Section 001-332-15 - OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURESA. 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.01-001 C.M.R. ch. 332, § 15