SECTIONS 26661 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 26661

26661. (a) (1) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters,
packs, repacks, or sells poultry or poultry meat shall advertise,
hold out, distribute, or sell as "fresh" any poultry or poultry meat
whose internal temperature has been below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
(2) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters, packs, repacks,
or sells poultry or poultry meat shall label as "fresh" any poultry
or poultry meat whose internal temperature has been below 26 degrees
Fahrenheit.
(3) No poultry or poultry meat that is distributed or sold as
"fresh" shall be stored or handled in such a manner that it reaches
an internal temperature below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
(4) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters, packs, repacks,
or sells poultry or poultry meat may sell or distribute poultry or
poultry meat if it is adulterated, misbranded, or if its labeling is
false or misleading in any particular.
(b) No poultry retailer is guilty of a violation of subdivision
(a) or of the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (c) unless
the poultry retailer engages, with actual knowledge, in an act
prohibited by subdivision (a).
(c) The secretary may adopt regulations reasonably necessary for
carrying out this section, and those regulations shall be, insofar as
possible, consistent with regulations adopted by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
(d) Each prohibition in subdivision (a) stands alone and if any
prohibition in subdivision (a) has been held, or in the future is
held, to be unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise
invalid by any court, all of the other prohibitions set forth in
subdivision (a) are intended to, and shall remain, fully effective
and shall be interpreted to exclude the unconstitutional, preempted,
or otherwise invalid prohibition or prohibitions. If any sentence,
clause, word, or portion of this section is for any reason held to be
unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise invalid,
that holding shall not affect the remaining portions of this section.
The Legislature hereby declares that it would have enacted this
section and each sentence, clause, word, or portion thereof despite
the fact that one or more sentences, clauses, words, or portions of
this section may be held unconstitutional, preempted by federal law,
or otherwise invalid.