Vita Food Products, Inc. v. United States

24 C.C.P.A. 248, 1936 CCPA LEXIS 187
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals·Decided November 30, 1936·No. No. 3988·Published

Opinions

Graham, Presiding Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellant imported certain sausage under the Tariff Act of 1930, at the port of New York. There were several shipments, and, after classification by the collector, fourteen protests were filed. By stipulation, protest No. 634676-G/38716 and its accompanying appraiser’s and collector’s reports were agreed to be typical, and are reproduced in the record.

The goods were classified under paragraph 706 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as “prepared meats, not specially provided for” and are claimed in the protest to be dutiable under paragraph 703 of said act as “other pork, prepared or preserved.”

The competing paragraphs are as follows:

Par. 706. Meats, fresh, chilled, frozen, prepared, or preserved, not specially provided for, 6 cents per pound, but not less than 20 per centum ad valorem.
Par. 703. Swine, 2 cents per pound; pork, fresh, chilled, or frozen, 2)4 cents per pound; bacon, hams, and shoulders, and other pork, prepared or preserved, 3)4 cents per pound; lard. 3 cents per pound; lard compounds and lard substitutes, 5 cents per pound.

[249]*249On the trial before the United States Customs Court, several witnesses were called and examined on behalf of the importer and of the Government. In addition, a deposition of one Reinhard Witte, taken on behalf of the importer, was introduced in evidence. The method of manufacture of the imported material was shown by the testimony of the witnesses Gastmeyer and Eschenheimer. The latter witness thus described the process of manufacture:

There are various ways of manufacturing liverwurst, but all with slight exceptions, they are identically the same. One party may take the liver and put that through the grinder first; another party may take the liver directly, which saves one operation; another party may take a liver in, scald the liver before grinding; and the other one may — The most common practice, the liver is scalded about 60 per cent scalded, then ground through a grinder, and from there transferred to a silent cutter, and in the silent cutter, pork is added to the liver, also the spices, and veal or such substance as may be added, or beef, any substance. You may add any substance there. From there you transfer it to the stuffing table, stuff it in casings, and from there you take it to the cooking tank, and cook the liverwurst anywhere from three-quarters of an hour to two hours, according to the size of the casing. After that the product is transferred to the smoke house, and then smoked, becomes the finished product.

This witness also testified that it was not necessary to use pork liver in the manufacture of liverwurst, but that lamb or veal or beef liver might be used. The deposition of the deponent Witte furnished a table showing the constituent elements of the items which are involved here, together with the amount and value of the same. In this deposition, the various ldnds of sausages imported are referred to as Nos. 18, 19, 20, 22, and 26, and the constituent elements of each mixture are given. On the hearing in this court, the appellant concedes that the deposition is not in sufficient detail as to items Nos. 19 and 20, and the appellant has, therefore, moved to dismiss the appeal as to the protests covering these items. The details, therefore, of such items will be omitted here. Mixtures 18, 22, and 26 are given, as follows:

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Vita Food Products, Inc. v. United States, 24 C.C.P.A. 248, 1936 CCPA LEXIS 187 (ccpa 1936).

24 C.C.P.A. 248 (Vita Food Products, Inc. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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