Terms Used In 7 CFR Part 54 - Meats, Prepared Meats, and Meat Products (Grading, Certification, and Standards)

• Acceptance number: means the number in a sampling plan that indicates the maximum number of deviants permitted in a sample of a lot that meets a specific requirement. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Act: means the applicable provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Administrator: means the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Applicant: means any interested party who requests inspection service under the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Approved plant: means any plant in which the facilities, sanitation, and methods of operation have been surveyed and approved for specific product(s) by the Administrator as suitable and adequate for inspection or grading service in accordance with §§ 52. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Case: means the number of containers (cased or uncased) which, by the particular industry are ordinarily packed in a shipping container. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Condition: means the degree of soundness of the product which may affect its merchantability and includes, but is not limited to those factors which are subject to change as a result of age, improper preparation and processing, improper packaging, improper storage or improper handling. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• cottonseed: as used in this part means the seed, after having been put through the usual and customary process known as cotton ginning, of any cotton produced within the continental United States. See 7 CFR 61.2
• Department: means the United States Department of Agriculture. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• grader: means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary or any other person licensed by the Secretary to investigate, sample, inspect, and certify in accordance with the regulations in this part to any interested party the class, quality and condition of processed products covered in this part and to perform related duties in connection with the inspection service. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspection certificate: means a statement, either written or printed, issued pursuant to the regulations in this part, setting forth in addition to appropriate descriptive information relative to a processed product, and the container thereof, the quality and condition, or any part thereof, of the product and may include a description of the conditions under which the product is stored. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Inspector in Charge: means any inspector designated on a plant working shift or in a field office laboratory as the inspector in charge of the inspection work when authorized by the Administrator to act in that capacity. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Interested party: means any person who has a financial interest in the commodity involved. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Licensed sampler: means any person who is authorized by the Secretary to draw samples of processed products for inspection service, to inspect for identification and condition of containers in a lot, and may, when authorized by the Administrator, perform related services under the act and the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any individual, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, any organized group of persons (whether incorporated or not), the United States (including, but not limited to, any corporate agencies thereof), any State, county, or municipal government, any common carrier, and any authorized agent of any of the foregoing. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plant: means the premises, buildings, structure, and equipment (including, but not being limited to machines, utensils, vehicles, and fixtures located in or about the premises) used or employed in the preparation, processing, handling, transporting and storage of fruits and vegetables, or the processed products thereof. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Processed product: means any fruit, vegetable, or other food product covered under the regulations in this part which has been preserved by any recognized commercial process, including, but not limited to canning, freezing, dehydrating, drying, the addition of chemical substances, or by fermentation. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quality: means the combination of the inherent properties or attributes of a product which determines its relative degree of excellence. See 7 CFR 51.2
• Quality: means the inherent properties of any processed product which determine the relative degree of excellence of such product, and includes the effects of preparation and processing, and may or may not include the effects of packing media, or added ingredients. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Sample: means any number of sample units to be used for inspection. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Sample unit: means a container and/or its entire contents, a portion of the contents of one or more containers or other unit of commodity, or a composite mixture of a product used for inspection. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Sampling: means the act of selecting samples of processed products for the purpose of inspection under the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department or any other officer or employee of the Department authorized to exercise the powers and to perform the duties of the Secretary in respect to the matters covered by the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• shipping case: means a unit consisting of a given number of primary containers of the same size, the number and arrangement per unit conforming to customary trade practice. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Shipping container: means an individual container designed for shipping a number of packages or cans ordinarily packed in a container for shipping or designed for packing unpackaged processed products for shipping. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.