Florida Citrus Commission v. Golden Gift, Inc.

• Citation: 91 So.2d 657
• Parties: FLORIDA CITRUS COMMISSION, a body corporate, and Nathan Mayo, as Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. GOLDEN GIFT, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 11 October 1956
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida

Page 657

91 So.2d 657

FLORIDA CITRUS COMMISSION, a body corporate, and Nathan Mayo, as Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. GOLDEN GIFT, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Florida, En Banc.

Oct. 11, 1956.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 11, 1956.

W. J. Steed, Orlando, for Florida Citrus Commission.

William C. Pierce, Tampa, for Nathan Mayo, as Commissioner of Agriculture of Florida.

Wm. A. McRae, Jr., Stephen H. Grimes, Chesterfield H. Smith and Holland, Bevis, McRae & Smith, Bartow, for appellee.

ROBERTS and THORNAL, Justices.

This litigation is concerned with a regulation adopted in February, 1955 by the Florida Citrus Commission, appellant here and defendant below, by which the commission established product standards and labeling requirements for 'chilled orange juice'. As presently developed, this product is prepared for market in the following manner: Fresh single-strength orange juice is subjected to an irradiation process by means of an ultra-violet ray in order to incativate certain enzymes in the juice that cause a rapid deterioration in flavor; it is then cooled to just above the freezing point and placed in sealed waxed cardboard cartons (quart of half-pint) similar to those in use in the milk industry. It is shipped and stored under refrigeration and is distributed to the consumer principally by dairies. If properly refrigerated it will retain its flavor for a period of up to three weeks from the time it is prepared for market. This product has only recently (since 1954) been marketed to any considerable extent, and it was not referred to in the 1949 Florida Citrus Code, Chapter 601, Fla.Stat. 1955, F.S.A. The regulation adopted by the Commission provides, in part, as follows:

'The juice may be treated to reduce bacteriological or enzymatic action or to remove objectionable peel oil, but shall not contain any additivies of any kind. The juice may be admixed with reconstituted frozen concentrated orange juice or reconstituted frozen concentrated orange juice for manufacturing; or the juice may be prepered solely from reconstituted frozen concentrated orange juice.' (Emphasis added.)

Golden Gift, Inc., plaintiff below and appellee here, is a producer and marketer in interstate commerce of chilled fruit juice. By the instant suit, it attacked the regulation in question as beyond the authority of the Commission to adopt and alleged that, even if authorized, the regulation in question was unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatroy, and thus invalid. Its principal complaint was directed to the fact that, by prohibiting all 'additives', the regulation denied it the right to add sugar to its product, when all other citrus products (except frozen concentrated orange juice) were allowed to be sweetened under applicable provisions of the statute and the Commission's regulations. The Commission concedes that the addition of sugar to orange juice is not, per se, harmful and that sugar is a 'wholesome, nutritive and innocuous' substance. It contended below, however, and here contends, that this prohibition is 'necessary to protect the public against fraud and deception and is in the best interests of the entire Florida citrus industry.'

The cause was heard by the Chancellor and a decree entered in favor of plaintiff. The Commission has appealed.

In his decree, the Chancellor found that chilled orange juice as produced by plaintiff 'meets the requirements of the statutory definition of canned orange juice prescribed in the Florida Citrus Code' and that 'plaintiff is not producing a new product which is not covered by the Florida Citrus Code, but that plaintiff, along with other pioneer producers of single-strength fresh orange juice, packaged and marketed in waxed cardboard cartons, has only devised a new and successful technique for accomplishing a result tried many times before by Florida citrus growers.' It is contended here by the Commission that this finding is erroneous; that chilled orange juice is a distinctly new product with none of the qualities of a 'canned product' as defined bt statute, Section 601.03(4), Fla.Stat.1955, F.S.A.; and that the Commission was not required to proceed under the specific legislative authority granted it to regulate 'citrus fruits and canned and concentrated products thereof,' but that it could regulate chilled fruit juice under the general power contained in Section 601.10(7), Fla.Stat.1955, F.S.A., to 'regulate and control methods and practices followed or used in the harvesting, grading, packing, canning, concentrating, or otherwise processing citrus fruits for human consumption, * * * to the end that such methods and practices as affect the eating and keeping qualities and depreciate the value thereof may be minimized to the greatest extent possible, if not altogether eliminated.' (Emphasis added.) The Commission's contention in this respect is sustained, under the authority of Taylor v. Roberts, 84 Fla. 654, 94 So. 874, and State v. City of Jacksonville, Fla.1951, 50 So.2d 532.

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