Public Law 85–172

The term “commerce” means commerce between any State, Territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or between points within the same State or the District of Columbia, but through any place outside thereof; or within the District of Columbia.

The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture.

The term “person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or any other business unit.

The term “poultry” means any live or slaughtered domesticated bird.

The term “poultry product” means any poultry which has been slaughtered for human food from which the blood, feathers, feet, head, and viscera have been removed in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary, any edible part of poultry, or, unless exempted by the Secretary, any human food product consisting of any edible part of poultry separately or in combination with other ingredients.

The term “wholesome” means sound, healthful, clean, and otherwise fit for human food.

The term “unwholesome” means:

The term “adulterated” shall apply to poultry and poultry products under one or more of the following circumstances:

The term “inspector” means: (1) an employee or official of the United States Government authorized by the Secretary to inspect poultry and poultry products under the authority of this Act, or (2) any employee or official of any State government authorized by the Secretary to inspect poultry and poultry products under authority of this Act, under an agreement entered into between the Secretary and the appropriate State agency.

The term “official inspection mark” means the symbol, formulated pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary, stating that the product was inspected.

The term “inspection service” means the official Government service within the Department of Agriculture designated by the Sec-retary as having the responsibility for carrying out the provisions of this Act.

The terms “container” or “package” include any box, can, tin, cloth, plastic, or any other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.

The term “official establishment” means any establishment as determined by the Secretary at which inspection of the slaughter of poultry, or the processing of poultry products, is maintained under the authority of this Act.

The term “label” means any written, printed, or graphic material upon the shipping container, if any, or upon the immediate container, including but not limited to an individual consumer package, of the poultry product, or accompanying such product.

The term “shipping container” means any container used or intended for use in packaging the product packed in an immediate container.

The term “immediate container” includes any consumer package; or any other container in which poultry carcasses or poultry products, not consumer packaged, are packed.

For the purpose of preventing the entry into or flow or movement in commerce or a designated major consuming area of any poultry product which is unwholesome or adulterated, the Secretary shall, where and to the extent considered by him necessary, cause to be made by inspectors ante mortem inspection of poultry in any official establishment processing poultry or poultry products for commerce or in. or for marketing in a designated city or area.

The Secretary, whenever processing operations are being conducted, shall cause to be made by inspectors post mortem inspection of the carcass of each bird processed, and at any time such quarantine, segregation, reinspection as he deems necessary of poultry and poultry products in each official establishment processing such poultry or poultry products for commerce or in, or for marketing in a designated city or area.

All poultry carcasses and parts thereof and poultry products found to be unwholesome or adulterated shall be condemned and shall, if no appeal be taken from such determination of condemnation, be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector: Provided, That carcasses, parts, and products, which may by reprocessing be made not unwholesome and not adulterated, need not be so condemned and destroyed if so reprocessed under the supervision of an inspector and thereafter found to be not unwholesome and not adulterated. If an appeal be taken from such determination, the carcasses, parts, or products shall be appropriately marked and segregated pending completion of an appeal inspection, which appeal shall be at the cost of the appellant if the Secretary determines that the appeal is frivolous. If the determination of condemnation is sustained the carcasses, parts, and products shall be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector.

Each official establishment slaughtering poultry or processing poultry products for commerce or in or for marketing in a designated major consuming area shall have such premises, facilities, and equipment, and be operated in accordance with such sanitary practices, as are required by regulations promulgated by the Secretary for the purpose of preventing the entry into or flow or movement in commerce or in a designated major consuming area, of poultry products which are unwholesome or adulterated.

The Secretary shall refuse to render inspection to any establishment whose premises, facilities, or equipment, or the operation thereof, fail to meet the requirements of this section.

Each shipping container of any poultry product inspected under the authority of this Act and found to be wholesome and not adulterated, shall at the time such product leaves the official establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, the official inspection mark and the approved plant number of the official establishment in which the contents were processed. Each immediate container of any poultry product inspected under the authority of this Act and found to be wholesome and not adulterated shall at the time such product leaves the official establishment bear, in addition to the official inspection mark, in distinctly legible form, the name of the product, a statement of ingredients if fabricated from two or more ingredients including a declaration as to artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, if any, the net weight or other appropriate measure of the contents, the name and address of the processor and the approved plant number of the official establishment in which the contents were processed. The name and address of the distributor may be used in lieu of the name and address of the processor if the approved plant number is used to identify the official establishment in which the poultry product was prepared and packed. The Secretary may permit reasonable variations and grant exemptions from the foregoing labeling requirements in any manner not in conflict with the purposes of this Act.

The use of any written, printed or graphic matter upon or accompanying any poultry product inspected or required to be inspected pursuant to the provisions of this Act or the container thereof which is false or misleading in any particular is prohibited. No poultry products inspected or required to be inspected pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation under any false or deceptive name; but estab-lished trade name or names which are usual to such products and which are not false and deceptive and which shall be approved by the Secretary are permitted. If the Secretary has reason to believe that any label in use or prepared for use is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that the use of the label be withheld unless it is modified in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person using or proposing to use the label does not accept the determination of the Secretary, he may request a hearing, but the use of the label shall, if the Secretary so directs, be withheld lending hearing and final determination by the Secretary. Any such determination by the Secretary shall be conclusive unless within thirty days after the receipt of notice of such final determination the person adversely affected thereby appeals to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which he has his principal place of business or to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The provisions of section 204

42 Stat. 162. 7 USC 194.

of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, as amended, shall be applicable to appeals taken under this section.

