§2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
None of the 26 people sentenced under guideline §2N2.1 in fiscal year 2025 received a prison term (0%). Probation only was the sentence for 25 people (96%), and all 26 pleaded guilty. Because no one went to prison, the data has no median prison term for the year.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With A › §2N2.1: FY2025
In brief: None of the 26 people sentenced under guideline §2N2.1 in fiscal year 2025 received a prison term (0%). Probation only was the sentence for 25 people (96%), and all 26 pleaded guilty. Because no one went to prison, the data has no median prison term for the year.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 26 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
No Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2025
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 26 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 with §2N2.1 as the primary guideline. Prison went to 0 of them (0%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was the sentence for 25 (96%).
A median prison term is calculated only among people sent to prison. With none, the yearly table shows n/a for fiscal year 2025 and not a number. Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 15% of people were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 4 months.
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
All 26 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Every guilty plea (100%) had a written plea agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 26 people (0%). The Commission's files include only people who were convicted and sentenced, so a case that ended in acquittal or dismissal is not part of these figures.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 10 of the 26 people (38%), and restitution for 3 (12%). The records list no supervised release figures for the year.
In criminal history, 92% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Position Against the Guideline Range
Within the guideline range were 25 of the 26 sentences (96%). One sentence (4%) was below the range at the government's request. None was above the range, and none was below it without a government request.
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2N2.1, 93% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2025 for everyone sentenced in federal court, under every guideline, the share was 51%.
Guideline Title and Year
The Manual title of §2N2.1 is "Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product." The Commission files the cases under the offense type Food and Drug.
Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.
Compared With Fiscal Year 2024 and the Federal Total
In fiscal year 2024, 22 people were sentenced under §2N2.1. One person received a prison term, the median prison term was 18 months, and 95% of sentences were within the range.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025, under every guideline, totaled 66,662 people. Their median prison term was 24 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. That is a general reference, since the group includes every guideline. The table lists each fiscal year's count and plea rate.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 43 | 1 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 28 | 30 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 28 | 2.5 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 28 | 9 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 17 | 36 months | 88% |
| 2021 | 26 | 1.2 months | 92% |
| 2022 | 21 | 4 months | 95% |
| 2023 | 25 | 0.5 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 22 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 26 | n/a | 100% |
What the Records Cannot Say
One year with 26 people does not make a trend. The records do not show what the cases involved or why courts chose probation in nearly every one.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers appear in this post.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2N2.1 (26), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.