California Code of Regulations › Title 3 - Food and Agriculture › Division 2 - Animal Industry › Chapter 4 - Meat Inspection › Subchapter 1 › Article 1 - Meat and Poultry Inspection › Section 900 - Definitions

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) As
					 used in this subchapter, unless otherwise required by the context, the singular
					 form shall also import the plural and the masculine form shall import the
					 feminine, and vice versa.
(b)
					 Unless otherwise required by the context, the following terms shall be
					 construed, respectively, to mean:
(1) "Act"
					 means the California Meat and Poultry Inspection Act, Chapter 4 (commencing
					 with section
					 18650) and as supplemented by the
					 California Meat and Poultry Supplemental Inspection Act, Chapter 4.1
					 (commencing with section
					 18940) of Part 3, Division 2 of the
					 Food and Agricultural Code.
(2)
					 "Additive" means anything added to a meat or poultry product other than meat,
					 poultry, or meat and poultry byproducts.
(3) "Area" means a geographical region under
					 the supervision of an Area Supervisor.
(4) "Area Supervisor" means the official in
					 charge of an area.
(5) "Biological
					 residue" means any substance, including metabolites, remaining in livestock at
					 time of slaughter or in any of its tissues after slaughter as the result of
					 treatment or exposure of the livestock to a pesticide, organic or inorganic
					 compound, hormone, hormone-like substance, growth promoter, antibiotic,
					 anthelmintic, tranquilizer, or other therapeutic or prophylactic
					 agent.
(6) "California Condemned"
					 means that the livestock so identified has been inspected by an inspector and
					 found to be in a dying condition, or to be affected with any other condition or
					 disease that would require condemnation of its carcass or its affected
					 parts.
(7) "California Inspected
					 and Condemned" means that the carcass, viscera, other part of carcass, or other
					 product so identified has been inspected by an inspector, found to be
					 adulterated, and condemned under the regulations in this subchapter.
(8) "California Inspected and Passed" means
					 that the product so identified has been inspected by an inspector and passed
					 under the regulations in this subchapter, and at the time it was inspected,
					 passed, and identified, it was found to be not adulterated.
(9) "California Rejected" means that the
					 compartment, room, utensil, or piece of equipment so identified is unacceptable
					 for use in the official establishment and cannot be used until the condition
					 that renders it unacceptable is corrected and it has been reexamined and
					 released by an inspector. This is accomplished by applying a red or green
					 California Rejected tag to the compartment, room, utensil, or piece of
					 equipment. The compartment, room, utensil, or piece of equipment is released by
					 removal of the California Rejected tag.
(10) "California Retained" means that the
					 carcass, viscera, other part of carcass, or other product, or article so
					 identified is held for further examination by a program employee to determine
					 its disposal. This is accomplished by applying a red California Retained tag to
					 the carcass, viscera, other part of carcass, or other product or
					 article.
(11) "California Suspect"
					 means that the livestock so identified by an inspector is suspected of being
					 affected with a disease or condition which may require its condemnation, in
					 whole or in part, when slaughtered, and is subject to further examination by a
					 program employee to determine its disposal.
(12) "Capable of use as human food" applies
					 to any carcass, or part or product of a carcass, of any livestock, unless it is
					 denatured or otherwise identified as required by this subchapter to deter its
					 use as a human food, or it is naturally inedible by humans such as hoofs or
					 horns in their natural state.
(13)
					 "Carcass" means all parts, including viscera, of any slaughtered livestock or
					 poultry.
(14) "Chemical
					 preservative" means any chemical that, when added to a meat, meat food product,
					 poultry product, or poultry meat food product tends to prevent or retard
					 deterioration thereof, but does not include common salt, sugars, vinegars,
					 spices, or oils extracted from spices or substances added to meat, meat food
					 products, poultry products, or poultry meat food products by exposure to wood
					 smoke.
(15) "Condemned" means the
					 product or ingredient has been inspected and determined to be unfit for human
					 food purposes.
(16) "Consciousness"
					 means the responsiveness of the brain to the impressions made by the
					 senses.
(17) "Dead livestock" means
					 the body or cadaver of livestock that has died other than by
					 slaughter.
(18) "Denature" means to
					 make an item visually, physically, and/or odoriferously unfit, through the use
					 of an agent or process, for human consumption.
