PART 70 GRADING AND INSPECTION OF POULTRY AND EDIBLE PRODUCTS THEREOF; AND UNITED STATES CLASSES, STANDARDs, and GRADES WITH RESPECT THERETOContinued

PART 70-GRADING AND INSPECTION OF POULTRY AND EDIBLE PRODUCTS THEREOF; AND UNITED STATES CLASSES, STANDARDS, AND GRADES WITH RESPECT THERETO— Continued

SUBPART A-GRADING AND INSPECTION OF POULTRY AND EDIBLE PRODUCTS THEREOF

GENERAL

§ 70.1 Definitions. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the following meaning:

"Act" means the applicable provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087; 7 U. S. C. 1621 et seq.) or any other act of Congress conferring like authority.

"Acceptable" means suitable for the purpose intended and acceptable to the

Service.

"Administrator" means the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department or any other officer or employee of the Department to whom there has heretofore been delegated, or to whom there may hereafter be delegated the authority to act in his stead.

"Applicant" means any interested party who requests any inspection service or grading service.

"Area supervisor" means any employee of the Department in charge of poultry grading service or poultry inspection service in a designated geographical area. "Carcass" means any poultry carcass.

"Circuit supervisor" means the officer in charge of the poultry inspection service or the poultry grading service in a circuit consisting of a group of stations within an area.

"Class" means any subdivision of a product based on essential physical characteristics that differentiate between major groups of the same kind or between species.

"Condition" means any condition, including but not being limited to, the state of preservation, cleanliness, or soundness of any product; or any condition including but not limited to, the processing, handling, or packaging which affects such product.

"Condition and wholesomeness" means the condition of any product and its healthfulness and fitness for human food.

"Department" means the United States Department of Agriculture.

"Dressed poultry" means poultry which has been slaughtered for human food with head, feet, and viscera intact and from which the blood and feathers have been removed.

"Edible poultry byproduct" means any giblets or any edible part of dressed poultry other than eviscerated poultry.

"Edible product" means any product other than live poultry and dressed poultry.

"Food product containing poultry product" means any article of food for human consumption which is prepared in part from any edible portion of dressed poultry or from any product derived wholly from such edible portion if such edible portion or product does not comprise a substantial portion of such article of food.

"Free from protruding pinfeathers" means that the carcass is free from protruding pinfeathers which are visible to an inspector or grader during an examination of the carcass at normal operating speeds. However, a carcass may

be considered as being free from protruding pinfeathers if it has a generally clean appearance (especially on the breast), and if not more than an occasional protruding pinfeather is in evidence during a more careful examination of the

carcass.

"Giblets" means the liver from which the bile sac has been removed, the heart from which the pericardial sac has been removed, and the gizzard from which the lining and contents have been removed: Provided, That each such organ has been properly trimmed and washed.

"Grader" means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary, or any other individual to whom a license has been issued by the Secretary, to investigate and certify, in accordance with the regulations in this part, the class, quality, quantity, and condition of products.

"Grading" or "grading service" means: (1) The act whereby a grader determines, according to the regulations in this part, the class, quality, quantity, or condition of any product by examining each unit thereof or each unit of the representative sample thereof drawn by a grader and issues a grading certificate with respect thereto, except that with respect to grading service performed on a contract basis the issuance of a grading certificate shall be pursuant to a request therefor by the applicant or the Service; (2) the act whereby the grader identifies, according to the regulations in this part, the graded product; (3) with respect to any official plant, the act whereby a grader determines that the product in such plant was processed, handled, and packaged in accordance with §§ 70.240 to 70.288; and (4) any regrading or any appeal grading of a previously graded product.

"Grading certificate" means a statement, either written or printed, issued by a grader, pursuant to the regulations in this part, relative to the class, quality, quantity, or condition of a product.

"Identify" means to apply official identification to products or the containers thereof.

"Inspected and certified" or "certified" means, with respect to any product, that it has undergone an inspection and was found, at the time of such inspection, to be sound, wholesome, and fit for human food.

