New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION › Chapter I - FISH AND WILDLIFE › Subchapter F - MARINE FISHERIES › Part 42 - Sanitary Control Over Shellfish › Section 42.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
Unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms
					 and their derivatives when used in this Part shall have the following
					 meanings:
(a) Aerobic plate count per
				  gram or milliliter means a bacterial test which counts all bacterial colonies
				  which grow in or on standard methods agar when such agar is incubated
				  aerobically for 45 to 51 hours at 35° C plus or minus 0.5° C.
(b) Approved means acceptable to the
				  department based on a determination as to conformance with appropriate
				  standards and/or good public health practices and/or good manufacturing
				  practices.
(c) Batter means any
				  moist edible preparation containing cereal, milk, eggs and other foodstuffs
				  used individually or in combination in the processing of shellfish for use as
				  food for human consumption.
(d)
				  Breading means any dry edible preparation containing cereal, milk, eggs and
				  other foodstuffs used individually or in combination in the processing of
				  shellfish for use as food for human consumption.
(e) Certified shellfish lands means shellfish
				  lands from which the harvesting of shellfish for use as food is permitted by
				  commissioner's order.
(f) Clean or
				  cleaned means the absence of foul, loathsome, dangerous, toxic, abnormal,
				  impure or unsafe substance.
(g)
				  Coliform group means all of the aerobic and facultative anaerobic
				  gram-negative, nonspore-forming rod-shaped bacteria which will produce gas from
				  lactose when such lactose is incubated for 51 hours or less at 35° C plus or
				  minus 0.5° C.
(h) Commercial
				  sterility means free of viable microorganisms having public health significance
				  and free of viable microorganisms ordinarily capable of reproducing and causing
				  spoilage under normal storage conditions. Commercial sterility of shellfish or
				  other foodstuffs is achieved by the proper application of heat under pressure,
				  or by other effective methods, to such shellfish or such other foodstuffs when
				  such shellfish or such other foodstuffs are contained in hermetically sealed
				  containers. Commercially sterile shellfish or other foodstuffs shall not
				  contain viable bacteria of the coliform group, and viable bacteria capable of
				  growing and/or reproducing in or on standard methods agar when such agar is
				  incubated aerobically for 45 to 51 hours at 35° C plus or minus 0.5°
				  C.
(i) Commissioner means the
				  Commissioner of Environmental Conservation or the commissioner's duly
				  authorized representative.
(j)
				  Container means a receptacle for receiving, shucking, processing, transporting,
				  storing, packing, repacking, shipping or reshipping shellfish.
(k) Contamination means any foul, loathsome,
				  dangerous, toxic or abnormal or impure substance. Contaminated means the
				  presence of such substances.
(l)
				  Critical control point means a point, step or procedure in the handling,
				  packing, processing, shipping or shucking of shellfish at which one or more
				  controls can be applied and a food safety hazard can as a result be prevented,
				  eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels.
(m) Critical limit means the maximum or
				  minimum value to which a physical, biological or chemical parameter must be
				  controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate or reduce to an
				  acceptable level the occurrence of the identified food safety hazard or
				  hazards.
(n) Culture or cultivation
				  means the controlled or partially controlled raising, breeding, growing,
				  planting and containment of marine plant or animal life in any marine hatchery
				  or through on-bottom or off-bottom culture.
(o) Department means the State of New York
				  Department of Environmental Conservation.
(p) Easily cleanable means readily accessible
				  and of such material and finish and so fabricated that residues may be
				  completely removed by normal cleaning methods.
(q) Excessive bacteria means, in the case of
				  shellfish, a fecal coliform MPN per 100 grams of sample in excess of 230 and/or
				  an aerobic plate count per gram of sample in excess of 500,000.
(r) Farmed or farm-raised means any shellfish
				  subject to culture or cultivation as permitted under a permit issued by the
				  department pursuant to Part 48 of this Title.
(s) Fecal coliform means bacteria of the
				  coliform group which will produce gas from EC medium when such medium is
				  incubated for 26 hours or less at 44.5° C plus or minus 0.2° C in a water
				  bath.
(t) Harvester or digger means
				  a person who takes shellfish from shellfish lands. Harvest means to take
				  shellfish from shellfish lands.
(u)
				  Hazardous means actually or potentially dangerous to human health.
(v) Lot number means the identification
				  number which may be assigned to each day's production of a specific shellfish
				  product when such product is produced in a shellfish processing
				  facility.
(w) Marine district means
				  the waters of the Atlantic Ocean within three nautical miles of the coastline
				  of the State and all tidal waters within the State including the Hudson River
				  up to the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge..
(x) Microbiological cleansing means the
				  holding of shellstock in tanks of clean and sanitary water of proper salinity
				  and temperature for the purposes of reducing the numbers of fecal coliform
				  bacteria in such shellstock and otherwise making such shellstock nonhazardous
				  for use as food for human consumption.
