the Government chemist assigned 3 per centum of the commodity to tomato pulp. Whether the substance designated as protein is more-nearly an element than tomato pulp we are unable to say, nor, as stated before, do we think it makes any material difference in this case. In the testimony produced by the plaintiff it was admitted that a chemical analysis would not disclose the existence of products like tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, peas, and onion; that a food product could not be detected in a chemical.

Only two cases arising under the Tariff Act of 1930 in which tomato products were involved have been before this court.

The first case was that of Columbo Co., Antonio Badalament v. United States, 21 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 302, T. D. 46819. The product there involved is described in our opinion as having been prepared in the following manner:

Mashed ripe tomatoes are strained through a sieve into a cheesecloth bag, and permitted to drain for a period of 24 hour's or more, “it is left in these cheesecloth bags and is boiled down. Then it is highly salted, put on platters, and laid in the sun until it comes of a consistency that can be easily handled by hand.” Exhibit 1, which is representative of the merchandise, is soft and plastic, and, no doubt, properly denominated a paste.
It appears from Exhibit 2, the report of a Government chemist, that the involved paste “is composed of partially dried tomatoes or tomato pulp chiefly, salt and a small amount of spices. Salt — 15.4%.”

There was no claim in that case under the provision for sauces in paragraph 775, supra, and we had no occasion to consider the applicability of that provision.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bogle v. Magone
152 U.S. 623 (Supreme Court, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 C.C.P.A. 9, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-h-j-heinz-co-ccpa-1938.