SB2841 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 17299 RAS 52592 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
SB2841

Introduced 1/20/2006, by Sen. John M. Sullivan

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 650/2	from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 302
225 ILCS 650/3	from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 303
225 ILCS 650/5.2
225 ILCS 650/13	from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 313

Amends the Meat & Poultry Inspection Act. Defines the word "amenable". Removes a provision in the definition of "meat broker", "poultry broker", or "meat and poultry broker" that prohibits a broker from possessing any processing equipment in his or her licensed facility. Provides that "processor" means any person engaged in the business of preparing food from animals (instead of preparing animal food). Provides that, in addition to the $50 penalty assessed, if renewal license applications are not received by July 1 of each year, establishment operations shall be discontinued until payment is received in full. Provides that establishments licensed under the Act as Type II establishments for custom slaughtering and custom processing shall stamp the words "NOT FOR SALE-NOT INSPECTED" (now, "NOT FOR SALE") on all carcasses of animals and immediate poultry product containers for poultry slaughtered in such establishment and on all meat products and immediate poultry product containers for poultry products processed in that establishment. Makes other changes.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Meat and Poultry Inspection Act is amended by changing Sections 2, 3, 5.2, and 13 as follows:

(225 ILCS 650/2) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 302)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Adulterated" means any carcass, or part of a carcass, meat or meat food product, or poultry or poultry food product if:

(1) it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health, but if the substance is not an added substance the article is not adulterated under this paragraph if the quantity of such substance in or on the article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;

(2) it bears or contains, because of the administering of any substance to the live animal, poultry, or other food product, any added poisonous or added deleterious substance other than (A) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity or (B) a food additive or a color additive that, in the judgment of the Director, may make the article unfit for human food;

(3) it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity and the commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical that is unsafe within the meaning of Section 408 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(4) it bears or contains any food additive that is unsafe within the meaning of Section 409 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(5) it bears or contains any color additive which is unsafe within the meaning of Section 706 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, provided that an article that is not adulterated under paragraph (3), (4), or (5) is nevertheless adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive in or on the article is prohibited under Section 13 or 16 of this Act;

(6) it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food;

(7) it has been prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health;

(8) it is, in whole or in part, the product of an animal or poultry that has died otherwise than by slaughter;

(9) its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render the contents injurious to health;

(10) it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption under Section 409 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(11) any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted from the article; any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part; damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or any substance has been added, mixed, or packed with the article to increase its bulk or weight, to reduce its quality or strength, or to make it appear better or of greater value than it is; or

(12) it bears or contains sodium benzoate or benzoic acid or any combination thereof, except as permitted in accordance with the federal meat or poultry programs.

"Amenable" means foods containing 3% or more raw, or more than 2% cooked, red meat or poultry, other edible portions of carcass or bird, or products that historically have been considered by customers as products of the meat or poultry industry.

"Animals" means cattle, calves, American bison (buffalo), catalo, cattalo, sheep, swine, domestic deer, domestic elk, domestic antelope, domestic reindeer, ratites, water buffalo, and goats.

"Capable of use as human food" means the carcass of any animal or poultry, or part or product of a carcass of any animal or poultry, unless it is denatured to deter its use as human food or it is naturally inedible by humans.

"Custom processing" means the cutting up, packaging, wrapping, storing, freezing, smoking, or curing of meat or poultry products as a service by an establishment for the owner or the agent of the owner of the meat or poultry products exclusively for use in the household of the owner and his or her nonpaying guests and employees or slaughtering with respect to live poultry purchased by the consumer at this establishment and processed by a custom plant operator in accordance with the consumer's instructions.

"Custom slaughter" means the slaughtering, skinning, defeathering, eviscerating, cutting up, packaging, or wrapping of animals or poultry as a service by an establishment for the owner or the agent of the owner of the animals or poultry exclusively for use in the household of the owner and his or her nonpaying guests and employees.

"Department" means the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois.

"Director" means, unless otherwise provided, the Director of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois or his or her duly appointed representative.

