North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.21. Stamping container or covering; regulation of container
(a) When any meat or meat food product prepared for intrastate commerce which has been inspected as hereinbefore provided and marked “North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Inspected and Passed” shall be placed or packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this Article is maintained, the person, firm, or corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering, under supervision of an inspector, which label shall state that the contents thereof have been “North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Inspected and Passed” under the provisions of this Article, and no inspection and examination of meat or meat food products deposited or inclosed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this Article is maintained shall be deemed to be complete until such meat or meat food products have been sealed or inclosed in said can, tin, pot, canvas, or other receptacle or covering under the supervision of an inspector.
(b) All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this Article and found to be not adulterated shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers, as the Commissioner or authorized representative may require, the information required under subdivision (15) of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-549.15
(c) The Board whenever it determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe:
(1) The styles and sizes of type to be used with respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to avoid false or misleading labeling of any articles or animals subject to this and the subsequent Article;
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.21
- Authorized representative: means the Director of the Meat and Poultry Inspection Service of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Board: means the North Carolina Board of Agriculture. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Commissioner: means the North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture or his authorized representative. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- 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.
- Federal Meat Inspection Act: means the act so entitled approved March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Firm: means any partnership, association, or other unincorporated business organization. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Intrastate commerce: means commerce within this State. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Label: means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container (not including package liners) of any article. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Labeling: means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter (i) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or (ii) accompanying such article. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Meat food product: means any product capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, bison, fallow deer, or red deer, excepting products that 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 that are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Board under such conditions as it 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 North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- Prepared: means slaughtered, canned, salted, smoked, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- United States: shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
(2) Definitions and standards of identity or composition for articles subject to this Article and standards of fill of container for such articles not inconsistent with any such standards established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and there shall be consultation between the Commissioner or his authorized representative and the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States prior to the issuance of such standards to avoid inconsistency between such standards and the federal standards.
(d) No article subject to this Article shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation, in intrastate commerce, under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading, and which are approved by the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s authorized representative, are permitted.
(e) If the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s authorized representative has reason to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any article subject to this Article is false or misleading in any particular, the Commissioner or the authorized representative may direct that this use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such a manner as the Commissioner or the authorized representative prescribes so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s authorized representative, the person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the Commissioner so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Commissioner. A person who uses or proposes to use the marking, labeling, or container and who does not accept the determination of the Commissioner may commence a contested case under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-23 If directed by the Commissioner, the marking, labeling, or container may not be used pending a final decision. (1969, c. 893, s. 7; 1973, c. 1331, s. 3; 1987, c. 827, s. 35; 1997-261, s. 109; 2015-264, s. 8(b).)