Title 21 — Food and DrugsRelease 119-73
§604 Post mortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling; destruction of carcasses condemned; reinspection
Title 21 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - MEAT INSPECTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS; ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING › § 604
Summary
The Secretary must have inspectors examine carcasses and meat parts after animals are slaughtered at any slaughterhouse, packing, canning, rendering, or similar plant in a State, Territory, or the District of Columbia when the meat could be used for people to eat. Inspectors will mark which meats passed inspection and which are condemned. Meat that is condemned must be destroyed for food use by the plant in the inspector’s presence. Inspectors can reinspect meat later. If a plant refuses to destroy condemned meat, the Secretary can remove the inspectors from that plant.
Full Legal Text
Title 21, §604
Food and Drugs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
For the purposes hereinbefore set forth the Secretary shall cause to be made by inspectors appointed for that purpose a post mortem examination and inspection of the carcasses and parts thereof of all amenable species to be prepared at any slaughtering, meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment in any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia as articles of commerce which are capable of use as human food; and the carcasses and parts thereof of all such animals found to be not adulterated shall be marked, stamped, tagged, or labeled as “Inspected and passed”; and said inspectors shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as “Inspected and condemned” all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be adulterated; and all carcasses and parts thereof thus inspected and condemned shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the Secretary may remove inspectors from any such establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof, and said inspectors, after said first inspection, shall, when they deem it necessary, reinspect said carcasses or parts thereof to determine whether since the first inspection the same have become adulterated, and if any carcass or any part thereof shall, upon examination and inspection subsequent to the first examination and inspection, be found to be adulterated, it shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the Secretary may remove inspectors from any establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification Section was formerly classified to section 72 of this title.
Amendments
2005—Pub. L. 109–97 substituted “amenable species” for “cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, and other equines”. 1967—Pub. L. 90–201, §§ 3, 4, 12(a)–(d), struck out “interstate or foreign” before “commerce” and “of Agriculture” after “Secretary” in three places; struck out “for human consumption” before “at any slaughtering” and “for transportation or sale” after “District of Columbia” and inserted “which are capable of use as human food” after “commerce”; included horses, mules, and other equines in the list of animals; substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food” after “ ‘Inspected and condemned,’ all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be” and before “, it shall be destroyed”; substituted “not adulterated” for “sound, healthful, wholesome, and fit for human food”; and substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or in any way unfit for human food” before “and if any carcass”, respectively.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2005 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 109–97 effective the day after 120 days after Nov. 10, 2005, see section 798(b) of Pub. L. 109–97, set out as a note under section 601 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1967 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 90–201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that with respect to equines (other than horses) and their carcasses and parts thereof, meat, and meat food products thereof, amendment effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(b) of Pub. L. 90–201, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 601 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
21 U.S.C. § 604
Title 21 — Food and Drugs
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73