Opinion ID: 3065244
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: History Of USDA’s Position

Text: In the same month that Congress passed the HMSA of 1958, USDA itself gave some indication that it considered “[c]hicken eggs, commercial broilers, chickens, and turkeys” as “[l]ivestock and livestock products.” See Changes in Farm Production and Efficiency, USDA Statistical Bulletin No. 233, at 4-5 & n.5 (Aug. 1958). In 1960, however, regulations were issued which defined “livestock products” for purposes of the HMSA of 1958 to mean any article intended for or capable of being used as food for either human or animals which is derived from slaughtered “cattle, calves, horses, mules, sheep, swine, or goats,” and specifying further that the 5 In 2008, section 601(w) was again amended to specifically include catfish within the definition of “amenable species.” See Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-234, Title XI, § 11016(b)(1)(A)(ii), (iii), 122 Stat. 923, 1369 (2008). 15450 LEVINE v. VILSACK term “do[es] not include . . . poultry.” 25 Fed. Reg. 11152, 11152 (Nov. 23, 1960). USDA reiterated that position in 1979 in response to inquiries as to whether any humane slaughtering requirements covered chickens following the 1978 amendments.6 See 44 Fed. Reg. 68,809, 68,811 (Nov. 30, 1979). On September 28, 2005, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a Federal Register Notice (“the Notice”) entitled “Treatment of Live Poultry Before Slaughter.” 70 Fed. Reg. 56,624 (Sept. 28, 2005). The Notice indicated that it was in response to “considerable congressional and public interest in the humane treatment of animals, including poultry.” Id. In the Notice, the USDA announced that “[t]he HMSA of 1978 . . . requires that humane methods be used for handling and slaughtering livestock but does not include comparable provisions concerning the handling and slaughter of poultry.” Id. at 56,624-25 (citation omitted). While it “remind[ed] all poultry slaughter establishments” that live poultry must be handled “in a manner that is consistent with good commercial practices, which means they should be treated humanely” and that compliance with the PPIA incidentally promoted humane slaughter, it also indicated that “there is no specific federal humane handling and slaughter statute for poultry.” Id. at 56,625.