Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 15 - MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Subtitle 04 - MARYLAND EGG LAW › Chapter 15.04.01 - General Regulations › Section 15.04.01.09 - Registration

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. Packers,
				Including Repackers.
(1) For each business
				location where a person is operating as a packer, including a repacker, the
				person shall submit annually a completed application for registration on a form
				provided by the Department.
(2)
				Except as otherwise provided under §A(5) of this regulation, the
				Department shall issue a packer-applicant a certificate of registration if the
				person:
(a) Submits a completed application
				without any fraudulent or deceptive statements;
(b) Excluding a person operating only as a
				repacker, provides documentation that is satisfactory to the Department showing
				that the birds used to produce shell eggs meet the standards provided by COMAR
				15.11.11.05A;
(c) Excluding a person operating only as a
				repacker, permits the Secretary to test the person's birds as provided under
				COMAR 15.11.11.05AA
				during regular business hours if the Secretary has reason to believe the birds
				have been exposed to Salmonella enteritidis;
(d) Agrees to comply with any lawful
				direction the Secretary orders;
(e)
				Except as provided under §A(3) of this regulation, pays the $30
				registration fee and any applicable inspection fee; and
(f) For the repacker only, provides
				documentation that is satisfactory to the Department showing that the eggs
				being packed for distribution or sale in Maryland originate only from packers
				who are currently registered with the Secretary.
(3) A packer who keeps 3,000 or fewer
				chickens and who sells, offers, or exposes for sale shell eggs only from those
				chickens shall register with the Secretary, but is exempt from paying the
				registration and inspection fees.
(4) A certificate of registration is
				effective for 1 year and, if during that year any of the following changes in
				status occur, the registrant shall notify the Department of the change within
				15 calendar days of its occurrence:
(a) The
				Salmonella serotype enteritidis status of the flocks being used to produce
				shell eggs;
(b) The addition of
				birds or flocks to those identified in the original application for
				registration; and
(c) The corporate
				status, if the registrant is a corporation;
(d) The registrant's business location;
				and
(e) If a repacker, the addition
				of any packers from whom eggs are being obtained (give name and address) who
				had not been listed as a source of eggs in the original application for
				registration.
(5) The
				Department may suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue the certificate of
				registration of a person who packs shell eggs:
(a) If the person:
(i) Makes fraudulent or deceptive statements
				in the application for registration,
(ii) Fails to comply with any of the
				regulations of this chapter or any lawful direction the Secretary
				orders,
(iii) Refuses to permit the
				Secretary to test the person's birds as provided under COMAR
				15.11.11.05AA
				during regular business hours if the Secretary has reason to believe that those
				birds have been exposed to Salmonella enteritidis;
(b) If the person's birds have been exposed
				to Salmonella enteritidis and the person fails to comply with any lawful
				direction the Secretary orders; or
(c) If the person is a repacker and that
				person:
(i) Fails to provide the documentation
				required under §A(2)(f) of this regulation, or
(ii) Distributes or sells eggs in violation
				of any lawful direction of the Secretary, or which originate from packers who
				are not currently registered with the Secretary.
(6) The requirements set forth in
				this regulation also apply to repackers.
(7) A repacker is considered to be a packer
				if the repacker is in the business of placing shell eggs in a case, carton, or
				container used to hold eggs for distribution or sale, and the new case, carton,
				or container into which the eggs are repacked becomes for those eggs the
				original case, carton, or container.
(8) A packer also includes a person who
				places shell eggs in the original case, carton, or container that is used to
				hold eggs for distribution or sale to others in the distribution chain such as
				retailers and food service facilities, and not just consumers, as this
				limitation only was intended to exclude from this definition certain persons
				not in the business of packing eggs but who nevertheless place shell eggs into
				cartons, for example, consumers who are permitted by certain retailers to pack
				loose eggs into cartons.