Spirulina Blue Is a Binder for Molds, Not Yeast or Coloring Matter, CBP HQ Rules
Spirulina Blue Colour is a "binder for foundry molds" for tariff purposes rather than a microorganism or animal product, according to an Aug. 26 CBP headquarters ruling, HQ H324168. The product at issue is Spirulina Blue, a water-soluble, coloring powder that ranges from light greenish blue to dark blue. Made in China, it's sold to food manufacturers for use in the beverage, confectionary, dairy, nutraceutical and pet food industries, according to Calico Food Ingredient. The product is said to “enhance immunity” and have “anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer effects.” The powder originates with spirulina, a one-cell algae from which the blue color phycocyanin is extracted. The ingredients in the CA2786 Spirulina Blue Colour are composed of 50%-55% phycocyanin from China, 45%-50% trehalose from Japan, and 5% sodium citrate from China. The trehalose is meant to protect the protein and the sodium citrate is meant to adjust the PH and can protect the color.
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The importer originally classified the product under subheading 3203.00.8000, as “Coloring matter of vegetable or animal origin ..." but then believed the correct classification was under subheading 2102.20.6000, as “Yeasts; other single-cell microorganisms, dead; prepared baking powders ...” The importer's customs broker, Willson International, pushed for internal advice from CBP headquarters in November 2021. CBP considered both of the importer's classifications along with headings 3206 and 3824.
CBP ruled that the product cannot be classified under heading 2102 because the heading requires that "the addition of such ingredients does not alter their character as micro-organisms.” The spirulina undergoes an extraction process to separate the phycocyanin, which alters its character as a microorganism.
CBP also ruled that the product cannot be classified under heading 3203 as it is not a product “of vegetable or animal origin,” as the spirulina is neither vegetable nor animal and the blue coloring includes two chemical excipients. CBP also considered classification under heading 3206 as “Other coloring matter..." but found the merchandise was ineligible because explanatory note 32.06 specifies that the items as "materials used principally for the manufacture of the colours or pigments for the ceramic industries ...” whereas Spirulina Blue's primary purpose, according to Calico, is to provide color to food and beverages. The coloring is not used as luminophores and therefore is not classifiable in the latter part of the heading.
CBP last considered heading 3824, which provides for “Prepared binders for foundry molds or cores; chemical products and preparations of the chemical or allied industries ...” Phycocyanin is described by some scientific articles as having a variety of potential health effects, such as its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer effects. Note 1(b) to Chapter 38, provides that the chapter does not cover “[m]ixtures of chemicals with foodstuffs or other substances with nutritive value, of a kind used in the preparation of human foodstuffs (generally, heading 2106).” However, CBP found that "while phycocyanin’s pigment and food coloring properties are clear, its nutritive value is not." Therefore, when mixed with the trehalose and sodium citrate, the phycocyanin does not prevent the completed product from classification in heading 3824.