"Establishment" means all premises where animals, poultry, or both, are slaughtered or otherwise prepared either for custom, resale, or retail for food purposes, meat or poultry canneries, sausage factories, smoking or curing operations, restaurants, grocery stores, brokerages, cold storage plants, processing plants, and similar places.

"Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act" means the Act approved June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 1040), as now or hereafter amended.

"Federal inspection" means the meat and poultry inspection service conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture by the authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act.

"Federal Meat Inspection Act" means the Act approved March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1260), as now or hereafter amended by the Wholesome Meat Act (81 Stat. 584), as now or hereafter amended.

"Illinois inspected and condemned" means that the meat or poultry product so identified and marked is unhealthful, unwholesome, adulterated, or otherwise unfit for human food and shall be disposed of in the manner prescribed by the Department.

"Illinois inspected and passed" means that the meat or poultry product so stamped and identified has been inspected and passed under the provisions of this Act and the rules and regulations pertaining thereto at the time of inspection and identification was found to be sound, clean, wholesome, and unadulterated.

"Illinois retained" means that the meat or poultry product so identified is held for further clinical examination by a veterinary inspector to determine its disposal.

"Immediate container" means any consumer package or any other container in which livestock products or poultry products, not consumer packaged, are packed.

"Inspector" means any employee of the Department authorized by the Director to inspect animals and poultry or meat and poultry products.

"Label" means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon any article or the immediate container, not including package liners, of any article.

"Labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter (i) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers or (ii) accompanying the article.

"Meat broker", "poultry broker", or "meat and poultry broker" means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of buying, negotiating for purchase of, handling or taking possession of, or selling meat or poultry products on commission or otherwise purchasing or selling of such articles other than for the person's own account in their original containers without changing the character of the products in any way. A broker shall not possess any processing equipment in his or her licensed facility.

"Meat food product" means any product capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, except products that contain meat or other portions of such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or products that historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry and that are exempted from definition as a meat food product by the Director under such conditions as the Director may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portions of such carcass 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 or domestic deer shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this definition with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats.

"Misbranded" means any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product, or poultry or poultry food product if:

(1) its labeling is false or misleading in any particular;

(2) it is offered for sale under the name of another food;

(3) it is an imitation of another food, unless its label bears, in type of uniform size and prominence, the word "imitation" followed immediately by the name of the food imitated;

(4) its container is made, formed, or filled so as to be misleading;

(5) it does not bear a label showing (i) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor and (ii) an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count; however, reasonable variations in such statement of quantity may be permitted;

(6) any word, statement, or other information required by or under authority of this Act to appear on the label or other labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness as compared with other words, statements, designs, or devices in the labeling and in such terms as to make the label likely to be read and understood by the general public under customary conditions of purchase and use;

(7) it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a definition and standard of identity or composition is prescribed in Sections 13 and 16 of this Act unless (i) it conforms to such definition and standard and (ii) its label bears the name of the food specified in the definition and standard and, as required by such regulations, the common names of optional ingredients other than spices and flavoring present in such food;

(8) it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a standard of fill of container is prescribed in Section 13 of this Act and it falls below the applicable standard of fill of container applicable thereto, unless its label bears, in such manner and form as such regulations specify, a statement that it falls below such standard;

(9) it is not subject to the provisions of paragraph (7), unless its label bears (i) the common or usual name of the food, if any, and (ii) if it is fabricated from 2 or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each ingredient, except that spices and flavorings may, when authorized by standards or regulations adopted in or as provided by Sections 13 and 16 of this Act, be designated as spices and flavorings without naming each;

(10) it purports to be or is represented for special dietary uses, unless its label bears such information concerning its vitamin, mineral, and other dietary properties as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States in order to fully inform purchasers as to its value for such uses;

(11) it bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical preservative, unless it bears labeling stating that fact or is exempt; or

(12) it fails to bear, directly thereon or on its container, the inspection legend and unrestricted by any of the foregoing provisions, such other information as necessary to assure that it will not have false or misleading labeling and that the public will be informed of the manner of handling required to maintain the article in a wholesome condition.

