Section 500.031 - Slaughter and Processing Facilities That Are Exempt from USDA Inspection(A) Any person who operates a custom slaughter and/or processing facility, or a facility that is otherwise exempt from inspection by USDA, shall comply with the additional requirements in 105 CMR 500.031.(B)Transportation Cages. (1) Live animal holding cages shall be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after each use.(2) Live animal holding cages in facilities shall be equipped with waste material catch pans at the bottom of each cage.(3) Transportation cages shall be held in an area separate from the processing area within the facility.(C)Diseased or Injured Animals. (1) A licensee may not slaughter an animal for human consumption that appears diseased.(2) A licensee shall immediately notify the state veterinarian in the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources of the names and addresses of any individuals who have presented animals for slaughter that exhibit central nervous system abnormalities, signs of foot and mouth disease, or any other reportable animal disease. If such symptoms are encountered, the licensee shall follow the instructions of the state veterinarian with respect to holding the animal for evaluation.(3) A licensee may not process any meat or poultry from a carcass that appears diseased.(4) A licensee may not slaughter an injured animal unless the animal's owner certifies that the animal is otherwise healthy.(5) A licensee may not process any meat or poultry from a carcass that is injured unless the owner of the carcass certifies that the animal was injured shortly prior to slaughter and was otherwise healthy.(D)Cooling Standards. Products that must be stored under refrigeration shall be handled in accordance with 105 CMR 500.005(G), except that cured products may be cooled in accordance with Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) directives or guidelines.(E)Inedible Material. (1) Receptacles used for handling inedible material shall be of such smooth and impervious material and construction that allows them to be easily cleaned, shall be maintained in a clean condition, shall be conspicuously and distinctively marked "INEDIBLE", and shall not be used for handling any edible product.(2) Receptacles for food shall not be used for any non-food materials.(F)Denaturing. (1) Articles that are not intended for use as human food but that could be mistaken for human food shall be denatured prior to their removal from the premises. The denaturing material must be mixed with all of the carcasses or carcass parts to be denatured and must be applied in such quantity and manner that it cannot easily and readily be removed by washing or soaking. A sufficient amount of the appropriate agent shall be used to give the material a distinctive color, odor, or taste so that such material cannot be confused with an article of human food.(2)105 CMR 500.031(F)(1) does not apply to the culling of diseased animals.(G)Casings. (1) The only animal casings that may be used as containers of product are those from cattle, sheep, swine, or goats.(2) Casings for products shall be carefully inspected. Only those casings that have been carefully washed and thoroughly flushed with clean water immediately before stuffing are suitable for containers.(H) Dry milk products which are intended for use as ingredients of meat food products shall be considered acceptable for such use only when produced in a facility approved by USDA.(I) Hides shall not be stored on the killing floor, nor stored in rooms or compartments used for edible products.(J)Poultry Requirements.(1) All poultry producers and sellers shall comply with the federal exemptions at 9 CFR § 381.10: Exemptions for Specified Operations.(2) Poultry shall be slaughtered in accordance with good commercial practices in a manner that will result in thorough bleeding of the carcasses and assure that breathing has stopped prior to scalding. Blood from the killing operation shall be confined to as small an area as possible.(3) Non-eviscerated poultry may not be sold, unless under a religious exemption in accordance with 105 CMR 500.030(H).(4) In the final washing of eviscerated poultry, the carcass shall be thoroughly rinsed with clean water under pressure.(5) All offal resulting from the evisceration operation shall be removed from the facility as often as necessary to prevent the development of an unsanitary condition. Offal shall be disposed of in a manner consistent with environmental laws and regulations and/or by a method approved by the Department.(6) Containers to be used for packaging poultry products shall be clean, free from substances and odors that would result in adulteration of the products, and of sufficient strength and durability to protect the products adequately during normal distribution.(7) Protective coverings shall be used for poultry products while they are in any facility or are being transported between facilities, which are adequate to protect the products against contamination by any foreign substances (including but not limited to dust, dirt, and insects).(8)Temperatures and Chilling and Freezing Procedures. (a) Temperatures and procedures for chilling and freezing ready-to-cook poultry, including all edible portions thereof, shall insure the prompt removal of the animal heat, shall preserve the condition and wholesomeness of the poultry, and shall assure that the products are not adulterated.