An Act To Facilitate the Processing of Livestock That Is Not for Resale
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0271
Committee Amendment CA_A_S272 (Senate)
Amends: 22 MRSA §251, 22 MRSA §2511, 22 MRSA §2512, 22 MRSA §2514, 22 MRSA §2514-A, 22 MRSA §2518

COMMITTEE AMENDl'vffiNT "A" to S.P. 104, L.D. 271, Bill, "An Act To 
Facilitate the Processing of Livestock That Is Not for Resale" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §251l, sub-§l-A is enacted to read: 
I-A. Amenable species. "Amenable species" means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, 
horses, mules and other equines, including their carcasses and parts. 
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §251J1, sub-§l1, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 771, § 1, is amended 
to read: 
11. 
Custom slaughterhouse. 
"Custom slaughterhouse" means a person who 
maintains a slaughtering facility that is a licensed establishment or a registered 
establishment under this chapter for the purposes of slaughtering livestock or poultry for 
another person's exclusive use !by that person and members of that person's household and 
that person's nonpaying guests and employees, and who is not engaged in the business of 
buying or selling carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or meat food products or any cattle, 
domesticated deer, sheep, swine, goats, domestic rabbits, equines, poultry or other 
designated animals useable as human food. 
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §2511, sub-§41-A is enacted to read: 
41-A. 
Registered establishment. 
"Registered establishment" means a person 
registered under section 2514-A. 
Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §2512, sub-§2, ,0, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 777, §1, is 
amended to read: 
O. Establish conditions for storage and handling of livestock products and poultry 
products by persons engaged in the business of buying, selling, freezing, storing or 
transporting these products in or for intrastate commerce to ensure that these products 
are not adulterated or misbranded when delivered to the consumer; aHd 
COMMrrTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "/{" to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §2512, sub-§2, ,-P, as amended by PL 2003, c. 20, Pt. E, § 1, is 
further amended to read: 
P. 
Establish the method for providing voluntary inspection and withdrawal of 
inspection of exotic animals, wild game, domesticated deer and domestic rabbits. 
These rules may also provide for the inspection of meat and meat food products 
derived from those animals. The commissioner shall provide voluntary inspection of 
bison, domesticated deer and ratite produced in the State, including the inspection of 
meat and meat food products derived from bison, domesticated deer and ratite, for 
which the commissioner shall charge a fee of $35 per hour. The commissioner shall 
charge $35 per hour per inspection of meat and meat food products processed in the 
State but derived from bison, domesticated deer and ratite produced outside the 
State~; and 
Sec. 6. 22 MRSA §2512, sub-§2, ~Q is enacted to read: 
Q. Allow the slaughter and processing of an animal that is a member of an amenable 
species, or the processing of the carcass or a part of such an animal, by a person 
registered as a custom slaughterer pursuant to section 2514-A if the animal, or 
carcass or part, is not owned by the registrant, is brought to the registrant's home and 
is not being offered for sale by the owner of the animal, or carcass or part, or by any 
other person. 
Sec. 7. 22 MRSA §2514, sub-§l, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 777, §1, is amended 
to read: 
1. 
License or registration required. 
A person may not engage in intrastate 
commerce in the business of buying, selling, preparing, processing, packing, storing, 
transporting or otherwise handling meat, meat food products or poultry products, unless 
that person holds a valid license issued under this chapter or is registered under section 
25l4-A. Categories of licensure include: 
A. Commercial slaughterers; 
B. 
Custom slaughterers, except that itinerant custom slaughterers who slaughter 
solely at a customer's home or farm and who do not own, operate or work at a 
slaughtering plant are exempt from the licensing provisions of this section; 
C. Commercial processors; 
D. Custom processors; 
E. Wholesale distributors, except that livestock producers and livestock dealers who 
sell carcasses to or through inspected slaughterhouses are exempt from having to 
obtain a wholesale distributor's license under this paragraph. 
