Virginia Code 3.2-3613: Adulteration
A. It is unlawful to distribute an adulterated regulated product. A regulated product shall be deemed to be adulterated if:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 3.2-3613
- Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
- Deficiency: means the amount of nutrient found by analysis to be less than that guaranteed, which may result from a lack of nutrient ingredients, or from lack of uniformity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
- Distribute: means to import, consign, manufacture, produce, compound, mix, blend, or in any way alter, the chemical or physical characteristics of a regulated product, or to offer for sale, sell, barter, warehouse or otherwise supply regulated product in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
- Label: means the display of all written, printed, or graphic matter, upon the immediate container, or a statement accompanying a regulated product, including an invoice. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
- Labeling: means all written, printed, or graphic matter, upon or accompanying any regulated product, including invoices, advertisements, brochures, posters, television and radio announcements, and internet content used in promoting the sale of the regulated product. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
- Lot: means an identifiable quantity of produced material that can be sampled officially according to AOAC International procedures, up to and including a freight car load or 50 tons maximum, or that amount contained in a single vehicle, or that amount delivered under a single invoice. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
- Regulated product: means any product governed by this chapter, including any fertilizer, specialty fertilizer, soil amendment, digestate, and horticultural growing medium. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
1. It contains any deleterious or harmful ingredient, in sufficient amount to render it injurious to beneficial plant life, when applied in accordance with directions for use on the label;
2. It does not contain an adequate warning statement, or directions for use, on the label sufficient to protect plant life;
3. It has a composition that falls below or differs from that which it is purported to possess by its labeling; or
4. It contains unwanted crop seed, or viable prohibited or restricted noxious weed seeds in amounts exceeding the limits specified in the regulations of the Board.
B. The guarantor of any regulated product found to be adulterated shall pay to the consumer an assessment equal to 10 percent of the retail value of the regulated product sold to the consumer and found to be in violation of subsection A not to exceed $5,000 per occurrence. The assessment for adulteration shall apply only to the retail sale of any regulated product made from a lot or a portion thereof after the Commissioner has inspected the lot or a portion thereof. The assessment for adulteration shall be in addition to any assessment for plant food deficiency.
1994, c. 740, § 3.1-106.11; 2008, c. 860; 2011, cc. 552, 564.