(19) "Department" means the California
					 Department of Food and Agriculture.
(20) "Dying, diseased, or disabled livestock"
					 is livestock that has or displays symptoms of having any of the following:
(A) Central nervous system
					 disorder;
(B) Abnormal temperature
					 (high or low);
(C) Difficult
					 breathing;
(D) Abnormal
					 swellings;
(E) Lack of muscular
					 coordination;
(F) Inability to walk
					 or stand;
(G) Any of the conditions
					 for which livestock is required to be condemned on ante-mortem inspection in
					 accordance with the requirements under Article 4 of this
					 subchapter.
(21) "Edible"
					 means the product is intended for use as human food.
(22) "Firm" means any partnership,
					 association, or other unincorporated business organization.
(23) "Immediate container" means the
					 receptacle or other covering in which any product is directly contained or
					 wholly or partially enclosed.
(24)
					 "Inedible" means adulterated, uninspected, or not intended for use as human
					 food.
(25) The term "inhumane
					 slaughter" or "inhumane handling in connection with slaughter" means the
					 slaughter or handling in connection with slaughter not in accordance with the
					 federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act,
					 7 USC, section
					 1901 et seq.
(26) "Inspector" means a Meat, Poultry and
					 Egg Safety Branch-employed Veterinarian (Meat Inspection), Meat Food Inspector,
					 Supervising Meat Inspector, or Branch Chief or an industry-employed and
					 Department-licensed Livestock Meat Inspector or Processing Inspector.
(27) "Label" means a display of written,
					 printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container (not including package
					 liners) of any article.
(28)
					 "Labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter:
(A) Upon any article or any of its containers
					 or wrappers; or
(B) Accompanying
					 such article.
(29)
					 "Livestock" means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and fallow deer or equine for
					 pet food.
(30) "Meat" means the
					 part of the muscle of any cattle, sheep, swine, goats or fallow deer that is
					 skeletal or that is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in
					 the esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat, and the
					 portions of bone, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels that normally accompany
					 the muscle tissue and that are not separated from it in the process of
					 dressing. It does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout, or
					 ears.
(31) "Meat, Poultry and Egg
					 Safety Branch" or "MPES" means the Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch of the
					 Department.
(32) "Meat byproduct"
					 means any part capable of use as human food, other than meat, that has been
					 derived from one or more cattle, sheep, swine, goats, or fallow deer.
(33) "Meat food product" means any article
					 capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any meat or
					 other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, or fallow
					 deer. This does not include articles exempted from the definition of a meat
					 food product by the Department in specific cases or by the requirements of this
					 subchapter, upon a determination that they contain meat or other portions of
					 such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not
					 been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry. Such
					 exempted articles shall comply with any requirements that are imposed in such
					 cases or regulations to assure that the meat or other portions of such
					 carcasses contained in such articles are not adulterated and that such articles
					 are not represented as meat food products.
(34) "Nonambulatory" means unable to stand or
					 walk without assistance.
(35)
					 "Official device" means any device prescribed by section
					 903.17 of this subchapter for use
					 in applying any official mark.
(36)
					 "Official establishment" means any slaughtering, curing, smoking, drying,
					 rendering, or similar establishment at which inspection is maintained under the
					 regulations in this subchapter.
(37) "Official inspection legend" means any
					 symbol prescribed by the regulations in this subchapter showing that an article
					 was inspected and passed in accordance with the Act.
(38) "Official mark" means the official
					 inspection legend or any other symbol prescribed by the requirements of this
					 subchapter to identify the status of any article or animal under the
					 Act.
(39) "Packaging material"
					 means any cloth, paper, plastic, metal, or other material used to form a
					 container, wrapper, label, or cover for meat and poultry products.
(40) "Passed" means the product or ingredient
					 has been inspected and determined to be fit for human food purposes.
(41) "Person" means any individual, firm, or
					 corporation.
(42) "Potentially
					 Hazardous Product" means any meat and/or poultry product that is in a form
					 capable of supporting rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic
					 microorganisms that may cause food infections or food intoxications.
					 "Potentially hazardous product" does not include meat and/or poultry products
					 that have a pH level of 4.6 or below and/or a water activity (aw) value of 0.85
					 or less.
(43) "Poultry" means
					 domestic fowl and domesticated rabbit to be used for human food. "Fowl"
					 includes chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, squab, quail, pheasant, ratites, and
					 other domesticated birds.