"Inspection", "inspection service", or "inspection of products for condition and wholesomeness" means any inspection by an inspector to determine, in accordance with the regulations in this part, (1) the condition and wholesomeness of dressed poultry, or (2) the condition and wholesomeness of any edible product at any stage of the preparation or packaging thereof in the official plant where inspected and certified, or (3) the condition and wholesomeness of any previously inspected and certified product if such product has not lost its identity as an inspected and certified product. In addition to the foregoing, the terms "inspection" and "inspection service" shall each mean any inspection by an inspector to determine, in accordance with the regulations in this part, (4) the condition of dressed poultry as it applies to the processing, handling or packaging of such product, or (5) any antemortem examination of poultry.

"Inspection certificate" means a statement, either written or printed, issued by an inspector, pursuant to the regulations in this part, relative to the condition and wholesomeness of products.

"Inspector" means any person who is licensed by the Secretary to investigate and certify in accordance with the regulations in this part, the condition and wholesomeness of products or the condition of dressed poultry. An inspector is an employee of the Department or of a State; he may be a graduate veterinarian or a layman.

"Interested party" means any person financially interested in a transaction involving any inspection or grading.

"National supervisor" means (1) the officer in charge of the poultry inspection service of the Agricultural Marketing Service, (2) the officer in charge of the poultry grading service of the Agricultural Marketing Service, and (3) such other officers or employees of the Department who may be so designated by the officer in charge of the poultry inspection service or poultry grading service of the Agricultural Marketing Service.

"Office of grading" means the office of any grader.

"Official identification" means the symbol represented by a stamp, label, seal, or other device approved by the Administrator and affixed to any product, or to any container thereof, stating that the product was inspected or graded or both. The class, quality or condition of such product as determined by a grader may be indicated in the "official identification".

"Official plant" means one or more buildings, or parts thereof, comprising a single plant in which the facilities and methods of operation therein have been approved by the Administrator as suitable and adequate for operation under inspection or grading service and in which inspection or grading is carried on in accordance with the regulations in this part.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, or any organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not.

"Potable water" means water that has been approved by the State health authority as safe for drinking.

"Poultry" means any kind of domesticated bird, including, but not being limited to chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, and guineas.

"Poultry food product" means any article of human food or any article intended for or capable of being so used which is prepared or derived in whole or in substantial part, from any edible portion of dressed poultry.

"Poultry grading and inspection service" means the personnel who are actively engaged in the administration, application, and direction of poultry grading and inspection programs and services pursuant to the regulations in this part. "Product" means each of the following: (1) Dressed poultry; (2) ready-tocook poultry; (3) edible poultry byproduct; (4) poultry food product; and (5) with respect to grading service only, live poultry.

"Quality" means the inherent properties of any product which determine its relative degree of excellence.

"Ready-to-cook poultry" means any dressed poultry from which the protruding pinfeathers, vestigial feathers (hair or down as the case may be), head, shanks, crop, oil gland, trachea, esophagus, entrails, reproductive organs and lungs have been removed, and with or without the giblets, is ready to cook without need of further processing. Ready-to-cook poultry also means any cut-up or disjointed portion of poultry prepared as described in this paragraph.

"Regulations" means the provisions of this entire part and such United States classes, standards, and grades for products as may be in effect at the time grading or inspection is performed.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department, or any other officer or employee of the Department to whom there has heretofore been delegated or to whom there may hereafter be delegated, the authority to act in his stead.

"Soundness" means freedom from external evidence of any disease or condition which may render a carcass unfit for food.

"State supervisor" means any authorized and designed individual who is in charge of the poultry grading service or the poultry inspection service in a State. A State supervisor of poultry inspection service shall be a veterinarian and he is either a Federal-State employee or a Federal employee.

"Station supervisor" means any authorized individual who is designated to supervise the poultry grading service or the poultry inspection service in a large official plant or in a group of several smaller plants.

"Service" means the Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department.

ADMINISTRATION

§ 70.3 Administration. The Administrator shall perform for and under the supervision of the Secretary, such duties as are prescribed in the regulations in this part and as the Secretary may require in the administration of the regulations in this part. The Administrator is authorized to waive for limited periods any particular provisions of the regulations to permit experimentation so that new procedures, equipment, and processing techniques may be tested to facilitate definite improvements and at the same time to determine full compliance with the spirit and intent of the regulations.

