ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 2206


(By Delegate Doyle)


[Passed February 24, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]


AN ACT to amend and reenact section ten, article two-b, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to prohibiting the sale of or offering for sale any meat or poultry product on which the processor's expiration date has expired; and prohibiting alteration of expiration dates.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article two-b, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2B. INSPECTION OF MEAT AND POULTRY.
 ยง19-2B-10. Additional prohibitions.
In addition to any other prohibitions contained in this article, it shall be unlawful:
(a) For any person to operate any establishment under state inspection which is not clean and sanitary;
(b) To slaughter any adulterated animal or poultry intended to be sold or offered for sale through a commercial outlet or distributor;
(c) To sell or offer for sale through a commercial outlet or distributor any carcass, meat product or poultry product for human consumption which is adulterated;
(d) To slaughter for human consumption any animal or poultry tagged or permanently identified as "W.Va. condemned," or abbreviation thereof;
(e) To process, sell or offer for sale for human consumption any carcass, meat product or poultry product which is mislabeled with intent to deceive or which is marked "W.Va. inspected and condemned," or abbreviation thereof;
(f) To process in an establishment under state inspection for sale through any commercial outlet or distributor any carcass, meat product or poultry product intended for human consumption and derived, in whole or in part, from any calf, pig, kid, lamb, chicken or turkey which is so immature as to be lacking in nutritional value;
(g) To knowingly or intentionally expose any carcass, meat product and poultry product in any establishment under state inspection to insects, live animals or any contamination;
(h) To add kangaroo meat, horse meat, mule meat or other equine meat to any animal meat, meat product or poultry product to be sold or offered for sale through commercial outlets or distributors for human consumption;
(i) To remove any hide, skin or any other part of an unborn or stillborn animal in the confines of a room in an establishment where any animals or poultry, carcasses, meat products or poultry products are slaughtered or processed, as the case may be, or to be sold or offered for sale through a commercial outlet or distributor;
(j) To process for human consumption in any establishment subject to state inspection any carcass, meat product and poultry product derived from any animal or poultry which died other than by slaughter;
(k) To transport to any commercial outlet or distributor for the purpose of being sold or offered for sale therein, any carcass, meat product or poultry product which is not marked, branded or stamped as having been inspected and passed by the commissioner or by the United States department of agriculture;
(l) For any commercial outlet or distributor to receive, for the purpose of being sold or offered for sale therein, any carcass, meat product or poultry product which is not marked, branded or stamped as having been inspected and passed by the commissioner or by the United States department of agriculture;
(m) To slaughter any horse, mule or other equine in any establishment under state inspection in which animals or poultry are slaughtered for human consumption for the purpose of being sold or offered for sale through commercial outlets;
(n) To bring any kangaroo meat, horse meat, mule meat or other equine meat into any establishment under state inspection where animal or poultry carcasses, meat products or poultry products are processed for human consumption for the purpose of being sold or offered for sale through commercial outlets;
(o) To transport, process, sell or offer for sale any kangaroo meat, horse meat, mule meat or other equine meat within this state for human consumption unless it is conspicuously and plainly identified or stamped as such;
(p) For any person to use an establishment number not assigned to him or her or to use an establishment number in connection with operations concerning which a different establishment number was assigned by the commissioner;
(q) To remove from any article any retained tag affixed by the commissioner, unless such removal is authorized by him or her;
(r) To remove from any room, compartment, equipment or utensil any rejection tag or rejection notice affixed by the commissioner, unless such removal is authorized by him or her;
(s) For a licensee to use any container bearing an official inspection mark unless it contains the exact carcass, meat product or poultry product which was in the container at the time such contents were inspected and passed: Provided, That such a container may be otherwise used if such official inspection mark thereon is removed, obliterated or destroyed, and such other use is authorized by reasonable rules promulgated by the commissioner;
(t) For any person, other than the commissioner, to possess, keep or use, except as authorized by the commissioner, any label or device for the affixing of a mark, brand or stamp prescribed for inspection purposes hereunder;
(u) For any person, with intent to deceive, to possess, keep or use any label, mark, brand or stamp similar in character or import to an official label, mark, brand or stamp prescribed by the commissioner hereunder or to an official label, mark, brand or stamp used by the United States department of agriculture;
(v) To falsely make, falsely issue, falsely publish, alter, forge, simulate or counterfeit any inspection certificate, memorandum, label, mark, brand, or stamp, or device for making an inspection mark, brand or stamp, or to possess, keep or use the same, with intent to deceive;
(w) For any person to refuse to permit the commissioner to enter and inspect at any time, upon presentation of appropriate credentials, an establishment under state inspection, or to interfere with any such lawful entry or inspection;
(x) For any person to refuse to permit the commissioner, upon presentation of appropriate credentials, to examine and copy the records described in section five of this article;
(y) For a person to prevent or fail to decharacterize or denature carcasses, meat products or poultry products as prescribed by reasonable rules promulgated by the commissioner;
(z) For a person to transport offal, blood, or inedible and condemned parts of animal and poultry carcasses from slaughterhouses, processing plants or other related industries: Provided, That such products may be transported if placed in suitable containers with tight covers, or watertight tanks so as not to contaminate the public highways or private roadways while going to or from the points of pickup;
(aa) For a person to store offal, blood, or inedible and condemned parts of animal and poultry carcasses from slaughterhouses, processing plants or other related industries during interim transit movement in refrigerated warehouses, food lockers or other related industries: Provided, That such products may be otherwise stored if properly marked "NOT FOR HUMAN FOOD" "FOR ANIMAL FOOD ONLY" and identified as approved products to be used for animal food;
(bb) For a person knowingly to deliver a dead or dying animal or poultry to an establishment in this state;
(cc) For any person to transport carcasses, meat products and poultry products that are intended for human consumption in a manner which would permit the products to become adulterated;
(dd) For any person to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate or interfere with the commissioner or his or her representative while engaged in or on account of the performances of his or her official duties;
(ee) For any person to deliver, with intent to deceive, any graded meat product, poultry product or any other agricultural commodity to a state institution that does not meet the grade specifications for that grade when a specified grade is required in a contract;
(ff) To sell any meat product or poultry product for which the processor's expiration date has expired;
(gg) To alter, change or cover-up the expiration date of any meat product or poultry product established by the processor.
In addition to any other powers conveyed in this article, the commissioner may inspect any meat product, poultry product or any other agricultural commodity sold to a state institution to enforce the provisions of this subdivision.