21 USC 606 – Inspection and labeling of meat food products
(a) In general
For the purposes hereinbefore set forth the Secretary shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of all meat food products prepared for commerce in any slaughtering, meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment, and for the purposes of any examination and inspection and inspectors shall have access at all times, by day or night, whether the establishment be operated or not, to every part of said establishment; and said inspectors shall mark, stamp, tag, or label as “Inspected and passed” all such products found to be not adulterated; and said inspectors shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as “Inspected and condemned” all such products found adulterated, and all such condemned meat food products shall be destroyed for food purposes, as hereinbefore provided, and the Secretary may remove inspectors from any establishment which fails to so destroy such condemned meat food products: Provided, That subject to the rules and regulations of the Secretary the provisions of this section in regard to preservatives shall not apply to meat food products for export to any foreign country and which are prepared or packed according to the specifications or directions of the foreign purchaser, when no substance is used in the preparation or packing thereof in conflict with the laws of the foreign country to which said article is to be exported; but if said article shall be in fact sold or offered for sale for domestic use or consumption then this proviso shall not exempt said article from the operation of all the other provisions of this chapter.1
(b) Certain fish
Terms Used In 21 USC 606
- commerce: means commerce between any State, any Territory, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof. See 21 USC 601
- label: means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container (not including package liners) of any article. See 21 USC 601
- meat food product: means any product capable of use as human food which is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, excepting products which contain meat or other portions of such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry, and which are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portions of such carcasses contained in such product are not adulterated and that such products are not represented as meat food products. See 21 USC 601
- prepared: means slaughtered, canned, salted, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed. See 21 USC 601
- Secretary: means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States or his delegate. See 21 USC 601
In the case of an examination and inspection under subsection (a) of a meat food product derived from any fish described in section 601(w)(2) of this title, the Secretary shall take into account the conditions under which the fish is raised and transported to a processing establishment.