An Act To Allow a Person Who Owns a Slaughterhouse To Slaughter Poultry for Other People
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0259
Committee Amendment CA_A_H407 (House)
Amends: 22 MRSA §2511, 22 MRSA §2514, 22 MRSA §2514-A, 22 MRSA §2517-D, 22 MRSA §2518

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" /+" to H.P. 196, L.D. 259, Bill, "An Act To Allow 
a Person Who Owns a Slaughterhouse To Slaughter Poultry for Other People" 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'An Act To Allow a Person To Rent a Slaughterhouse for the Slaughtering and 
Processing of Poultry' 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and 
inserting the following: 
'Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 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. 2. 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. 3. 22 MRSA §2514, sub-§1, 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 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITIEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. \96, L.D. 259 
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; 
O. Meat and poultry product brokers; 
0-1. Mobile poultry processing unit operators; 
H. Renderers; 
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. 4. 22 MRSA §2514-A is enacted to read: 
§2514-A. Registration 
1. Registration permitted. 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. 5. 22 MRSA §2517-D is enacted to read: 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "it" to H.P. \96, L.D. 259 
§2517-D. Rental of a licensed slaughterhouse 
1. Contract slaughtering. A commercial slaughterhouse or custom slaughterhouse 
licensed under section 2514 or a custom slaughterhouse registered under section 2514-A, 
but not engaging in the custom slaughter of poultry, may enter into a contract with a 
poultry producer who otherwise meets the requirements of the exemption for poultry 
producers that slaughter or process 20,000 or fewer poultry under the federal Poultry 
Products Inspection Act, 21 United States Code, Section 464(c)(3) to rent that 
slaughterhouse to the poultry producer for the slaughter and processing of the poultry 
producer's poultry. 
Poultry slaughtered and processed under the rental contract must be slaughtered and 
processed by the poultry producer. 
A poultry producer that otherwise meets the requirements of the 20,000 or fewer poultry 
exemption, and having the intent to rent a slaughterhouse that is currently used by another 
poultry producer that meets the requirements of the exemption, must obtain approval 
from the administrator of the federal Food Safety and Inspection Service within the 
United States Department of AgIjculture prior to rental of the slaughterhouse. 
2. Restrictions on point of sale. Poultry slaughtered and processed under this 
section may not be offered for sale or transportation in interstate commerce. 
3. 
Labelin~. Packaging for poultry slaughtered and processed under this section 
must bear the name and address of the renting poultry producer and the statement 
"Exempted P.L. 90-492." 
Sec. 6. 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 effilSe 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 effilSe 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 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. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT '1+" to H.P. 196, L.D. 259 
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; 
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. 7. 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 strikes and replaces the bill and changes the title. It establishes a 
registration process for certain poultry slaughterers and processors. 
The amendment 
allows a licensed or registered slaughterhouse to contract with certain poultry producers 
for the rental of the slaughterhouse for the purposes of slaughtering pOUltry. The 
amendment requires the renting producer's poultry to be slaughtered and processed by 
that producer. It prohibits the poultry slaughtered and processed under the rental contract 
from being sold or transported for interstate commerce. The amendment also requires 
certain information to be printed on the labels of the poultry products produced by the 
producer renting a licensed or registered slaughterhouse. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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Approved: 06103/13 
;:tva~ 
LD259 
LR 716(02) 
An Act To Allow a Person Who Owns a Slaughterhouse To Slaughter Poultry for Other People 
Fiscal Note for BiU as Amended by Committee Amendment If'CH -Lf-O~ 
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
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 this legislation can be 
absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LR0716(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1