Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:654 – Food processing plants; foodborne illness reporting and testing requirements
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:654
- Confirmed positive test result: means any result obtained from a laboratory test of an ingredient, equipment, container, or finished product that indicates the presence of an adulterant, as defined by Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:651
- Department: means the Louisiana Department of Health. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:651
- Food processing plant: means a commercial operation that manufactures food for human consumption and does not provide food directly to a consumer from that location. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:651
- person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
A. Whenever any person or firm that operates a food processing plant in this state obtains information from testing of samples or specimens of finished foods or finished ingredients which indicates a confirmed positive test result, the person or firm shall report such test results to the department within twenty-four hours of obtaining such information.
B. The state health officer may, based upon a showing of probable cause by the department that the food processing facility is producing food which may be adulterated, as defined in La. Rev. Stat. 40:607 et seq., or is processing food in a manner which may cause an imminent menace to the public health, order the food processing facility to submit samples to a laboratory, specified by the department, for testing at the expense of the food processing facility. The results of such testing shall be furnished to the department.
C. Whenever any person or firm violates the provision of this Section, such person or firm shall be subject to a civil fine of not more than one thousand dollars.
Acts 2009, No. 341, §1, eff. July 6, 2009; Acts 2022, No. 271, §4.