Massachusetts Statutes

Section 130. The commissioner may exempt the following types of operations from any provisions of sections one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and thirty-one, inclusive; (1) slaughtering and preparation by any person of livestock and poultry of his own raising exclusively for…

Section 131. Nothing in sections one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and thirty, inclusive, shall be construed so as to require or prohibit inspection by the department of any establishment under official inspection by the United States department of agriculture or any livest…

Section 132. If any provision of sections one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and thirty-one, inclusive, is declared void or the applicability thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder or the provisions promulgated thereunder and the…

Section 139B. All dressed poultry, including chickens, fowl, ducks, geese, pheasants and turkeys, slaughtered without the commonwealth shall, unless it has been inspected for wholesomeness by the United States Department of Agriculture, be deemed unfit for food, and shall not be …

Section 139C. As used in this section and sections one hundred and thirty-nine D to one hundred and thirty-nine G, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings:— ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of public health. ''Slaughterer'', any person regularly engaged…

Section 139D. No slaughterer, packer or stockyard operator shall shackle, hoist, or otherwise bring livestock into position for slaughter by any method which shall cause injury or pain, nor bleed or slaughter any livestock except by a humane method.

Section 139E. The commissioner shall administer the provisions of sections one hundred and thirty-nine C to one hundred and thirty-nine G, inclusive. He shall promulgate and may from time to time revise rules and regulations which shall conform substantially to the rules and regu…

Section 139F. Any person who violates any provision of section one hundred and thirty-nine D or one hundred and thirty-nine E, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days, or both.

Section 139G. Nothing in sections one hundred and thirty-nine C to one hundred and thirty-nine E, inclusive, shall prohibit, abridge, or in any way hinder the religious freedom of any person or group, and, in order to protect freedom of religion, ritual slaughter and the handling…

Section 13B. Any person selling milk graded as described in the rules and regulations adopted and approved under section twelve, or amended from time to time under authority thereof, in addition to such labelling as may be required, may state upon the package in which such milk i…

Section 13C. Except as otherwise provided in section thirteen D, whoever sells or offers for sale any milk of any grade other than one established under authority of section twelve, or labels or sells or offers for sale any milk labelled in imitation of any grade so established, …

Section 13D. Whoever himself or by his servant or agent sells, offers for sale, exchanges or delivers or has in his custody or possession with intent to sell, offer for sale, exchange or deliver any milk designated as any grade established under authority of section twelve, and n…

Section 13E. Boards of health of cities and towns may adopt bacterial standards for milk which are numerically less but not greater than such standards as may be established therefor under sections twelve and thirteen. Rules and regulations promulgated under said sections shall n…

Section 140. In each town where beef cattle are sold for the purpose of marketing or barrelling, the mayor or selectmen shall appoint one or more persons, conveniently situated in such town and not dealers in cattle, as weighers of beef. Each such weigher shall be sworn to the fa…

Section 141. Fees for weighing cattle shall be paid by the vendor and, unless otherwise established in a town by town meeting action and in a city by city council action, and in a town with no town meeting by town council action, by adoption of appropriate by-laws and ordinances …

Section 142. For the purposes of this and the following section, sausage or sausage meat shall be deemed to be adulterated: First. If it contains any cereal or vegetable flour or any product thereof in excess of two per cent, except as authorized by section one hundred and forty-…

Section 143. No person shall manufacture, sell, or offer or expose for sale, sausages or sausage meat containing any material or substance which would render the same adulterated within the meaning of section one hundred and forty-two. Whoever violates any provision of this secti…

Section 143A. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the sale or the offering or exposing for sale of vegetable sausages as such, if such sausages contain not less than twenty per cent of vegetables or vegetable products and are otherwise made in conformity with the provisions of …

Section 146. Each local board of health by themselves, their officers or agents, may inspect the carcasses of all slaughtered animals and all meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions of any kind found in their town, and all veal found, offered or exposed for sale or k…

Section 147. The department of public health may make regulations for the inspection of meat, which shall conform to the regulations of the United States bureau of animal industry for the inspection of meat for export and for interstate commerce.

