Young, Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration v. Community Nutrition Institute et al. (476 U.S. 974)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 476 U.S. 974 · 106 S. Ct. 2360
- Decided
- June 16, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit correctly concluded that the Food and Drug Administration’s longstanding interpretation of 21 U. S. C. § 346 was in conflict with the plain language of that provision. 474 U. S. 1018 (1985). We hold that, in light of the inherent ambiguity of the statutory provision and the reasonableness of the Food and Drug Administration’s interpretation thereof, the Court of Appeals erred. We therefore reverse. I A The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforces the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Act) as the designee of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 21 U. S. C. § 371(a). See also 21 CFR §5.10 (1986). The Act seeks to ensure the purity of the Nation’s food supply, and accordingly bans “adulterated” food from interstate commerce. 21 U. S. C. § 331(a). Title 21 U. S. C. § 342(a) deems food to be “adulterated” “(1) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance such food shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in such food does not ordinarily render it injurious to health; or (2)(A) if it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious…
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