21 U.S.C. § 1034
For the purpose of preventing the entry into or flow or movement in commerce of, or the burdening of commerce by, any egg product which is capable of use as human food and is misbranded or adulterated, the Secretary shall, whenever processing operations are being conducted, cause continuous inspection to be made, in accordance with the regulations promulgated under this chapter, of the processing of egg products, in each plant processing egg products for commerce, unless exempted under section 1044 of this title. Without restricting the application of the preceding sentence to other kinds of establishments within its provisions, any food manufacturing establishment, institution, or restaurant which uses any eggs that do not meet the requirements of section 1044(a)(1) of this title in the preparation of any articles for human food shall be deemed to be a plant processing egg products, with respect to such operations.
The Secretary, at any time, shall cause such retention, segregation, and reinspection as he deems necessary of eggs and egg products capable of use as human food in each official plant.
Eggs and egg products found to be adulterated at official plants shall be condemned and, if no appeal be taken from such determination of condemnation, such articles shall be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector: Provided, That articles which may by reprocessing be made not adulterated need not be condemned and destroyed if so reprocessed under the supervision of an inspector and thereafter found to be not adulterated. If an appeal be taken from such determination, the eggs or egg products shall be appropriately marked and segregated pending completion of an appeal inspection, which appeal shall be at the cost of the appellant if the Secretary determines that the appeal is frivolous. If the determination of condemnation is sustained, the eggs or egg products shall be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector.
The Secretary shall cause such other inspections to be made of the business premises, facilities, inventory, operations, and records of egg handlers, and the records and inventory of other persons required to keep records under section 1040 of this title, as he deems appropriate (and in the case of shell egg packers, packing eggs for the ultimate consumer, at least once each calendar quarter) to assure that only eggs fit for human food are used for such purpose, and otherwise to assure compliance by egg handlers and other persons with the requirements of section 1037 of this title, except that the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall cause such inspections to be made as he deems appropriate to assure compliance with such requirements at food manufacturing establishments, institutions, and restaurants, other than plants processing egg products. Representatives of said Secretaries shall be afforded access to all such places of business for purposes of making the inspections provided for in this chapter.
21 U.S.C. § 1034
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (d), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 91-597, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1620, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1031 of this title and Tables.
AMENDMENTS1991-Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 102-237 added subsec. (e).
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
CHANGE OF NAME"Secretary of Health and Human Services" substituted for "Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare" in subsec. (d) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96-88 which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1991 AMENDMENT Pub. L. 102-237, title X, §1012(h), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1901, provided that: "This section and the amendments made by this section [amending this section and sections 1037, 1041, 1042, 1046, and 1052 of this title and enacting provisions set out as a note under section 1031 of this title] shall become effective 12 months after the Secretary of Agriculture promulgates final regulations implementing this section and the amendments." [Final regulations were promulgated Aug. 20, 1998, effective Aug. 27, 1999. See 63 F.R. 45663.]
EFFECTIVE DATEFor effective date of this section, see section 29 of Pub. L. 91-597 set out as a note under section 1031 of this title.
- Secretary
- The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture or his delegate.
- commerce
- The term "commerce" means interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce.
- egg handler
- The term "egg handler" means any person who engages in any business in commerce which involves buying or selling any eggs (as a poultry producer or otherwise), or processing any egg products, or otherwise using any eggs in the preparation of human food.
- egg product
- The term "egg product" means any dried, frozen, or liquid eggs, with or without added ingredients, excepting products which contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been, in the judgment of the Secretary, considered by consumers as products of the egg food industry, and which may be exempted by the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that the egg ingredients are not adulterated and such products are not represented as egg products.
- egg
- The term "egg" means the shell egg of the domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea.(1) The term "check" means an egg that has a broken shell or crack in the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not leaking.(2) The term "clean and sound shell egg" means any egg whose shell is free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked or broken.(3) The term "dirty egg" means an egg that has a shell that is unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material.(4) The term "incubator reject" means an egg that has been subjected to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable.(5) The term "inedible" means eggs of the following descriptions: black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs), sour eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy eggs, musty eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring stage).(6) The term "leaker" means an egg that has a crack or break in the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell.(7) The term "loss" means an egg that is unfit for human food because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking; or overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject; or because it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large quantity of blood, or other foreign material.(8) The term "restricted egg" means any check, dirty egg, incubator reject, inedible, leaker, or loss.
- inspection
- The term "inspection" means the application of such inspection methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the responsible Secretary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
- inspector
- The term "inspector" means:(1) any employee or official of the United States Government authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the authority of this chapter; or(2) any employee or official of the government of any State or local jurisdiction authorized by the Secretary to inspect eggs or egg products under the authority of this chapter, under an agreement entered into between the Secretary and the appropriate State or other agency.
- official plant
- The term "official plant" means any plant, as determined by the Secretary, at which inspection of the processing of egg products is maintained by the Department of Agriculture under the authority of this chapter.
- plant
- The term "plant" means any place of business where egg products are processed.
- processing
- The term "processing" means manufacturing egg products, including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or packaging egg products.