§ 18665 Meat Product Definition

Food and Agricultural Code·California

AI SummaryVerified

This law explains what counts as a 'meat food product' and gives the director power to exempt items that only have a tiny amount of meat, as long as they aren't sold as meat products.

Key Takeaways

•Any food made from beef, pork, lamb, or goat counts as a meat food product.
•The director can exempt products with only a little meat if they aren't sold as meat products.
•The same rule also applies to foods made from horses.

Example

A soup that contains only a small piece of beef flavoring but is mostly vegetables

The director can decide that because the meat part is very small and the product isn't marketed as a meat item, it doesn't have to follow the meat food product rules.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source

View on CA.gov

§ 18665 Meat Product Definition

“Meat food product” means any product which is capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goat. The director may exempt from this definition any product which contains meat or any other portion of such a carcass only in a relatively small proportion which is found by the director not to be a product of the meat food industry for the purposes of this chapter, under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portion of such carcass which is contained in such product is not adulterated and that such product is not represented as a meat food product. The term meat food product, as applied to any food product of any equine, has the same meaning as is provided in this paragraph with respect to meat food products of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats. (Added by Stats. 1970, Ch. 1385.)

Last verified: January 10, 2026

Key Terms

meat food product carcass adulterated equine

References

Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California Legislature. Food and Agricultural Code. Section 18665.

§ 18665 Meat Product Definition

Food and Agricultural Code·California

AI SummaryVerified

§ 18665 Meat Product Definition

This law explains what counts as a 'meat food product' and gives the director power to exempt items that only have a tiny amount of meat, as long as they aren't sold as meat products.

Key Takeaways

•Any food made from beef, pork, lamb, or goat counts as a meat food product.
•The director can exempt products with only a little meat if they aren't sold as meat products.
•The same rule also applies to foods made from horses.

Example

A soup that contains only a small piece of beef flavoring but is mostly vegetables

The director can decide that because the meat part is very small and the product isn't marketed as a meat item, it doesn't have to follow the meat food product rules.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source

View on CA.gov

§ 18665 Meat Product Definition

Last verified: January 10, 2026

Key Terms

meat food product carcass adulterated equine

References

Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California Legislature. Food and Agricultural Code. Section 18665.

Key Takeaways

Example

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References

Key Takeaways

Example

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References