Title 21, Food and DrugsRelease 119-110

§460 Miscellaneous Activities Subject to Regulation

Title 21 › CHAPTER 10 — POULTRY AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION › § 460

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Poultry or poultry parts that are not meant for people to eat must be clearly marked or made unfit for eating before they are sold, shipped, or imported, unless they are naturally inedible. Such items are not covered by the inspection rules for food. No one may buy, sell, ship, receive, or import these non-food poultry items unless they are marked as required or are naturally inedible. People and businesses that kill, process, pack, label, buy, sell, store, ship, import, or render poultry (including dead, dying, disabled, or diseased birds) must keep records as the Secretary of Agriculture’s rules say, usually for up to two years. They must let authorized federal agents visit their places of business, look at facilities and inventories, copy records, and take reasonable samples (the business gets paid fair market value for samples). When the Secretary’s rules require it, those businesses must also register their name, addresses, and trade names. If a State or territory lacks equal laws or does not enforce them, the federal rules can be applied there in the same way.

Full Legal Text

Title 21, §460

Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Prohibition of inspection of articles not intended for use as human food; denaturation or other identification prior to distribution in commerce; inedible articles
Inspection shall not be provided under this chapter at any establishment for the slaughter of poultry or the processing of any carcasses or parts or products of poultry, which are not intended for use as human food, but such articles shall, prior to their offer for sale or transportation in commerce, unless naturally inedible by humans, be denatured or otherwise identified as prescribed by regulations of the Secretary to deter their use for human food. No person shall buy, sell, transport, or offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, or import, any poultry carcasses or parts or products thereof which are not intended for use as human food unless they are denatured or otherwise identified as required by the regulations of the Secretary or are naturally inedible by humans.
(b)Recordkeeping requirements; persons liable; scope of disclosure; access to places of business; examination of records, facilities, and inventories; copies; samples
The following classes of persons shall, for such period of time as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe, not to exceed two years unless otherwise directed by the Secretary for good cause shown, keep such records as are properly necessary for the effective enforcement of this chapter in order to insure against adulterated or misbranded poultry products for the American consumer; and all persons subject to such requirements shall, at all reasonable times, upon notice by a duly authorized representative of the Secretary, afford such representative access to their places of business and opportunity to examine the facilities, inventory, and records thereof, to copy all such rec­ords, and to take reasonable samples of their inventory upon payment of the fair market value therefor— (1)
(2)Any person that engages in the business of buying or selling (as poultry products brokers, wholesalers or otherwise), or transporting, in commerce, or storing in or for commerce, or importing, any carcasses, or parts or products of carcasses, of any poultry;
(3)Any person that engages in business, in or for commerce, as a renderer, or engages in the business of buying, selling, or transporting, in commerce, or importing, any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased poultry or parts of the carcasses of any poultry that died otherwise than by slaughter.
(c)Registration of business, name of person, and trade names
No person shall engage in business, in or for commerce, as a poultry products broker, renderer, or animal food manufacturer, or engage in business in commerce as a wholesaler of any carcasses, or parts or products of the carcasses, of any poultry, whether intended for human food or other purposes, or engage in business as a public warehouseman storing any such articles in or for commerce, or engage in the business of buying, selling, or transporting in commerce, or importing, any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased poultry, or parts of the carcasses of any poultry that died otherwise than by slaughter, unless when required by regulations of the Secretary, he has registered with the Secretary his name, and the address of each place of business at which, and all trade names under which, he conducts such business.
(d)Regulation of transactions, transportation, or importation of dead, dying, disabled or diseased poultry or carcasses to prevent use as human food
No person engaged in the business of buying, selling, or transporting in commerce, or importing, dead, dying, disabled, or diseased poultry, or any parts of the carcasses of any poultry that died otherwise than by slaughter, shall buy, sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, or import, any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased poultry or parts of the carcasses of any poultry that died otherwise than by slaughter, unless such transaction, transportation or importation is made in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe to assure that such poultry, or the unwholesome parts or products thereof, will be prevented from being used for human food.
(e)Federal provisions applicable to State or Territorial business transactions of a local nature and not subject to local authority
The authority conferred on the Secretary by paragraph (b), (c), or (d) of this section with respect to persons engaged in the specified kinds of business in or for commerce may be exercised with respect to persons engaged, in any State or organized territory, in such kinds of business but not in or for commerce, whenever the Secretary determines, after consultation with an appropriate advisory committee provided for in section 454 of this title, that the State or territory does not have at least equal authority under its laws or such authority is not exercised in a manner to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, including the State or territory providing for the Secretary or his representative being afforded access to such places of business and the facilities, inventories, and records thereof, and the taking of reasonable samples, where he determines necessary in carrying out his responsibilities under this chapter; and in such case the provisions of paragraph (b), (c), or (d) of this section, respectively, shall apply to such persons to the same extent and in the same manner as if they were engaged in such business in or for commerce and the transactions involved were in commerce.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1968—Pub. L. 90–492 designated existing provisions as par. (b), added pars. (a), and (c) to (e), and in par. (b), as so designated, extended the types of persons required to maintain records necessary for the

Enforcement

of this chapter, required such persons to give representatives of the Secretary access to their places of business, and opportunity to examine records, facilities, and inventories and to copy records and take inventory samples upon payment.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1968 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 90–492 effective Aug. 18, 1968, except that par. (d) 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.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

21 U.S.C. § 460

Title 21, Food and Drugs

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110