The processing, sale or offering for sale, transportation, or delivery or receiving for transportation, in commerce or in a designated major consuming area of any poultry product, unless such poultry product has been inspected for wholesomeness and unless the shipping container, if any, and the immediate container are marked in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

The sale or other disposition for human food of any poultry or poultry product which has been inspected and declared to be unwholesome or adulterated under this Act.

Falsely making or issuing, altering, forging, simulating, or counterfeiting any official inspection certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making such mark or identification, used in connection with the inspection of poultry or poultry products under this Act, or causing, procuring, aiding, assisting in, or being a party to, such false making, issuing, altering, forging, simulating, or counterfeiting, or knowingly possessing, without promptly notifying the Secretary of Agriculture or his representative, uttering, publishing, or using as true, or causing to be uttered, published, or used as true, any such falsely made or issued, altered, forged, simulated, or counterfeited official inspection certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making such mark or identification, or representing that any poultry or poultry product has been officially inspected under the authority or this Act when such poultry or poultry product has in fact not been so inspected.

Using in commerce, or in a designated major consuming area, a false or misleading label on any poultry product.

The use of any container bearing an official inspection mark except for the poultry product in the original form in which it was inspected and covered by said mark unless the mark is removed, obliterated, or otherwise destroyed.

The refusal to permit access by any duly authorized representative of the Secretary, at all reasonable times, to the premises of an establishment engaged in processing poultry or poultry products for commerce, or in or for marketing in a designated major consuming area, upon presentation of appropriate credentials.

The refusal to permit access to and the copying of any record as authorized by section 11 of this Act.

The using by any person to his own advantage, or revealing, other than to the authorized representatives of the Government in their official capacity, or to the courts when relevant in any judicial proceeding under this Act, any information acquired under the authority of this Act, concerning any matter which as a trade secret is entitled to protection.

Delivering, receiving, transporting, selling, or offering for sale or transport for human consumption any slaughtered poultry or any part thereof, separately or in combination with other ingredients (other than poultry products as defined in this Act), in commerce or from an official establishment or in a designated major consuming area, except as may be authorized by and pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary.

Any person who violates the provisions of section 9, 10,11, or 17, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on conviction thereof be subject to imprisonment for not more than six months, or a fine of not more than $3,000, or both such imprisonment and fine; but if such violation is committed after one conviction of such person under this section has become final such person shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than one year, or a fine of not more than $5,000, or both such imprisonment and fine; but if such violation is committed after two or more convictions of such person under this section have become final such person shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than two years, or a fine of not more than $10,000, or both such imprisonment and fine. When construing or enforcing the provisions of said sections the act, omission, or failure of any person acting for or employed by any individual, partnership, corporation, or association within the scope of his employment or office shall in every case be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such individual, partnership, corporation, or association, as well as of such person.

No carrier shall be subject to the penalties of this Act, other than the penalties for violation of section 11, by reason of his receipt, carriage, holding, or delivery, in the usual course of business, as a carrier, of slaughtered poultry or poultry products, owned by another person unless the carrier has knowledge, or is in possession of facts which would cause a reasonable person to believe that such slaughtered poultry or poultry products were not inspected or marked in accordance with the provisions of this Act or were not otherwise eligible for transportation under this Act.

The Secretary shall, by regulation and under such conditions as to sanitary standards, practices, and procedures as he may prescribe, exempt from specific provisions of this Act—

The Secretary may by order suspend or terminate any exemption under this section with respect to any person whenever he finds that such action will aid in effectuating the purposes of this Act.

No slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, of any kind shall be imported into the United States unless they are healthful, wholesome, fit for human food, not adulterated, and contain no dye, chemical, preservative, or ingredient which renders them unhealthful, unwholesome, adulterated, or unfit for human food and unless they also comply with the rules and regulations made by the Secretary of Agriculture to assure that imported poultry or poultry products comply with the standards provided for in this Act. All imported, slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, shall after entry into the United States in compliance with such rules and regulations be deemed and treated as domestic slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, within the meaning and subject to the

52 Stat. 1040.

21 USC 301.

provisions of this Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and Acts amendatory of, supplemental to, or in substitution for such Acts.

The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this section and in such rules and regulations the Secretary or Agriculture may prescribe the terms and conditions for the destruction of all slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, offered for entry and refused admission into the United States unless such slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, be exported by the consignee within the time fixed therefor in such rules and regulations.

All charges for storage, cartage, and labor with respect to any product which is refused admission pursuant to this section shall be paid by the owner or consignee, and in default of such payment shall constitute a lien against any other products imported thereafter by or for such owner or consignee.

For the purpose of preventing and eliminating burdens on commerce in poultry and poultry products, the jurisdiction of the Secretary within the scope of this Act shall be exclusive mid poultry and poultry products shall be exempt from the provisions of the

21 USC 301.

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended, to the extent of the application or the extension thereto of the provisions of this Act.

In carrying out the provisions of this Act, the Secretary may cooperate with other branches of Government and with State agencies and may conduct such examinations, investigations, and inspections as he determines practicable through any officer or employee of a State commissioned by the Secretary for such purpose.