All other licensing 
provisions are applicable; 
F. Retail vendors; 
G. Meat and poultry product brokers; 
G-l. Mobile poultry processing unit operators; 
H. Renderers; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT-A," to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
I. Public warehouse operators; 
J. Animal food manufacturers; 
K. Handlers of dead, dying, disabled or diseased animals; and 
L. Any other category that the commissioner may by rule establish. 
Sec. 8. 22 MRSA §2514-A is enacted to read: 
§2514-A. Registration 
1. Registration permittE:d. A person may engage in intrastate commerce in the 
business of buying, selling, preparing, processing, packing, storing, transporting or 
otherwise handling meat, meat food products or poultry products if that person is 
registered under this section. A person may register under this section if the person is a: 
A. 
Custom slaughterer, except that itinerant custom slaughterers who slaughter 
solely at a customer's home or farm and who do not own, operate or work at a 
slaughtering plant are exempt from the registration provisions of this section; 
B. Custom processor; 
C. Poultry producer who processes fewer than 1,000 birds annually under section 
2517-C; and 
D. A person in any other category that the commissioner may by rule establish. 
Sec. 9. 22 MRSA §2518, as amended by PL 2009, c. 354, §4, is further amended 
to read: 
§2518. Periodic review of nOlllinspected registered or licensed establishments 
1. Review by inspector. The commissioner may 6iffiSe require establishments that 
are required to be licensed under section 2514 or registered under section 2514-A but are 
exempt from inspection under section 2512, subsection 2, paragraph K to be periodically 
reviewed by inspectors to ensure that the provisions of this chapter and the rules adopted 
under this chapter are satisfied and that the public health, safety and welfare are 
protected. The commissioner shall eause require establishments that are required to be 
licensed under section 2514 9r registered under section 2514-A but are exempt from 
inspection under section 2517 -C to be reviewed annually by inspectors to ensure that the 
provisions of this chapter and the rules adopted under this chapter are satisfied and that 
the public health, safety and wdfare are protected. 
2. Review of certain slaughter or preparation establishments. Inspection may 
not be provided under this chapter at any establishment for the slaughter of livestock or 
poultry or the preparation of any livestock products or poultry products that are not 
intended for use as human food, but these products must, prior to their offer for sale or 
transportation in intrastate commerce, unless naturally inedible by humans, be denatured 
or otherwise identified, as prescribed by rules of the commissioner, to deter their use for 
human food. These licensed establishments are subject to periodic review. 
3. 
Subject to review. 
A periodic review under this section must include an 
examination of: 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT A 
"to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
A. The licensed establishment's sanitation practices; 
B. Sanitation in the areas where meat and poultry products are prepared, stored and 
displayed; 
C. The adequacy of a refrigeration system used for meat food products and poultry 
products; 
D. Labeling; and 
E. Meat food products or poultry products for wholesomeness or adulteration. 
In addition, the inspector conducting the periodic review may conduct any other 
examination necessary to ensure compliance with this chapter and the rules adopted 
pursuant to this chapter. 
4. Access. For purposes of a periodic review of a licensed establishment, inspectors 
have access during normal business hours to every part of a licensed establishment 
required to have inspection under this chapter, whether the licensed establishment is 
operated or not. 
Sec. 10. Maine Revised Statutes headnote amended; revision clause. In 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, chapter 562-A, subchapter 2, in the subchapter 
headnote, the word "licensing" is amended to read "licensing and registration" and the 
Revisor of Statutes shall implement this revision when updating, publishing or 
republishing the statutes.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, strikes and replaces 
the bill. The amendment authorizes the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and 
Forestry to allow an animal that is a member of an amenable species, a term defined in 
the amendment, that is owned by a person to be slaughtered and processed at the home of 
another person that is registered to do so if that animal is not being offered for sale by the 
owner or by any other person. The amendment also adds registered establishments to 
slaughter establishments that may be periodically reviewed by inspectors to ensure that 
the laws and rules governing slaughter facilities are being followed. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
• 
Approved: 06/02/13 
~~c;. 
LD271 
LR 268(02) 
An Act To Facilitate the Processing of Livestock That Is Not for Resale 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendmentit(S· 2t1Z.) 
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
, r 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Additional costs to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry associated with the provisions of this 
legislation can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LR0268(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1