Whenever any eggs or egg products subject to this chapter, are found by any authorized representative of the Secretary upon any premises and there is reason to believe that they are or have been processed, bought, sold, possessed, used, transported, or offered or received for sale or transportation in violation of this chapter or that they are in any other way in violation of this chapter, or whenever any restricted eggs capable of use as human food are found by such a representative in the possession of any person not authorized to acquire such eggs under the regulations of the Secretary, such articles may be detained by such representative for a reasonable period but not to exceed twenty days, pending action under section 1049 of this title or notification of any Federal, State, or other governmental authorities having jurisdiction over such articles and shall not be moved by any person from the place at which they are located when so detained until released by such representative. All official marks may be required by such representative to be removed from such articles before they are released unless it appears to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the articles are eligible to retain such marks.
21 U.S.C. § 1048
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in text, 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.
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
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.
- State
- The term "State" means any State of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the District of Columbia.
- 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.
- person
- The term "person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other business unit.