Legal Question in Consumer Law in Connecticut

Is it really a law that a pickle has to bounce to be considered a pickle? I've been trying to research the legal text, but I can't find it anywhere.

While I'm at it, how many of these "dumb laws" actually exist.... And how many are enforceable?


Asked on 8/17/16, 4:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Max Rosenberg Rosenberg,Whewell, & Hite, LLC

Hello. My name is Max L. Rosenberg and I am a Connecticut based Consumer Attorney. To answer your question. Its not a law per se. Its a regulation based off of case law. The regulation has its roots in a 1948 incident in which pickle packers Sidney Sparer and Moses Dexler were arrested for selling rotten pickles "unfit for human consumption," according to the Connecticut State Library. After the men's arrest, Connecticut's food and drug commissioner shared a tip with reporters for weeding out good pickles from the bad: Drop them from a height of 1 foot, and if they bounce, they're safe to eat. The pickles in question did not bounce. Sparer and Dexler were fined $500--the maximum penalty--and their pickles were destroyed. Connecticut's bouncing-pickle regulation went into effect soon afterward.

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Answered on 8/23/16, 10:01 am


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