"Official establishment" means any establishment as determined by the Director at which inspection of the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the preparation of livestock products or poultry products is maintained under the authority of this Act.

"Official mark of inspection" means the official mark of inspection used to identify the status of any meat product or poultry product or animal under this Act as established by rule.

Prior to the manufacture, a complete and accurate description and design of all the brands, legends, and symbols shall be submitted to the Director for approval as to compliance with this Act. Each brand or symbol that bears the official mark shall be delivered into the custody of the inspector in charge of the establishment and shall be used only under the supervision of a Department employee. When not in use, all such brands and symbols bearing the official mark of inspection shall be secured in a locked locker or compartment, the keys of which shall not leave the possession of Department employees.

"Person" means any individual or entity, including, but not limited to, a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, cooperative, association, limited liability company, estate, or trust.

"Pesticide chemical", "food additive", "color additive", and "raw agricultural commodity" have the same meanings for purposes of this Act as under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

"Poultry" means domesticated birds or rabbits, or both, dead or alive, capable of being used for human food.

"Poultry products" means the carcasses or parts of carcasses of poultry produced entirely or in substantial part from such poultry, including but not limited to such products cooked, pressed, smoked, dried, pickled, frozen, or similarly processed.

"Poultry Products Inspection Act" means the Act approved August 28, 1957 (71 Stat. 441), as now or hereafter amended by the Wholesome Poultry Products Act, approved August 18, 1968 (82 Stat. 791), as now or hereafter amended.

"Poultry Raiser" means any person who raises poultry, including rabbits, on his or her own farm or premises who does not qualify as a producer as defined under this Act.

"Processor" means any person engaged in the business of preparing animal food from animals, including poultry, derived wholly or in part from livestock or poultry carcasses or parts or products of such carcasses.

"Shipping container" means any container used or intended for use in packaging the product packed in an immediate container.

"Slaughterer" means an establishment where any or all of the following may be performed on animals or poultry: (i) stunning; (ii) bleeding; (iii) defeathering, dehairing, or skinning; (iv) eviscerating; or (v) preparing carcasses for chilling.

"State inspection" means the meat and poultry inspection service conducted by the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois by the authority of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 91-170, eff. 1-1-00.)

(225 ILCS 650/3) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 303)

Sec. 3. Licenses.

(a) No person shall operate an establishment as defined in Section 2 or act as a broker as defined in Section 2 without first securing a license from the Department except as otherwise exempted.

(b) The following annual fees shall accompany each license application for the license year from July 1 to June 30 or any part thereof. These fees are non-refundable.

Meatbroker, Poultry broker or Meat and Poultry

broker ..............................................$50

Type I Establishment - Processor, Slaughterer, or Processor and Slaughterer of Meat, Poultry or Meat and Poultry .................................................$50

Type II Establishment - Processor, Slaughterer, or Processor and Slaughterer of Meat, Poultry or Meat and Poultry .................................................$50

Application for licenses shall be made to the Department in writing on forms prescribed by the Department.

(c) The license issued shall be in such form as the Department prescribes, shall be under the seal of the Department and shall contain the name of the licensee, the location for which the license is issued, the type of operation, the period of the license, and such other information as the Department requires. The original license or a certified copy of it shall be conspicuously displayed by the licensee in the establishment.

(d) Failure to meet all of the conditions to retain a license may result in a denial of a renewal of a license. The licensee may request an administrative hearing to dispute the denial of renewal, after which the Director shall enter an order either renewing or refusing to renew the license.

(e) A penalty of $50 shall be assessed if renewal license applications are not received by July 1 of each year and establishment operations shall be discontinued until payment is received in full.

(Source: P.A. 90-655, eff. 7-30-98; 91-170, eff. 1-1-00.)

(225 ILCS 650/5.2)

Sec. 5.2. Type II licenses.

(a) Type II establishments licensed under this Act for custom slaughtering and custom processing shall:

(1) Be permitted to receive, for processing, meat products and poultry products from animals and poultry slaughtered by the owner or for the owner for his or her own personal use or for use by his or her household.