(y) MPN means most probable number, which is
				  an estimate of the numbers of bacteria per 100 milliliters or grams of sample
				  using laboratory tests and probability tables in a manner endorsed and/or
				  approved by the United States Department of Health, and Human Services, Public
				  Health Service, Food and Drug Administration.
(z) Noncommercially sterile means the inverse
				  of commercially sterile.
(aa)
				  Nonhazardous means not actually or potentially dangerous to human
				  health.
(ab) Orderly means the
				  absence of litter, debris, trash, offal or other refuse.
(ac) Original shipper means the first shipper
				  who distributes or sells or offers for sale shellfish to another shipper,
				  reshipper, retailer or ultimate consumer after the harvest of such shellfish or
				  after the purchase of such shellfish from a harvester.
(ad) Packing means placing shellfish in a
				  container. Packer means a person who performs such activities.
(ae) Person means any individual, group of
				  individuals, public or private corporation, industry, copartnership,
				  joint-stock company, association, form, legal entity, trust or
				  estate.
(af) Processing means the
				  shucking, dismembering, cutting, chopping, grinding, heating, freezing,
				  microbiological cleansing, blowing or water storage of shellfish and/or the
				  adding of batter, breading or other foodstuffs to shellfish. Processor means a
				  person who performs such activities.
(ag) Repacking means removing shellfish from
				  a container and placing such shellfish in another container. Repacker means a
				  person who performs such activities.
(ah) Reshipper means a shellfish dealer who
				  receives and redistributes, in wholesale commerce, previously packed shellfish
				  from a shipper, another reshipper or a processor. A reshipper is not authorized
				  to pack, repack, tag or label, retag or relabel containers of shellfish. A
				  reshipper is authorized to remove dead or broken shellfish from
				  containers.
(ai) Retail commerce
				  means the selling or offering for sale of shellfish to an ultimate
				  consumer.
(aj) Safe means
				  nonhazardous.
(ak) Sanitary means
				  free of pathogenic microorganisms and excessive bacteria. Sanitize means to
				  make sanitary.
(al) Sewage means
				  water-borne refuse and/or fecal material of humans and/or other warm- blooded
				  animals.
(am) Shellfish means
				  oysters, clams, mussels or scallops or any edible portion thereof.
(an) Shellfish dealer means any person who
				  engages in the processing, packing repacking, receipt, storage, possession,
				  transportation, distribution or shipment of shellfish.
(ao) Shellfish lands means all tidal or
				  saline waters within the marine district and the lands lying thereunder,
				  including such lands which are exposed at low tide.
(ap) Shellstock means shellfish in the
				  shell.
(aq) Shipper means a
				  shellfish dealer who receives and distributes or redistributes shellfish, in
				  wholesale commerce, from another shipper, a reshipper or a processor. A shipper
				  is authorized to pack, repack, tag or label, retag or relabel containers of
				  shellstock.
(ar) Shuck means to
				  release shellfish from one or both shells.
(as) Shucking means the release of shellfish
				  from one or both of the shells.
(at) Stuffing means any edible preparation
				  containing batter, breading, shellfish, seasoning, and other foodstuffs used
				  individually or in combination that may be used in the processing of shellfish
				  as food for human consumption.
(au)
				  Standard measure means a bushel with a volume of 2,150.42 cubic inches or
				  otherwise in agreement with criteria set out in the Agriculture and Markets
				  Law, article 16, section 176.
(av)
				  Total coliform means bacteria of the coliform group which will produce gas from
				  brilliant green bile lactose broth two percent when such broth is incubated for
				  51 hours or less at 35° C plus or minus 0.5° Celsius.
(aw) Uncertified shellfish lands means
				  shellfish lands from which, except as otherwise provided pursuant to the
				  Environmental Conservation Law or this Subchapter, the harvesting of shellfish
				  for use as food has been prohibited by department's order.
(ax) Unsafe means the inverse of
				  safe.
(ay) Water of drinking
				  quality means water that meets the requirements of Title 10 of the Official
				  Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations, Parts 5 and 72.
(az) Water storage means the holding of
				  shellstock harvested from certified shellfish lands in tanks of water for
				  purposes of storage and/or desanding.
(ba) Wholesale commerce means the selling or
				  offering for sale of shellfish, to a person other than the ultimate consumer,
				  and such shellfishing activities as the harvesting, processing, packing,
				  repacking, receiving, storing, possessing, shipping or reshipping of shellfish
				  which may result in such selling or offering for sale.
(bb) Wild means any marine plant or animal
				  life existing in a wild or natural state that are not subject to culture or
				  cultivation under a permit issued by the department pursuant to Part 48 of this
				  Title.