No portion. Which is an absolute on its face.
The wording
From which no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed.
Three parts to it
No portion, which is absolute. Any volatile oil, which is broad. Or other flavoring principle, which is broader still.
And one verb
Has been removed. Which implies an act performed on the material rather than a condition it has arrived at.
A spice that has been through a process to take its oil out, then sold as whole spice. That is the practice the definition excludes.
This property does not extend it to a container
Nothing here says that a jar with a poor seal breaches the definition. The clause names removal and a container does not remove anything.
The physics is nevertheless the same physics
Volatile oil leaves a spice through whatever path is available, and a closure is a path. Over months the quantity is not trivial.
Which makes the closure the decisive part of this shelf
80 heat induction seals and 44 F217 liners out of 304 closures hold a volatile fraction. 37 recorded as No Liner and 43 unrecorded do not.
Heat induction seal is the one-time barrier
Bonded across the mouth and intact until broken, which is right for a jar sold sealed and opened once.
F217 is the resealing one
Foamed polyethylene that keeps sealing through repeated opening. A spice jar is opened hundreds of times.
So the ideal is both
An induction seal for the shelf and an F217 for the kitchen, which is a two-part specification and has to be asked for as one.
Grinding accelerates everything
A whole peppercorn holds its oil inside a shell and a ground pepper does not. Two of the six leaves are ground products and one is whole.
Which is why whole spice keeps and ground spice does not
A fact about surface area rather than about the container, and the container decides how much it matters.
References
21 CFR 101.22(a)(2): "The term spice means any aromatic vegetable substance in the whole, broken, or ground form, except for those substances which have been traditionally regarded as foods, such as onions, garlic and celery; whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutritional; that is true to name; and from which no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed." The same paragraph provides that "paprika, turmeric, and saffron or other spices which are also colors, shall be declared as 'spice and coloring' unless declared by their common or usual name", and cross-refers to the spice lists in 21 CFR 182.10 and part 184, which are not enumerated here. The definition addresses a spice from which volatile oil has been removed and is not a shelf-life rule.
law.cornell.eduThe Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. 509 rows: 205 containers and 304 closures, which is one of the largest shelves in this library. 30 to 18,927 mL with a median of 177, a 630-fold range: 156 over 4 oz, 45 over 8 oz, 36 over a quart and 20 over a gallon. 97 PET, 53 PP, 31 HDPE and 24 glass. 158 jars, 24 tubs and pails, 22 bottles, 1 tube. 77 PET single wall jars, 20 PP single wall jars, 16 double wall round base jars, 15 glass straight sided jars, 10 double wall straight base jars, 9 plastic round pails. 62 clear, 55 white, 23 natural, 21 amber, 20 black, 11 blue, 7 green, 4 frosted, 2 dark amber. Necks: 54 at 70-400, 36 at 58-400, 28 at 89-400, 28 unrecorded, 11 at 53-400, 9 at 48-400, 8 at 110-400. Closures: 194 continuous thread polypropylene lids, 41 metal or aluminum CT caps, 22 dome lids, 12 round tub lids, 9 sealing discs, 7 plastic round pail lids, 7 spice caps, 3 phenolic, 1 spice sifter disc. Liners: 80 heat induction seal, 44 F217, 43 unrecorded, 37 No Liner, 34 pressure sensitive, 23 Plastis standard, 19 PE foam, 18 foam, 3 polycone. Buyability, a snapshot: 129 of 205 available, 75 not, 1 unrecorded; 76 quote only; 32 full case only, with case packs from 8 to 6,370 and a median of 280.
