Code of Maine Rules › 01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY › 001 - AGRICULTURE - GENERAL › Chapter 332 - RABBIT PROCESSING › Section 001-332-15 - OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. Operations and
				procedures involving the preparation, storing, or handling of any ready-to-cook
				or heat treated rabbit products shall be strictly in accord with clean and
				sanitary methods.
(1) All operations in the
				receiving, inspecting, transporting, segregating, preparing, manufacturing,
				packaging, and storing of food shall be conducted in accordance with adequate
				sanitation principles. Appropriate quality control operations shall be employed
				to ensure that food is suitable for human consumption and that food-packaging
				materials are safe and suitable. All reasonable precautions shall be taken to
				ensure that production procedures do not contribute contamination from any
				source.
(2) Chemical, microbial,
				or extraneous-material testing procedures shall be used where and when
				necessary to identify sanitation failures or possible food contamination. All
				food that has become contaminated to the extent that it is adulterated within
				the meaning of
				22 MRSA
				§2156 of Maine law shall be rejected,
				only after consultation with and approved by the Department shall contaminated
				food be treated or processed to eliminate the contamination. Otherwise the
				contaminated food shall be denatured and properly disposed of in a manner
				approved by the Department.
(3) The
				evisceration of ready-to cook rabbit shall result in the head and all organs
				being separated from the carcass. The edible giblets shall be processed so that
				the bile sac is removed from the liver and the heart from the pericardial
				sac.
(4) Overall sanitation of the
				establishment shall be under the supervision of one or more competent
				individuals assigned responsibility for this function.
(5) Raw materials and other ingredients shall
				be inspected and segregated or otherwise handled as necessary to ascertain that
				they are clean and suitable for processing into food and shall be stored under
				conditions that will protect against contamination and minimize
				deterioration.
(6) Any ice used in
				contact with food or food contact surfaces shall be made from potable water.
				Ice manufacturing equipment shall not be located in the slaughter or
				evisceration rooms. All ice manufacturing equipment, shovels, scoops, storage
				and transportation bins shall be maintained in a sanitary condition through
				frequent cleaning including sanitization where indicated. Insofar as possible,
				equipment shall be taken apart for thorough cleaning.
(7) Blood from the killing operation shall be
				confined to a relatively small area and kept from being splashed about the
				room.
(8) In the final washing, the
				carcass shall be thoroughly sprayed with an abundant supply of potable water of
				such velocity to effectively clean the carcass.
(9) The floors in the eviscerating room shall
				be kept clean and reasonably dry during eviscerating operations and free of all
				refuse.
(10) Mechanized packaging
				equipment shall be maintained in good sanitary condition.
(11) All offal resulting from the
				eviscerating operation shall be removed as often as necessary to prevent the
				development of a nuisance.
(12) All
				food grade packaging material used for packaging rabbit products shall not
				transmit contaminants or objectionable substances to the product.
(13) Operations which may cause
				cross-contamination with bacteria, molds, toxic chemicals, filth, or the like
				shall be separated by partitions of such size and construction as to prevent
				cross-contamination or located in different parts of the
				establishment.
(14) Effective
				measures shall be taken to protect against the contamination of food, food
				contact surfaces and food packaging materials in or on the premises from dogs,
				cats, flies, rats, mice, and other vermin or animals.
(15) Compressed air or other gases
				mechanically introduced into food or used to clean food-contact surfaces or
				equipment shall be treated in such a way that food is not contaminated with
				unlawful indirect food additives.
(16) Food-manufacturing areas and equipment
				used for manufacturing human food shall not be used to manufacture nonhuman
				food-grade animal feed or inedible products, unless there is no reasonable
				possibility for the contamination of the human food.
(17) Storage and transportation of finished
				food shall be under conditions that will protect food against physical,
				chemical, and microbial contamination as well as against deterioration of the
				food and the container.