(2) Be permitted to receive live animals and poultry presented by the owner to be slaughtered and processed for the owner's own personal use or for use by his or her household.

(3) Be permitted to receive, for processing, inspected meat products and inspected poultry products for the owner's own personal use or for use by his or her household.

(4) Stamp the words "NOT FOR SALE- NOT INSPECTED" in letters at least 3/8 inches in height on all carcasses of animals and immediate poultry product containers for poultry slaughtered in such establishment and on all meat products and immediate poultry product containers for poultry products processed in that establishment.

(5) Conspicuously display a license issued by the Department and bearing the words "NO SALES PERMITTED".

(6) Keep a record of the name and address of the owner of each carcass or portion thereof received in such licensed establishment, the date received, and the dressed weight. Such records shall be maintained for at least one year and shall be available, during reasonable hours, for inspection by Department personnel.

(b) No custom slaughterer or custom processor shall engage in the business of buying or selling any poultry or meat products capable of use as human food, or slaughter of any animals or poultry intended for sale.

(Source: P.A. 91-170, eff. 1-1-00.)

(225 ILCS 650/13) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 313)

Sec. 13. Official Inspection Legend, Marking and Labeling.

(a) It is unlawful for any person except employees of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Department or an authorized municipal inspection department to possess, use, or keep an inspection stamp, mark, or brand provided or used for stamping, marking, branding, or otherwise identifying carcasses of meat or poultry products, or to possess, use or keep any stamp, mark or brand having thereon a device, words, or insignia the same or similar in character or import to the stamps, marks, or brands provided or used by the United States Department of Agriculture, the State Department of Agriculture or any approved municipal inspection department for stamping, marking, branding or otherwise identifying the carcasses of meat or poultry or meat and poultry products or parts thereof intended for human food.

(b) When any meat or meat food product which has been inspected as provided in this Act and marked "Illinois Inspected and Passed" is placed or packed in an immediate container in any establishment where inspection under this Act is maintained, the person, firm, or corporation preparing the product shall attach a label as required to the immediate container under supervision of an inspector. The label shall state that the contents have been "Illinois Inspected and Passed" under this Act, and no inspection and examination of meat or meat food products or poultry or poultry food products deposited or enclosed in an immediate container in any establishment where inspection under this Act is maintained is complete until the meat or meat food products or poultry or poultry food products have been sealed or enclosed in an immediate container under the supervision of an inspector. At minimum, all amenable products derived from inspected meat, meat food products, poultry, or poultry food products shall bear a mark with an establishment name, owner/customer name, and handling statement.

(c) All carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat, meat food products, poultry, or poultry food products inspected at any establishment under the authority of this Act 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 Director may require, the information required under Section 2.20 of this Act.

(d) The styles and sizes of type to be used with respect to material required to be incorporated in labeling to avoid misbranding, false or misleading labeling of any articles subject to this Act, definitions and standards of identity or composition for articles subject to this Act, and standards of fill of containers for the articles shall be the standards as established under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act or the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

(e) No article subject to this Act shall be sold or offered for sale by any person, firm, or corporation under any name or other marking or labeling which is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size. Established product names and other marking and labeling and containers which are not false or misleading and which are approved by the Director are permitted.

(f) If the Director 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 Act is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that the use be withheld unless the marking, labeling, or container is modified in a 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 Director, the person, firm, or corporation may request a hearing, but the use of the marking, labeling, or container shall, if the Director so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Director. Any determination by the Director shall be conclusive unless within 30 days after receipt of notice of the final determination, the person, firm, or corporation adversely affected appeals to the appropriate authority.

(g) No person, firm, or corporation shall advertise for sale, solicit, offer to sell or sell meats or frozen foods intended for storage in locker boxes, home freezers or freezer units by newspapers, handbills, placards, radio, television or other medium unless the advertising is truthful and accurate. The advertising shall not be misleading or deceiving in respect to grade, quality, quantity, price per pound or piece, or in any other manner. For grade determination of meats, the grades shall conform with United States Department of Agriculture standards for designating meat grades and the standards of this Act.

