An Act To Facilitate the Processing of Livestock tmi't Is Not for Resale
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0271
Committee Amendment CA_B_S273 (Senate)
Amends: 22 MRSA §2511, 22 MRSA §25, 22 MRSA §2512, 22 MRSA §2514, 22 MRSA §2514-A, 22 MRSA §2518

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 104, L.D. 271, Bill, "An Act To 
Facilitate the Processing of Livestock tmi't 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 MRS A §2511, 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 MRS A §2511, 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 §25U, sub-§2, ~O, 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; aBEl 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ".8" to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §2512, sub-§2, ,P, as amended by PL 2003, c. 20, Pt. E, §l, 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: 
O. Allow the slaughter and processing of an animal that is a member of an amenable 
species owned by a person at the home of another person if that animal is not being 
offered for sale by the owner 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 
2514-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; 
I. Public warehouse operators; 
J. Animal food manufacturers; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ",E" to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
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 permittedl. 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 ifthe 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 noninspected registered or licensed establishments 
1. Review by inspector. The commissioner may eaase require establishments that 
are required to be licensed under section 2514 or registered under section 2514-A but are 
exempt from inspection under st:ction 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 eal:lSe require establishments that are required to be 
licensed under section 2514 or 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 welfare are protected. 
2. Review of certain slau:ghter 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 esta.blishments are subject to periodic review. 
3. 
Subject to review. 
A. periodic review under this section must include an 
examination of: 
A. The licensed establishment's sanitation practices; 
B. Sanitation in the areas where meat and poultry products are prepared, stored and 
displayed; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT13"to S.P. 104, L.D. 271 
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. I 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which is the minority 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 tenn defined in 
the amendment, that is owned by a person to be slaughtered and processed at the home of 
another person if that animal is not being offered for sale by the owner or by any other 
person. 
It differs from the majority report in that it does not require the person 
slaughtering and processing the animal to be registered as a custom slaughterer. 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: 06/10113 ;lvac 
LD271 
LR 268(03) 
An Act To Facilitate the F'rocessing of Livestock That Is Not for Resale 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ''13 15-1.13 ) 
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
(; 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Potential current biennium cost increase - General Fund 
Potential current biennium revenue decrease - Federal Expenditures Fund 
Under this legislation the slaughter and processing of an amenable species would not need to be registered or 
inspected by the State. The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry's meat inspection program follows 
federal guidelines that allow the State to receive up to 50% of the cost of the program in federal grant money. It is 
likely that the federal government would determine this legislation is not within federal guidelines, meaning the State 
could lose all or a portion of the federal funding received for the meat inspection program. For the federal fiscal year 
ended 9-30-12 the State received approximately $270,000 in federal funding for this program. However, it is unlikely 
that the federal government would withhold funding for this program without first giving the department a listing of 
corrective action needed to be taken with a timeline for completion. 
LR0268(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1