P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 744
(a) For the purpose of preventing the use in intrastate commerce of any adulterated poultry product which is capable of use as human food, the Secretary shall, wherever and whenever he deems it necessary, carry out, through authorized inspectors, ante mortem inspections in each official establishment processing poultry or poultry products for intrastate commerce. He may order the quarantine or segregation of any poultry he considers unfit for human consumption.
(b) For the foregoing purpose the Secretary shall carry out where and when he deems it necessary, to be made by authorized inspectors, post mortem inspections of slaughtered poultry and poultry products processed in an official establishment for intrastate commerce capable of use as human food.
(c) When in any establishment poultry or poultry products are found by the Secretary to be adulterated or misbranded, as provided by law, he shall stamp on said poultry or poultry products an appropriate label or mark warning the public that said products are, or considered to be, misbranded or adulterated and have been detained by the Secretary. Said products shall remain under the custody of the owner of the establishment and he shall be notified that said products shall not be removed nor disposed of by sale or otherwise until the Secretary or a court grants the corresponding permission. The inspector shall issue a certificate, in original copy, stating the quantity of products detained and, if he deems it necessary, he shall take the corresponding samples. If it is proved that said poultry or poultry products are unfit for human consumption or misbranded or adulterated, he may have them destroyed or order the label to be corrected, if it were possible, with the consent of the owner of the product. In the absence of this consent, the inspector may request the judge to issue an order for its destruction or correction.
The destruction of the product shall be carried out under the supervision of an inspector and the costs and expenses of the proceeding, storage and other expenses incurred shall be borne by the owner. If the condition can be corrected by the appropriate label or by reprocessing the product, the court may order the interested party to carry it out with the approval of the Secretary.
History —July 7, 1971, No. 10, p. 601, § 4.