Title 4.1, Agriculture

1. "Adulterated" means a carcass or meat food product: a. That includes a poisonous or harmful substance that may render it injurious to health; b. That includes a chemical pesticide that is unsafe under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.]; c. That in…

All federal meat and poultry inspection regulations effective as of July 3, 2024, as provided under title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, parts 301-320, 325, 329, 381, 391, 416-418, 424, 430, 441, 442, and 500, but excluding parts 307.5 and 381.38, are incorporated by reference a…

1. The commissioner shall appoint inspectors to examine and inspect meat food products prepared solely for intrastate commerce in a slaughtering, meat canning, salting, packing, or similar establishment. The inspections must take place at any time during which the slaughtering of…

1. For purposes of enforcement of this chapter, the commissioner may enter and inspect: a. Any place where food or any other product, the manufacture, sale, use, or transportation of which is restricted, regulated, or prohibited by a law of this state, is or may be manufactured, …

1. If a meat food product that is inspected and marked "North Dakota inspected and passed" is being placed or packed in a container, the person preparing the product shall attach to the container, under supervision of an inspector, a label indicating that the product has been "No…

A person may not sell in intrastate commerce any meat food product subject to inspection under this chapter under a name, mark, or label that is false or misleading, or in a container of a misleading form or size. If the commissioner has reason to believe that a mark, label, or c…

1. A person may not advertise, offer for sale, sell, or misrepresent cell-cultured protein as a meat food product. A cell-cultured protein product: a. May not be packaged in the same, or deceptively similar, packaging as a meat food product; and b. Must be labeled as a cell-cultu…

A person may not: 1. Slaughter an animal or prepare an article usable as human food at any establishment preparing articles solely for intrastate commerce, unless the person complies with this chapter; 2. Sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transport…

A person may not: 1. Cast, print, or otherwise make a device containing an official mark, simulation of an official mark, label bearing a mark or simulation, or form of official certificate or simulation, without authorization from the commissioner; 2. Forge an official device, m…

A person may not sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation in intrastate commerce carcasses of horses, mules, or other equines or meat food products derived from them, unless they are plainly and conspicuously marked, labeled, or otherwise i…

A person may not give or receive anything of value to influence the performance of an inspector under this chapter.

1. This chapter does not apply to an individual processing the individual's own animals and the individual's preparation and transportation in intrastate commerce of the carcasses and meat food products provided the animals are for the exclusive use of the individual, members of …

The commissioner shall adopt rules regarding the manner in which all carcasses and meat food products of animals usable as human food and subject to this chapter must be stored, handled, and transported.

The commissioner may not provide inspection under this chapter at an establishment for the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses or parts or products of animals which are not intended for use as human food. Before these articles are offered for sale or transportati…

The following persons shall keep records that fully and accurately disclose the transactions described: 1. A person in the business of slaughtering animals or preparing, freezing, packaging, or labeling animal carcasses or products of carcasses for use as human or animal food. 2.…

Upon notice by the commissioner, any person subject to the recordkeeping requirements of this chapter shall give the commissioner and the United States department of agriculture access to the person's place of business at all reasonable times and an opportunity to examine the fac…

Any person subject to the recordkeeping requirements of this chapter shall maintain the records for the period prescribed by the commissioner.

1. A person may not engage in intrastate business as a meat broker, renderer, or animal food manufacturer; a wholesaler of animal carcasses intended for human food or other purposes; a public warehouse operator storing carcasses of animals in or for intrastate commerce; or a buye…

The commissioner shall adopt rules to ensure dead, dying, disabled, or diseased animals are not used as human food.

The commissioner shall cooperate with the United States department of agriculture to develop and administer the state meat inspection program provided for under this chapter and to ensure its requirements are at least equal to those imposed by federal law. The commissioner may ac…

1. For the length of time the commissioner considers necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the commissioner may refuse to provide, or may withdraw, inspection services from an establishment if after a hearing the commissioner determines that the recipient or potent…

1. An inspector may detain an article or animal for up to twenty days pending a hearing or notification of authorities having jurisdiction over the article or animal if the inspector finds the article or animal on premises where it is held for purposes of, during, or after distri…

The commissioner may initiate action to seize and condemn a carcass or meat food product, or a dead, dying, disabled, or diseased animal that is being transported in intrastate commerce, or is held for sale in this state after transportation in intrastate commerce if: 1. The arti…

If an article or animal is condemned, it must be disposed of by destruction or sale, as directed by a court. If an article or animal is sold, the proceeds must be paid to the state, less the court costs, fees, storage, and reasonable expenses, but the article or animal must not b…

If a decree of condemnation is entered against an article or animal and it is released under bond or destroyed, a court may award costs, fees, storage, and other reasonable expenses against any person intervening as a claimant of the article or animal. Either party to a proceedin…

For the purposes of this chapter, the commissioner may: 1. Gather and compile information concerning and investigate the organization, business, conduct, practices, and management of a person in intrastate commerce and the person's relation to other persons. 2. Require a person e…

Meat and meat products inspected under this chapter may be shipped in interstate commerce when federal law permits state-inspected meat and meat products to be marketed interstate.

1. A person who willfully violates a provision of this chapter is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. 2. A person willfully violating this chapter or a rule adopted under this chapter is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars for each violation. The civil…