SECTIONS 19501-19503 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 19501-19503

19501. (a) Cattle, calves, horses, mules, sheep, swine, goats, or
fallow deer, or poultry shall be slaughtered by the methods
prescribed in this section. No state agency shall contract for,
purchase, procure, or sell all or any portion of any animal, unless
that animal is slaughtered in conformity with this chapter. This
chapter applies to any person engaged in the business of slaughtering
animals enumerated in this section, or any person slaughtering any
of those animals when all, or any part of, that animal is
subsequently sold or used for commercial purposes.
(b) All cattle, calves, horses, mules, sheep, swine, goats, or
fallow deer subject to this part, or poultry subject to Part 1
(commencing with Section 24501) of, Part 2 (commencing with Section
25401) of, and Part 3 (commencing with Section 26401) of, Division 12
shall be slaughtered by either of the following prescribed methods:
(1) The animal shall be rendered insensible to pain by a captive
bolt, gunshot, electrical or chemical means, or any other means that
is rapid and effective before being cut, shackled, hoisted, thrown,
or cast, with the exception of poultry which may be shackled.
(2) The animal shall be handled, prepared for slaughter, and
slaughtered in accordance with ritual requirements of the Jewish or
any other religious faith that prescribes a method of slaughter
whereby the animal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the
brain caused by the simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the
carotid arteries with a sharp instrument.
This section does not apply to the slaughter of spent hens and
small game birds, as defined by the department by regulation.

19501.5. (a) The department shall, on or before December 31, 1993,
adopt regulations to implement Section 19501 as to the slaughter of
poultry, and, thereafter, enforce those regulations.
(b) The regulations adopted under subdivision (a) shall apply to
any person engaged in the business of slaughtering poultry, or to any
person slaughtering poultry when all, or any part of, the poultry is
subsequently sold or used for commercial purposes, except as
provided in Section 19501. However, the department shall not utilize
personnel to enforce those regulations with respect to any poultry
plant in this state exempted from Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
24651) of Part 1 of Division 12 by Section 24712, 24713, or 24714.

19502. The regulations adopted under this chapter shall conform as
far as possible to the regulations of the United States Department of
Agriculture governing methods of slaughtering.

19503. The Department of Agriculture shall enforce the provisions
of Section 19501 and is authorized and directed to perform the
following duties:
Designate, on or before March 1, 1968, and at such times
thereafter as it deems advisable, methods of slaughter and of
handling in connection with slaughter, with respect to each species
of livestock enumerated in Section 19501, which conform to the
provisions of Section 19501. In addition, the department may
designate other methods not specifically described in Section 19501.
However, nothing in this section shall authorize the department to
prohibit any method specifically permitted in Section 19501.