Section 147A. The department of public health may make regulations for the inspection of game, poultry, and other meat except that of cattle, sheep or swine, intended for sale or exchange for use as food, and as to the conditions under which such game, poultry and other meat may …

Section 148. Whoever violates any rule or regulation of a local board of health which is approved by the department of public health shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. Failure to give a notice required by section one hundred and forty-six to be give…

Section 149. Whoever prevents, obstructs or interferes with a local board of health, its officers or agents, in the performance of its duties as provided in section one hundred and forty-six, or hinders, obstructs or interferes with any inspection or examination by it or them, or…

Section 150. Whoever, himself or by his agent, sells or offers for sale for food or drink any diseased animal or product thereof or any tainted, diseased, corrupt, decayed or unwholesome carcass, meat, vegetable, produce, fruit or provisions of any kind, except when packed in suc…

Section 150A. Whoever knowingly exposes for sale or has in possession with intent to sell, for food or drink, anything described in the preceding section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days, or both. Th…

Section 151. Whoever kills or causes to be killed a calf when less than two weeks old, with intent to sell for food the veal thereof, or knowingly sells for food, offers or exposes for sale therefor, or has in his possession with intent to sell for food, the veal of a calf so kil…

Section 151A. Whoever, himself or by his agent, sells or exposes or offers for sale in a retail store horse meat which does not have attached thereto in a conspicuous place a sign or label bearing in printed letters in a straight line of plain gothic type not less than one inch h…

Section 152. The board of health of the town where any animal or property has been condemned under section one hundred and forty-six may cause a description of the place in which such condemned property was found, the name of each person in whose possession it was found and the n…

Section 152A. No person or business entity shall engage in the business of buying, selling or transporting live poultry unless he shall have first obtained a license therefor from the commissioner of food and agriculture, the fee of which shall be determined annually by the commi…

Section 152B. The use of wooden crates, containers or coops in the transportation of live poultry to or from farms is hereby prohibited. No truck, cage, crate, coop or other conveyance may enter a farm or livestock sale establishment for the purpose of delivering or removing live…

Section 152C. Whoever violates any provision of section one hundred and fifty-two A or one hundred and fifty-two B shall be punished, for a first offence, by a fine of not not more than one hundred dollars and, for any subsequent offence, by a fine of not more than five hundred d…

Section 153A. Whoever himself or by his agent sells or offers for sale any meat or meat product to which has been added any sulphur dioxide or compound thereof, except beef sausage made of fresh beef and enclosed in casings, which contains sulphur dioxide or compound thereof not …

Section 154. Canned articles of food shall not be offered for sale unless marked to indicate the grade or quality thereof and the name and address of the person who packed or sells them.

Section 155. All canned articles of food which have been prepared from dry products and have been soaked before canning shall be plainly marked by an adhesive label having on its face the word ''soaked'' in letters of legible type not smaller than two line pica. All cans, jugs an…

Section 156. (a) No person shall label, stamp, sell, advertise or expose for sale or permit such labeling, stamping, selling, advertising or exposing for sale any can, jar, or other package containing fruit or food of any kind, or unpackaged fruit or food of any kind, whether raw…

Section 157. Whoever, being engaged in the business of selling ice at retail, and not engaged in the delivery of the same under a contract, refuses to sell from any place or vehicle engaged in the regular distribution of ice at retail a piece of ice at the fair value thereof to a…

Section 158. A dealer in ice, who refuses or neglects to provide scales for each vehicle used by him for the retail delivery of ice, or who neglects to furnish to the sealer of weights and measures of each city or town in which he conducts business a list of the current prices of…

Section 159. Whoever having charge of the retail delivery of ice from a vehicle neglects to keep conspicuously posted upon each side of the vehicle the current retail prices of ice sold by him, or refuses or neglects to sell the same by weight, or refuses to weigh the same upon r…

Section 16. For the purposes of sections sixteen to sixteen K, inclusive, the term ''dairy farm'' shall mean a place or premises where more than two cows are kept and a part or all of the milk produced thereof is sold or delivered for sale to any person. Said sections shall not a…

Section 160. The department of public health, upon written complaint of not less than twenty-five consumers of ice cut from any pond or stream and sold or held for sale, alleging that said ice is impure and injurious to health, after notice to the parties interested in the time a…

Section 161. Orders made under the preceding section shall be served upon any person selling or offering for sale impure ice, and may be enforced in equity by the supreme judicial or superior court.

Section 162. Whoever is aggrieved by any order made under section one hundred and sixty may appeal therefrom in the manner prescribed by section one hundred and forty-seven of chapter one hundred and eleven, and shall be subject to sections one hundred and forty-eight and one hun…

Section 163. Vinegar is hereby defined as being the result of alcoholic and subsequent acetous fermentation of natural fruit juices or vegetable products. Vinegar shall contain no added or artificial coloring matter, and shall contain not less than four grams of acetic acid in ea…

Section 164. The methods for the examination of vinegar shall be those adopted by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. When no such methods are applicable, such additional methods as are approved by the department of public health and published in its bulletin shall…

Section 165. No manufacturer or producer of, or wholesale dealer in, vinegar shall, by himself or by his servant or agent, use a cask, barrel or other container for the sale, offering for sale, exchange or delivery of vinegar, or have such vinegar in possession in any cask, barre…

Section 166. The collection of samples of vinegar, as authorized by section three hundred and four, shall be made under the direction and supervision of the department of public health or by local boards of health. Samples may be purchased in the open market, and the stencillings…