HB461 Alabama 2011 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Harry Shiver

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2011

Title

Food and beverages, labels, obscuring, removing, or rendering illegible information on labels, prohibited, storing, transporting, holding for sale, or selling any food or beverage product with label that is obscured, removed, or illegible, prohibited, penalties, Secs. 20-1-5, 20-1-27 am'd.

Summary

HB461 would prohibit obscuring or illegibly labeling food and beverage information and establish penalties for violations.

What This Bill Does

The bill forbids obscuring, removing, or rendering illegible any information on food or beverage labels. It also bans storing, transporting, holding for sale, or selling any product that has a label made illegible. It amends existing Alabama labeling laws to reflect these prohibitions and to specify penalties for violations. It also references how the bill interacts with a constitutional rule about local government spending, noting that the bill is treated as creating a new crime rather than a local expenditure requirement.

Who It Affects

• Food manufacturers, packagers, distributors, and retailers who must ensure their labels remain legible and compliant, or face penalties.
• Regulators and enforcement agencies responsible for enforcing food labeling laws, who would oversee compliance and penalties.

Key Provisions

• Prohibits obscuring, removing, or rendering illegible any information on food or beverage labels related to production information, best before dates, or other disclosures.
• Prohibits storing, transporting, holding for sale, or selling any food or beverage product that bears a label that has been obscured, removed, or rendered illegible.
• Amends Sections 20-1-5 and 20-1-27 to define violations and penalties for mislabeling, including a new prohibition on illegible label information and the corresponding criminal penalties.
• Penalties: general offense fined up to $500 or imprisoned up to six months per offense; for violations involving 200 units or more, fines up to $5,000 with imprisonment up to six months; unit defined as a single container.
• The bill acknowledges interactions with Amendment 621 on local funds but states it is excluded from those requirements because it creates a new crime or amends the definition of an existing crime.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Food