§458 — Title 21 Food and Drugs | U.S. Code

Summary

Makes it illegal to slaughter or process poultry for people to eat at a commercial plant unless you follow the rules in this chapter. You cannot sell, ship, or receive poultry products in commerce if they are contaminated, labeled wrongly, or were supposed to be inspected but did not pass. You also must not do anything during shipping or holding that would cause the food to become contaminated or mislabeled. Poultry from inspected plants must have the blood, feathers, feet, head, and internal organs removed as the Secretary’s rules require, unless the Secretary allows an exception. You may not make, copy, or use official marks, labels, or certificates without permission from the Secretary. Forging, altering, destroying, hiding, or possessing fake official marks or certificates without telling the Secretary is banned. It is also illegal to lie on shipper’s certificates or to claim a product was inspected, passed, or exempt when it was not. Trade-secret information learned under this law may only be used by authorized government officials or by court order.

Title 21, §458

Food and Drugs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No person shall—

(1)slaughter any poultry or process any poultry products which are capable of use as human food at any establishment processing any such articles for commerce, except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter;

(2)sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, (A) any poultry products which are capable of use as human food and are adulterated or misbranded at the time of such sale, transportation, offer for sale or transportation, or receipt for transportation; or (B) any poultry products required to be inspected under this chapter unless they have been so inspected and passed;

(3)do, with respect to any poultry products which are capable of use as human food, any act while they are being transported in commerce or held for sale after such transportation, which is intended to cause or has the effect of causing such products to be adulterated or misbranded;

(4)sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in commerce or from an official establishment, any slaughtered poultry from which the blood, feathers, feet, head, or viscera have not been removed in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary, except as may be authorized by regulations of the Secretary;

(5)use to his own advantage, or reveal other than to the authorized representatives of the United States Government or any State or other government in their official capacity, or as ordered by a court in any judicial proceedings, any information acquired under the authority of this chapter concerning any matter which is entitled to protection as a trade secret.

(b)No brand manufacturer, printer, or other person shall cast, print, lithograph, or otherwise make any device containing any official mark or simulation thereof, or any label bearing any such mark or simulation, or any form of official certificate or simulation thereof, except as authorized by the Secretary.

(c)No person shall—

(1)forge any official device, mark, or certificate;

(2)without authorization from the Secretary use any official device, mark, or certificate, or simulation thereof, or alter, detach, deface, or destroy any official device, mark, or certificate;

(3)contrary to the regulations prescribed by the Secretary, fail to use, or to detach, deface, or destroy any official device, mark, or certificate;

(4)knowingly possess, without promptly notifying the Secretary or his representative, any official device or any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered official certificate or any device or label or any carcass of any poultry, or part or product thereof, bearing any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered official mark;

(5)knowingly make any false statement in any shipper’s certificate or other nonofficial or official certificate provided for in the regulations prescribed by the Secretary; or

(6)knowingly represent that any article has been inspected and passed, or exempted, under this chapter when, in fact, it has respectively, not been so inspected and passed, or exempted.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1968—Pub. L. 90–492 made revisions in form and phraseology, added to the enumerated prohibited acts slaughtering poultry or processing any poultry products capable of use as human food, except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, selling and transporting adulterated or misbranded poultry products or uninspected poultry products, adulterating or misbranding poultry products while they are being transported in commerce or held for sale after such transportation, treating carcasses not in accordance with

Regulations

promulgated by the Secretary, possessing, without notifying the Secretary, any official device or any counterfeit, simulated, etc., official certificate, or any device or label bearing any counterfeit, simulated, etc., official mark, and making false representations and statements, and clarified application to brand manufacturers and printers of existing provisions prohibiting the counterfeiting of official marks, labels, or certificates.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1968 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 90–492 effective Aug. 18, 1968, except that amendment of pars. (a)(2)(A) and (a)(3) effective upon the expiration of sixty days after Aug. 18, 1968, see section 20 of Pub. L. 90–492, set out as a note under section 451 of this title.

§458 Prohibited acts