SECTIONS 18721-18738 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 18721-18738

18721. To accomplish the purposes of Article 2 (commencing with
Section 18691) of this chapter, the director shall require ante
mortem and post mortem inspections, quarantine, segregation, and
reinspections with respect to the slaughter of any livestock or
poultry, or the preparation of any livestock product or poultry
product at every establishment in this state, except an establishment
which is exempted by him under Section 18811, at which livestock or
poultry are slaughtered, or any livestock product or poultry product,
is prepared for human food solely for distribution in intrastate
commerce.

18722. The director shall require the identification of livestock
and poultry for inspection purposes, and the marking and labeling of
any livestock product or poultry product or its containers, or both,
as either:
(a) "California Inspected and Passed," if the product is found
upon inspection to be not adulterated.
(b) "California Inspected and Condemned," if the product is found
upon inspection to be adulterated. The destruction for food purposes
of any product condemned under this subdivision shall be under the
supervision of an inspector.

18723. The director shall prohibit the entry into official
establishments of any livestock product or poultry product which was
not prepared under federal inspection or inspection pursuant to this
chapter and further limit the entry of any such product or other
materials into such establishments under such conditions as he deems
neccessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.

18724. The director shall require that when any livestock product
or poultry product leaves official establishments it shall bear
directly thereon or on its containers, or both, as he may require,
all information required under Article 5 (commencing with Section
18781) and require approval of all labeling and containers to be used
for such product when it is sold or transported in intrastate
commerce to assure that the product and the labeling and containers
comply with the requirements of this chapter.

18725. The director shall investigate the sanitary conditions of
each establishment required to have inspection under Section 18721
and shall withdraw or otherwise refuse to provide inspection service
at any establishment where the sanitary conditions are such as to
render adulterated any livestock product or poultry product which is
prepared or handled at the establishment. No such establishment shall
be operated without inspection.

18726. The director shall prescribe sanitation requirements for all
establishments required to have inspection under Section 18721.

18727. The director shall require the following classes of persons
to keep such records and for such periods as he may specify, to fully
and correctly disclose all transactions involved in their business,
and afford to the director and his representatives, access to such
places of business, and opportunity, at all reasonable times, to
examine the facilities, inventory and such records, to copy the
records, and to take reasonable samples of the inventory:
(a) Any person that engages in intrastate commerce in the business
of slaughtering any livestock or poultry, or preparing, freezing,
packaging or labeling, buying or selling (as brokers, wholesalers or
otherwise), transporting, or storing any livestock product or poultry
product which is intended for human or animal food.
(b) Any person that engages in intrastate commerce in the business
of rendering or in the buying, selling, or transporting of any dead,
dying, disabled, or diseased livestock or poultry, or any part of
the carcass of any such animal (including poultry) that died
otherwise than by slaughter.

18728. The director may refuse to provide inspection service to any
establishment that fails to destroy any condemned product as
required pursuant to Section 18722 and any regulation promulgated
thereunder.

18729. The director may refuse to provide inspection service under
this chapter with respect to any establishment for any cause
specified in Section 401 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21
U.S.C., Sec. 671) or Section 18 of the Federal Poultry Products
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C., Sec. 467).

18730. The director may order any labeling or container to be
withheld from use if he determines that the labeling is false or
misleading or the container is of a misleading size or form.

18731. The director may prescribe the size and style of any type
which is to be used for labeling information required pursuant to
this chapter, and definitions and standards of identity or
composition or standards of fill of container, consistent with
federal standards, when he deems such action appropriate for the
protection of the public and after consultation with the Secretary of
Agriculture of the United States.

18732. The director may prescribe conditions of storage and
handling of any livestock product or poultry product by any person
engaged in the business of buying, selling, freezing, storing, or
transporting such livestock or poultry product in intrastate commerce
to assure that it will not be adulterated or misbranded when
delivered to the consumer, including requirements that any vehicle
used by any establishment which operates under state inspection for
transporting any dressed carcass of any animal, including any
poultry, intended for human consumption, any part of any such
carcass, meat, meat food product, or poultry product inspected and
marked pursuant to this chapter shall be maintained in a clean and
sanitary condition and shall be regularly inspected by an inspector
stationed at the establishment.

18733. Equines shall be slaughtered and prepared in establishments
separate from any establishment where any other livestock is
slaughtered or any product of any other livestock is prepared.

18734. Every person that is engaged in business in intrastate
commerce as a broker, renderer, animal food manufacturer, or
wholesaler or public warehouseman of any livestock product or poultry
product, or engaged in the business of buying, selling, or
transporting in intrastate commerce, any dead, dying, disabled, or
diseased livestock or poultry or any part of the carcass of any such
animal, including any poultry, that died otherwise than by slaughter
shall register with the director his name, the address of each place
of business, and all trade names under which he conducts such
business.

18735. The director may adopt, by reference or otherwise, such
provisions of the rules and regulations under the federal acts, with
such changes therein as he deems appropriate to make them applicable
to operations and transactions subject to this chapter, which shall
have the same force and effect as if promulgated under this chapter,
and promulgate such other regulations as he deems necessary for the
efficient execution of the provisions of this chapter.

18736. The director may appoint and prescribe the duties of such
inspectors and other personnel as he deems necessary for the
efficient execution of the provisions of this chapter.

18737. No inspection of any product placed in any container at any
official establishment shall be deemed to be complete until the
product is sealed or enclosed in the container under the supervision
of an inspector.

18738. For purposes of any inspection of any product required by
this chapter, any inspector authorized by the director shall have
access at all times, by day or night, to every part of every
establishment required to have inspection under this chapter, whether
the establishment is operating or not.