(b)General Chilling Requirements.1. All poultry that is slaughtered and eviscerated in the facility shall be chilled immediately after processing so that the internal temperature is reduced to 40° F or less within four hours, unless such poultry is to be frozen or cooked immediately at the facility. Poultry which is to be held at the facility in packaged form in excess of 24 hours shall be held under mechanical refrigeration at a temperature of 40° F or less.2. Continuous chillers shall not be used unless a recording thermometer, with a 24-hour recording cycle, is provided to measure the temperature in the warmest part of the chilling system. The temperature recorder shall be readily accessible. The completed temperature charts shall be kept on file at the facility.3. Previously chilled poultry carcasses and major portions shall be maintained constantly at 40° F or below until removed from the vats or tanks for immediate packaging.4. Poultry which is to be held in chilling tanks in excess of 24 hours shall at the end of the 24-hour chilling period be removed from the tanks and repacked in clean ice and in clean tanks which are continually drained, or as an alternative, the tanks shall be drained and re-iced and placed in a cooler which will maintain all of the poultry in the tanks at a temperature of 40° F or below.5. Ready-to-cook poultry shall be adequately drained after chilling, to remove ice and free water prior to packaging or packing.6. When poultry is ice-packed in barrels or other containers, the barrels and containers shall be covered.(c)Thawing Poultry in Water. When frozen ready-to-cook poultry is thawed in water, the thawing practices and procedures shall prevent the product from becoming adulterated.(d)Air Chilling. Facilities that air chill raw poultry shall comply with USDA directives for ready-to-cook poultry.(e)Freezing.1. Ready-to-cook poultry which is to be or is labeled with descriptive terms such as "fresh frozen," "quick frozen," "frozen fresh," or any other term implying a rapid change from a fresh state to a frozen state shall be placed into a freezer within 48 hours after initial chilling.2. Ready-to-cook poultry shall be frozen in a manner so as to bring the internal temperature of the birds at the center of the package to 0 E F or below within 72 hours from the time of entering the freezer.3. Frozen poultry shall be held under conditions that will maintain the product in a solidly frozen state.(9)Requirements for Use of Mobile Poultry Processing Unit. (a) Any person who slaughters and/or processes poultry for sale using a mobile poultry processing unit (MPPU) shall comply with all written protocols of the Department for use of the unit.(b) MPPUs are not considered facilities for the purposes of 105 CMR 500.000, but any person who operates a MPPU is required to be licensed.(10) Any person who slaughters and/or processes poultry for sale in a small on-farm processing operation under a USDA exemption shall comply with all written protocols of the Department for such activities.(K)Additional Requirements for Custom Slaughter and/or Processing Facilities. (1) Persons who operate a custom meat or poultry slaughter and/or processing facility shall comply with all federal requirements applicable to such operations, including but not necessarily limited to those specified in 9 CFR 303.1: Exemptions.(2) A licensee of a custom slaughter and/or processing facility, who makes available to customers live animals for slaughtering at the facility, must maintain a certificate attesting to the health of the animals, in addition to a record of the source from which the animals were obtained. This includes animals secured from live animal auctions, whether the animals are donated to or made available for purchase to the customer. Such records must be kept on file at the facility and shall be made available to the customer and inspectors upon request.(3) Live animals purchased at live animal auctions without a health certificate shall be slaughtered within three days.(4) Custom slaughter facilities may not release certain portions of slaughtered cattle considered to be Specified Risk Materials (SRM) that may present a risk of transmitting Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). These parts are considered "inedible" and are: (a) For all cattle: tonsils.(b) For cattle 30 months of age and older: the head including the skull, and the vertebral column.(5) The licensee shall at all times keep products for sale separate and apart from custom slaughtered and custom processed products.(6) Custom prepared products or their containers shall be plainly marked "Not for Sale."(7) The licensee shall keep records sufficient to carry out a product recall pursuant to 105 CMR 500.005(K), showing the numbers of animals, dates of slaughter, and kinds of animals slaughtered on a custom basis; the quantities and types of products prepared on a custom basis; and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the owners of the animals.(8) Articles resulting from custom slaughter or custom processing that are not intended for use as human food but that could be mistaken for human food shall be promptly denatured as provided in 105 CMR 500.031 (F), or otherwise identified, and not removed from the facility until so denatured or identified, unless they are delivered to the owner of the articles.(9)Processing of Wild Game. A licensee who custom processes wild game for the game owner shall comply with all of the following. (a) The licensee shall notify the Department that he or she is engaged in or intends to engage in the processing of wild game.(b) The operator shall accept only legally harvested, clean, and wholesome wild game carcasses for custom processing.(c) The operator, when custom processing wild game, shall comply with processing, labeling, and record-keeping requirements applicable to the custom processing of other animals. Among other things, the operator shall label all of the resulting wild game products, "Not for Sale." Wild game products shall be clearly identified by species.(d) The operator shall process wild game only at times when the operator is not slaughtering or processing other animals.(e) The operator shall clean and sanitize equipment used to process wild game before using that equipment to slaughter or process animals for sale.(f) The operator shall keep wild game and wild game products separate from all other meat, poultry, meat food products, and poultry food products in the facility. Adopted by Mass Register Issue 1322, eff. 9/23/2016.