Code of Maine Rules › 01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY › 001 - AGRICULTURE - GENERAL › Chapter 342 - CIDER AND APPLE JUICE › Section 001-342-I - Definitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
For purposes of this chapter and unless the context otherwise
				  indicates, the following words shall have the following meanings:
A. "Adequate" means that which is needed to
				accomplish the intended purpose in keeping with good public health
				practice.
B. "Apple Cider and Apple
				Juice" means a beverage consisting of natural juice extracted from apples.
				Apple cider and apple juice may contain chemical preservatives.
C. "Clean" means free from foreign
				material.
D. "Critical Control
				Point" means a procedure or practice in food handling or preparation that will
				reduce, eliminate or prevent hazards. It is a step that eliminates
				microorganisms or a control step that prevents or slows their growth.
E. "Critical Limit(s)" means the upper and
				lower boundaries of food safety. If these boundaries are not adhered to, a food
				safety hazard can exist or develop in the future. These boundaries include
				time, temperature, water activity and acidity.
F. "Department" means the Maine Department of
				Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources.
G. "Dropped Apples" means apples that have
				dropped from trees and been in contact with the ground.
H. "Easily Cleanable" means constructed in a
				manner that is capable of being readily assembled and disassembled for cleaning
				and of such material and finish that residue can be effectively removed by
				normal cleaning methods.
I. "Food
				Contact Surfaces" means those surfaces of equipment and utensils with which
				apples, apple cider and apple juice come in contact, and those surfaces from
				which food may drain, drip, or splash back onto surfaces in contact with
				food.
J. "Good Manufacturing
				Practices" means processing in a planned, logical sequence to ensure that the
				facilities, methods, practices and controls to process apple cider and juice
				are safe, and the finished product has been processed under sanitary
				conditions.
K. "HACCP" means Hazard
				Analysis Critical Control Point, it is a food safety control system based on
				technical and scientific principles that assure safe food. The system is
				designed to identify and control potential problems before they occur. It
				provides the framework for monitoring the total food system from harvesting to
				consumption.
L. "HACCP Plan" means a
				written document that delineates the formal procedures for following the Hazard
				Analysis Critical Control Point principles and is approved by the Department
				for apple cider and juice production.
M. "Hazard" means a biological, chemical, or
				physical condition that may cause a health hazard.
N. "Monitoring" means written records
				documenting observations of conditions and practices during processing designed
				to ensure product safety.
O.
				"Pasteurization" means the process of heating every particle of apple cider or
				juice to a temperature and length of time that destroys pathogenic
				microorganisms in equipment that is maintained and operated in accordance with
				manufacturer's specifications and otherwise in a manner suitable for its
				purpose.
P. "Plant" means any
				building or part thereof used for the manufacturing, processing, bottling,
				labeling or, storage of cider and apple juices prior to being placed in
				commerce.
Q. "Principal Display
				Panel" means that part, or those parts of a product label designed to be
				displayed and examined under normal conditions of display at retail
				markets.
R. "Sanitary" means
				promoting health and healthful conditions by the elimination of dirt and agents
				of infection or disease.
S.
				"Sanitized" means the application of heat or chemicals after the cleaning of a
				food contact surface that are sufficient to destroy pathogenic microorganisms
				that might result in disease.
T.
				"Sound" means free of decay.
U.
				"Ultraviolet Light" means non-thermal treatment of apple cider by pumping the
				cider past ultraviolet light(s) in equipment that is designed to destroy
				pathogenic microorganisms and is operated and maintained in accordance with
				manufacturer's specifications and otherwise in a manner suitable for its
				purpose.
V. "Warewashing" means the
				cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces of equipment and
				utensils.