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NY 853289

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September 6, 1990

CLA-2-04:S:N:N1:229

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 0406.30.6060 (9904.10.54)

Mr. Charles L. Kantner, President
Kantner Trading Company
P.O. Box 407
Wapakoneta, OH 45895

RE: The tariff classification of PIZZARELLA Cheese from the Netherlands.

Dear Mr. Kantner:

In your letter dated June 1, 1990, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

This cheese product is said to be made by combining skim milk cheese from Cechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania with anhydrous milk fat produced in Finland, Norway, or Poland. After the ingredients in the product have been combined and blended, the resultant mixture is placed in a curd stretching machine, where it is worked in hot water. Salt is added during this process. It is stated that "[t]he finished PIZZARELLA cheese has the same physical and chemical properties as a low-moisture mozzarella cheese." The finished product is said to contain, by weight, approxiamtely 45 percent moisture, 24.75 percent butterfat (45 percent butterfat in the dry matter), 28.25 percent protein, and 2 percent salt, cultures, and rennet. This cheese will be imported in industrial blocks for manufacturing purposes.

A sample of this cheese, forwarded with your inquiry, was submitted to the U.S. Customs Laboratory at New York for analysis. The Laboratory Report on PIZZARELLA cheese indicates a composition, by weight, of 44.1 percent moisture, 25.2 percent fat (45.0 percent on a dry basis), and 23.3 percent protein. The cheese had a pH of 6.2. Additionally, the Laboratory reported that "[t]he cheese sample does not exhibit any elongated curd formation which is an indication of the heating/stretching process of a mozzarella cheese. The open structure has rounded air spaces (pockets) whereas a mozzarella cheese made correctly has elongated air pockets. This sample does appear to be a process cheese."

The applicable subheading for PIZZARELLA Cheese will be 0406.30.6060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for Processed (process) cheese, not grated or powdered:...Other, including mixtures of the above:...Other:...Other:...Other:...Containing cow's milk. The rate of duty will be 10 percent ad valorem.

Articles classifiable in HTS subheading 0406.30.6060 are subject to quota quantity restrictions listed in subchapter IV of Chapter 99 in HTS subheading 9904.10.54, which limits the amount of such cheese which may be imported from the European Economic Community to an annual quota quantity of 20,456,000 kilograms (of which 353,000 are reserved for Portugal). Additionally, an import license, issued to the importer by the United States Department of Agriculture, will be required at the time such merchandise is entered for consumption into the United States.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.

Sincerely,

Jean F. Maguire
Area Director

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