Rhode Island § 21-21-3 - Olive Oil

§ 21-21-3. Penalties for misrepresentation — Confiscation — Evidence — Action on contract.

Every person, firm, or corporation who as principal or by servant or agent shall have in his or her or its possession or who shall pack, label, and distribute to be sold or shall offer for sale any can, jar, package, or other container which is stamped or labeled or which is caused to be stamped or labeled as containing pure olive oil, which stamp or label falsely represents the olive oil to be pure when it has been mixed or packed with cotton seed oil or other substance, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and for the first and second offense shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200), and for the third and each subsequent offense shall be punished by a fine of two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment for thirty (30) days or by both fine and imprisonment, and the olive oil shall be confiscated and shall become the property of the state for final distribution; and on trial of the offense proof of the possession, packing, labeling, or distributing to be sold or offering for sale, shall be evidence of knowledge of the character of the article possessed, packed, labeled, and distributed for sale or offered for sale and of knowledge that it was not pure olive oil as required by § 21-21-2. No action shall be maintained in any court of this state to recover on any contract for packing, labeling, and distributing for sale of olive oil so misrepresented as being pure olive oil as required by this chapter.