Standards of identity for food are mandatory requirements which are set by a governing body that determine what a food product must contain to be marketed under a certain name in allowable commerce. Mandatory standards (which differ from voluntary grades and standards applied to agricultural commodities) protect the consumer by ensuring a label accurately reflects what is inside (for example, that mayonnaise is not an imitation spread, or that ice cream is not a similar, but different, frozen dessert).
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A US trade organization defines the term as follows:
"A standard of identity sets out what ingredients a product must contain, which ingredients it may contain, and any requirements of manufacturing. For example, “Whisky” is defined as “a potable alcoholic distillate obtained from a mash of cereal grain saccharified by diastase of malt or by other enzymes and fermented by the action of yeast”. It may contain caramel and flavouring. No other ingredients are allowed. If someone were to produce a whisky containing a dye, they would not be permitted to call the product “whisky”, since dye is not a permitted additive. Standards of identity are set out in the Food and Drug Regulations. They may be identified by the symbol “[S]” following the product name in boldface type. As such, they are official common names for products and no other name can be substituted."
A 2014 lawsuit in the United States illustrated the necessity of such regulations. When Hampton Creek implied (in its advertising) that mayonnaise being marketed by Unilever was not "real" mayonnaise, the latter sued Hampton for defamation, citing the definitions promulgated by the US FDA.
United States
Each State within the US reserves the authority to set standards of identity for foods marketed within the state. In addition, the departments of the Federal government carry authority to set requirements for food products that are offered for interstate commerce. Such standards are issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Canada
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issues standards of identity.
Australia and New Zealand
The Commonwealth nations use many of the same terms employed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Food Standards Australia New Zealand, formerly Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), is the governmental body responsible for developing food standards for Australia and New Zealand.
France
Italy
Denominazione di Origine Controllata is the Italian quality assurance label for food products and especially wines.