(44)
					 "Poultry Meat Food Product" means any article of food or any article intended
					 or capable of being used as human food that is derived or prepared, in whole or
					 in substantial and definite part, from any portion of poultry.
(45) "Poultry Product" means dressed poultry,
					 ready-to-cook poultry, edible poultry by-product, and poultry meat food
					 product. However, the following items contain poultry ingredients only in a
					 relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered by
					 consumers as products of the poultry food industry. Therefore, the following
					 items are exempt from the definition of "poultry product" and the requirements
					 of the Act and the regulations applicable to poultry products, if they comply
					 with the conditions specified in this subchapter:
(A) Any human food product (in a consumer
					 package) not provided for in subsection (B) of this section, if:
1. It contains less than 2 percent cooked
					 poultry meat (deboned white or dark poultry meat, or both);
2. It contains less than 10 percent of cooked
					 poultry skins, giblets, or fat, separately, and less than 10 percent of cooked
					 poultry skins, giblets, fat, and meat (as meat is limited in this section) in
					 any combination;
3. The poultry
					 ingredients used in the product were prepared under federal inspection or were
					 inspected under a foreign or state inspection system approved by the USDA or
					 Department and imported in compliance with the Act and the requirements of this
					 subchapter;
4. The immediate
					 container of the product bears a label that shows the name of the product in
					 accordance with this subchapter; and
5. The product is not represented as a
					 poultry product. The aforementioned percentages of ingredients shall be
					 computed on the basis of the moist, deboned, cooked poultry in the
					 ready-to-serve product when prepared according to the serving directions on the
					 consumer package.
(B)
					 Bouillon cubes, poultry broths, gravies, sauces, seasonings, and flavorings if:
1. They contain poultry meat or poultry fat
					 only in condimental quantities;
2.
					 They comply with the provisions of subsections (b)(45)(A) 3., 4., and 5. of
					 this section in all respects; and
3. In the case of poultry broth, it will not
					 be used in the processing of any poultry product in any official
					 establishment.
(C) Fat
					 capsules and sandwiches containing poultry products if they comply with the
					 provisions of subsections (b)(45)(A) 3., 4., and 5. of this section in all
					 respects.
(D) Products of the types
					 specified in this section except those specified in subsections (b)(45)(A) and
					 (C) of this section will be deemed to be represented as poultry products if the
					 kind name of the poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.) is used in the product name of
					 the product without appropriate qualification. For example, a consumer-packaged
					 noodle soup product containing less than 2 percent chicken meat on a
					 ready-to-serve basis may not be labeled "Chicken Noodle Soup" but, when
					 appropriate, could be labeled as "Chicken Flavored Noodle
					 Soup."
(46) "Prepared"
					 means slaughtered, cured, smoked, dried, rendered, or otherwise manufactured or
					 processed.
(47) "Process schedule"
					 means a written description of processing procedures, consisting of any number
					 of specific, sequential operations directly under the control of the
					 establishment employed in the manufacture of a specific product, including the
					 control, monitoring, verification, validation, and corrective action activities
					 associated with production.
(48)
					 "Product" means any carcass, meat, meat byproduct, meat food product, poultry
					 product, or poultry meat food product capable of use as human food.
(49) "Program" means the Meat, Poultry and
					 Egg Safety Branch.
(50) "Renderer"
					 means any person engaged in the business of rendering carcasses or parts or
					 products of the carcasses of any livestock or poultry except rendering of
					 products intended for human consumption and conducted under
					 inspection.
(51) "Restricted
					 ingredient" means an additive for which the amount that can be used in a meat
					 or poultry product is limited by this subchapter.
(52) "State" means the State of
					 California.
(53) "State
					 Veterinarian" means an officially designated employee of the California
					 Department of Food and Agriculture who has jurisdiction over livestock and
					 poultry disease control, meat inspection, and dairy inspection.
(54) "Subchapter" references mean the
					 regulations contained in Subchapter 1 of Chapter 4, Division 2, of Title 3 of
					 the California Code of Regulations.
(55) "Supervision" means the controls, as
					 prescribed in instructions to program employees, to be exercised by them over
					 particular operations to insure that such operations are conducted in
					 compliance with the Act and the requirements of this
					 subchapter.