(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), “beverage” means any of the following products if those products are in liquid, ready-to-drink form, and are intended for human consumption:

(1) Beer and other malt beverages.

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(2) Wine and distilled spirit coolers.

(3) Carbonated water, including soda and carbonated mineral water.

(4) Noncarbonated water, including noncarbonated mineral water.

(5) Carbonated soft drinks.

(6) Noncarbonated soft drinks and “sport” drinks.

(7) Carbonated and noncarbonated fruit drinks that contain any percentage of fruit juice.

(8) Coffee and tea drinks.

(9) Vegetable juice.

(10) Distilled spirits.

(11) Wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated.

(12) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), wine or distilled spirits contained in a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, regardless of the material type from which the beverage container is made.

(b) “Beverage” does not include either of the following:

(1) Any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container.

(2) Milk, medical food, or infant formula.

(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Infant formula” means any liquid food described or sold as an alternative for human milk for the feeding of infants.

(2) (A) “Medical food” means a food or beverage that is formulated to be consumed, or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician, and that is intended for specific dietary management of diseases or health conditions for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.

(B) A “medical food” is a specially formulated and processed product, for the partial or exclusive feeding of a patient by means of oral intake or enteral feeding by tube, and is not a naturally occurring foodstuff used in its natural state.

(C) “Medical food” includes any product that meets the definition of “medical food” in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 360ee(b)(3)).

(3) “Noncarbonated soft drink” means a nonalcoholic, noncarbonated naturally or artificially flavored water containing sugar or sweetener or trace amounts of various elements from both natural and synthetic sources.

(d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2024.

(Amended (as added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 610, Sec. 3) by Stats. 2023, Ch. 868, Sec. 1. (SB 353) Effective October 13, 2023.)