§ 70.4 Grading and inspection services available. The regulations in this part provide for the following kinds of service; and any one or more of the different services; applicable to official plants, may be rendered in an official plant:

(a) Grading of live poultry.

(b) Certification of dressed poultry produced under sanitary requirements in official plants.

(c) Grading of dressed poultry:

(1) In an official plant.

(2) At terminal markets and other receiving points.

(d) Inspection of dressed poultry in official plants for processing as readyto-cook poultry.

(e) Grading of ready-to-cook poultry:

(1) In an official plant.

(2) At terminal markets and other receiving points.

(f) Inspection service in official canning plants.

BASIS OF SERVICE

$ 70.10 Inspection service. Any inspection service in accordance with the regulations in this part shall be for conditions and wholesomeness but, with respect to dressed poultry, as such, the inspection may be for condition only.

§ 70.11 Grading service. Any grading service in accordance with the regulations in this part shall be for class, quality, quantity, or condition, or any combination thereof. Grading service with respect to determination of quality, of products shall be on the basis of United States classes, standards, and grades as contained in Subpart B of the regulations in this part. However, grading service may be rendered with respect to products which are bought and sold on the basis of institutional contract specifications and such service, when approved by the Administrator, shall be rendered on the basis of the specifications of such contract.

§ 70.12 Continuous grading service. Except as otherwise approved by the area supervisor, continuous grading service in an offical plant, other than the service provided in § 70.4 (b), may be rendered only when a majority of the grader's time each month is utilized in performing grading for quality on the basis of the U. S. standards set forth in Subpart B of the regulations in this part. § 70.13 Supervision. All grading service and all inspection service shall be subject to supervision at all times by the applicable station supervisor, State supervisor, circuit supervisor, area supervisor, and national supervisor. Such service shall be rendered where the facilities and conditions are satisfactory for the conduct of the service and the requisite graders and inspectors are available. Whenever the supervisor of a grader has evidence that such grader incorrectly graded a product, such supervisor shall take such action as is necessary to correct the grading and to cause any improper grade marks which appear on the product or containers thereof to be corrected prior to shipment of the product from the place of initial grading.

§ 70.14 Dressed poultry; eligibility. Dressed poultry to be eligible for grading or inspection service shall have been processed in official plants. Except as otherwise provided in this section, only dressed poultry which was processed in an official plant in accordance with the regulations in this part, and dressed poultry which was processed in Canadian registered poultry dressing stations operated in accordance with such methods and procedures as are acceptable to the Administrator, may be graded or inspected in an official plant. Squabs and domesticated game birds (including, but not being limited to, quail, grouse, pheasants, and wild ducks and geese) which were not dressed in an official plant may be brought into an official plant for grading or inspection. In order to facilitate distribution thereof, dressed poultry from other than official plants may be brought into an official plant only in instances where the Service can determine that such dressed poultry will be adequately segregated and its form and identity maintained until it is shipped from the official plant.

$ 70.15 Inspection in official plants; extent required. All dressed poultry that is eviscerated in an official plant where inspection service is maintained shall be processed in a sanitary manner. Dressed poultry may be eviscerated in such plant without inspection for condition and wholesomeness but uninspected and inspected operations may not be carried on simultaneously except in plants where processing rooms (including packing rooms) are separate or when by other acceptable means effective segregation of inspected and uninspected product is maintained. Evisceration without inspection may be conducted only if an inspector or governmentally employed grader is on duty, at all times when such operations are carried on, for the purpose of (a) effecting adequate segregation of inspected and uninspected products, (b) control of official inspection marks and grade marks, and (c) supervision of sanitation in the official plant. No uninspected edible products or uninspected slaughtered rabbits shall be brought into such plant except as may be specifically approved by the Administrator upon written request and only for the purpose of rehandling, reconditioning, packaging, freezing, marking, and further distribution and only if an inspector or governmentally employed grader is on duty, at all times when such operations are carried on, for the purpose of effecting adequate segregation of uninspected