21 U.S.C. § 607
When any meat or meat food product prepared for commerce which has been inspected as hereinbefore provided and marked "Inspected and passed" shall be placed or packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained, the person, firm, or corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or covering, under the supervision of an inspector, which label shall state that the contents thereof have been "inspected and passed" under the provisions of this chapter; and no inspection and examination of meat or meat food products deposited or inclosed in cans, tins, pots, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment where inspection under the provisions of this chapter is maintained shall be deemed to be complete until such meat or meat food products have been sealed or inclosed in said can, tin, pot, canvas, or other receptacle or covering under the supervision of an inspector.
All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat and meat food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this subchapter and found to be not adulterated, shall at the time they leave the establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, directly thereon or on their containers, as the Secretary may require, the information required under paragraph (n) of section 601 of this title.
The Secretary, whenever he determines such action is necessary for the protection of the public, may prescribe:
No article subject to this subchapter shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation, in commerce, under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size, but established trade names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the Secretary are permitted.
If the Secretary has reason to believe that any marking or labeling or the size or form of any container in use or proposed for use with respect to any article subject to this subchapter is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that such use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person, firm, or corporation using or proposing to use the marking, labeling or container does not accept the determination of the Secretary, such person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the Secretary so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Secretary. Any such determination by the Secretary shall be conclusive unless, within thirty days after receipt of notice of such final determination, the person, firm, or corporation adversely affected thereby appeals to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which such person, firm, or corporation has its principal place of business or to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The provisions of section 194 of title 7 shall be applicable to appeals taken under this section.
The Secretary, consistent with United States international obligations, shall establish standards for the labeling of sheep carcasses, parts of sheep carcasses, sheepmeat, and sheepmeat food products.
21 U.S.C. § 607
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTThe Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), is act June 25, 1938, ch. 675, 52 Stat. 1040, which is classified generally to chapter 9 (§301 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 301 of this title and Tables.Either Act and these Acts, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), mean the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Federal Meat Inspection Act is titles I to V of act Mar. 4, 1907ch. 2907 as added Pub. L. 90-201, Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 584, and Pub. L. 110-246, title XI, §11015(a), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 2124, which are classified generally to subchapters I to IV-A (§601 et seq.) of this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note under section 601 of this title and Tables.
CODIFICATIONSection was formerly classified to section 75 of this title.
AMENDMENTS1996-Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 104-127 added subsec. (f). 1967-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90-201, §§3(a), 6, struck out "interstate or foreign" before "commerce" and provisions prohibiting sales of meat or meat food products in interstate or foreign commerce under any false or deceptive names and permitting trade names or names which are usual to such products and are not false and deceptive and are approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, now incorporated in subsec. (d), and designated remaining provisions as subsecs. (a), respectively. Subsecs. (b) to (e). Pub. L. 90-201, §6(c), added subsecs. (b) to (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. (c)(2) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96-88 which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1967 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 90-201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that with respect to equines (other than horses) and their carcasses and parts thereof, meat, and meat food products thereof, amendment effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(b) of Pub. L. 90-201 set out as an Effective Date note under section 601 of this title.
- Secretary
- The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States or his delegate.
- State
- The term "State" means any State of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- United States
- The term "United States" means the States, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of the United States.
- commerce
- The term "commerce" means commerce between any State, any Territory, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or within any Territory not organized with a legislative body, or the District of Columbia.
- firm
- The term "firm" means any partnership, association, or other unincorporated business organization.
- label
- The term "label" means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container (not including package liners) of any article.
- labeling
- The term "labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter (1) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or (2) accompanying such article.
- meat food product
- The term "meat food product" means any product capable of use as human food which is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, excepting products which contain meat or other portions of such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry, and which are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portions of such carcasses contained in such product are not adulterated and that such products are not represented as meat food products. This term as applied to food products of equines shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this paragraph with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats.
- prepared
- The term "prepared" means slaughtered, canned, salted, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed.