Virginia Law

No person may produce, provide, manufacture, sell, offer for sale, or store in the Commonwealth of Virginia, or bring, send into, or receive into the Commonwealth of Virginia any milk or dairy product that is not labeled in compliance with the following:

1. The permit holder's dairy products shall be labeled in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, and regulations developed thereunder;

2. The permit holder shall label or mark all containers and packages enclosing any dairy products with:

a. The name of the dairy product as established under the standard of identity for the dairy product, if there is a standard of identity for the dairy product, and if there is no standard of identity for the dairy product, a name that is not false or misleading;

b. The identity of the plant where the permit holder's dairy product is processed by specifying the street address, city, state, and zip code of the plant; and

c. Information, marks, pictures, graphics, or words appearing on the label of the dairy product which are not misleading;

3. The permit holder shall label or mark all containers and packages enclosing any dairy products intended for sale to the final consumer with a "sell by date" which shall not interfere with the legibility of other labeling required for the dairy product and shall be expressed by: the first three letters in the name of the month, followed by or preceded by the numeral or numerals constituting the calendar date after which the product shall not be sold or expressed numerically by the number of the month followed by the number of the day. For example, June 1 shall be expressed "JUN 1," "1 JUN," "06 01," or "06-01";

4. No person may sell or offer for sale to the final consumer any dairy product in container or package form that does not bear a "sell by date";

5. No person may sell or offer for sale to the final consumer any dairy product in container or package form after the "sell by date" shown on the package;

6. No person may change, remove, or replace the "sell by date" on any dairy product in container or package form after the "sell by date" is initially affixed to the package;

7. The requirements of subdivisions 3, 4 and 5 of this section pertaining to the "sell by date" shall not apply to any dairy products which are not to be sold in the Commonwealth of Virginia;

8. No person may sell or offer for sale any cheese that is frozen or has ever been frozen unless it is labeled with the words "Previously Frozen" or "Frozen" as the case may be, in text and type at least as large and bold as the name of the cheese. The words "Previously Frozen" or "Frozen" shall appear directly above or below the name of the cheese product without any intervening material or graphics everywhere it appears on the label for the cheese product;

9. No person may freeze any cheese unless the person labels the cheese as "Frozen" before it is placed in cold storage;

10. No person may label any dry whole milk, nonfat dry milk, dry buttermilk, dry whey, evaporated whole milk, evaporated skim milk, condensed whole milk, condensed plain milk, or sweetened skim milk as "fresh";

11. No person may label or advertise any cheese made from unpasteurized milk as "fresh";

12. No person may label or advertise any cheese which is or has been previously frozen or stored at temperatures below 35°F as "fresh"; and

13. No person may label or advertise any cheese (except Asiago Fresh Cheese) that is required to be aged a minimum of 60 days above 35°F or that was held longer than 10 days from the date of production as "fresh."