No person advertising, offering for sale or selling any carcasses or parts thereof or food plan shall engage in any misleading or deceptive practices and particularly including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Bait selling.

(A) Disparage or degrade any product advertised or offered for sale by the seller, or display any product or depiction thereof to any buyer in order to induce the purchase of another product, or represent that a product is for sale when the representation is used primarily to sell another product.

(B) Substitute any product for that ordered by the buyer without the buyer's consent.

(C) Fail to have available a sufficient quantity of any product represented as being for sale to meet reasonably anticipated demands.

(2) Price representation.

(A) Use any price list related to the seller's food plan that contains prices other than the seller's current billing prices.

(B) Misrepresent the amount of money that the buyer will save on purchases of any products that are not of the same grade or quality.

(C) Fail to disclose fully and conspicuously in at least 10 point type any charge for cutting, wrapping, freezing, delivery or other services.

(D) Represent the price of any meat product to be offered for sale in bundles in units larger than one pound in terms other than price per single pound for meat products in at least 10 point type except when the advertisement or offer for sale pertains to containers of meat products weighing 15 pounds or less.

(3) Product Representation.

(A) Misrepresent the cut, grade, brand or trade name, or weight or measure of any product.

(B) Use the abbreviation "U.S." in describing a product not graded by the United States Department of Agriculture, except that product may be described as "U.S. Inspected" when true.

(C) Misrepresent a product through the use of any term similar to a government grade.

(D) (Blank).

(E) Advertise or offer for sale any combinations of parts of carcasses with one unit price, except when the advertisement or offer for sale pertains to combinations consisting only of poultry or poultry products.

(F) Fail to disclose fully and conspicuously the correct government grade for any product if the product is represented as having been graded.

(G) Fail to disclose fully and conspicuously that the yield of consumable meat from any carcass or part of a carcass will be less than the weight of the carcass or part thereof. The seller shall, for each carcass or part of carcass advertised, use separately and distinctly (in at least 10 point type) the following disclosure: "Sold hanging weight subject to cutting loss".

(H) Misrepresent the amount or proportion of retail cuts that a carcass or part of carcass will yield.

(I) (Blank).

(J) Fail to disclose fully and conspicuously whether a quarter of a carcass is the front or hind quarter, and "quarters" or "sides" or "halves" must consist of only anatomically natural proportions of cuts from front or hind quarters. A "pre-trimmed side", "packer-trimmed side" or similar term describing part of a carcass shall not be represented as a side or quarter of beef, and the descriptions shall not be used for comparison to induce the sale of the product.

(K) Represent any part of a carcass as a "half" or "side" unless it consists exclusively of a front and hind quarter. Both quarters must be from the same side of the same animal unless the seller discloses fully and conspicuously that they are from different sides or different animals as the case may be. Each quarter shall be of the same grade or quality as the other quarters comprising the half or side and the seller shall advise the buyer of the weight of each quarter prior to sale. In selling quarters individually or as part of a half or side, if actual weights are not known or cannot be determined prior to sale, approximate weights may be used, provided the buyer is informed that the weights are approximate, the weights are so identified on any purchase order or contract, and the seller agrees with the buyer, in writing, to make a cash refund or grant a credit on delivery for the difference between actual weight and the approximate weight on which the sale was made.

(L) Use the words, "bundle", "sample order", "split side", or words of similar import to describe a quantity of meat or poultry unless the seller itemizes each cut and the weight thereof which the buyer will receive.

(M) Advertise or offer free, bonus, extra product, or service combined with or conditioned on the purchase of any other product or service unless the additional product or service is accurately described including, whenever applicable, grade, net weight or measure, type, and brand or trade name. The words "free", "bonus", or other words of similar import shall not be used in any advertisement unless the advertisement clearly and conspicuously sets forth the total price or amount that must be paid to entitle the buyer to the additional product or service.

(N) Misrepresent the breed, origin, or diet of slaughtered animals or parts thereof offered for sale. Sellers making these claims shall have written records available to substantiate the fact.

(Source: P.A. 91-170, eff. 1-1-00.)