21 U.S.C. § 1037

Current through P.L. 118-62 (published on www.congress.gov on 05/13/2024)

Section 1037 - Prohibited acts

(a)

(1) No person shall buy, sell, or transport, or offer to buy or sell, or offer or receive for transportation, in any business in commerce any restricted eggs, capable of use as human food, except as authorized by regulations of the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that only eggs fit for human food are used for such purpose.

(2) No egg handler shall possess with intent to use, or use, any restricted eggs in the preparation of human food for commerce except that such eggs may be so possessed and used when authorized by regulations of the Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that only eggs fit for human food are used for such purpose.

(b)

(1) No person shall process any egg products for commerce at any plant except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

(2) No person shall buy, sell, or transport, or offer to buy or sell, or offer or receive for transportation, in commerce any egg products required to be inspected under this chapter unless they have been so inspected and are labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements of section 1036 of this title.

(3) No operator of any official plant shall fail to comply with any requirements of section 1035(a) of this title or the regulations thereunder.

(4) No operator of any official plant shall allow any egg products to be moved from such plant if they are adulterated or misbranded and capable of use as human food.

(c) No egg handler shall possess any eggs after the eggs have been packed into a container that is destined for the ultimate consumer unless the eggs are stored and transported under refrigeration at an ambient temperature of no greater than 45 degrees Fahrenheit, as prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary.

(d) No person shall violate any provision of section 1039, 1040 or 1046 of this title.

(e) No person shall-

(1) manufacture, cast, print, lithograph, or otherwise make any device containing any official mark or simulation thereof, or any label bearing any such mark or simulation, or any form of official certificate or simulation thereof, except as authorized by the Secretary;

(2) forge or alter any official device, mark, or certificate;

(3) without authorization from the Secretary, use any official device, mark, or certificate, or simulation thereof, or detach, deface, or destroy any official device or mark; or use any labeling or container ordered to be withheld from use under section 1036 of this title after final judicial affirmance of such order or expiration of the time for appeal if no appeal is taken under said section;

(4) contrary to the regulations prescribed by the Secretary, fail to use, or to detach, deface, or destroy any official device, mark, or certificate;

(5) knowingly possess, without promptly notifying the Secretary or his representative, any official device or any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered official certificate or any device or label, or any eggs or egg products bearing any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered official mark;

(6) knowingly make any false statement in any shipper's certificate or other nonofficial or official certificate provided for in the regulations prescribed by the Secretary;

(7) knowingly represent that any article has been inspected or exempted, under this chapter, when, in fact, it has, respectively, not been so inspected or exempted; and

(8) refuse access, at any reasonable time, to any representative of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to any plant or other place of business subject to inspection under any provisions of this chapter.

(f) No person, while an official or employee of the United States Government or any State or local governmental agency, or thereafter, shall use to his own advantage, or reveal other than to the authorized representatives of the United States Government or any State or other government in their official capacity, or as ordered by a court in a judicial proceeding, any information acquired under the authority of this chapter concerning any matter which is entitled to protection as a trade secret.

21 U.S.C. § 1037

Pub. L. 91-597, §8, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1626; Pub. L. 96-88, title V, §509(b), Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695; Pub. L. 102-237, title X, §1012(c), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1899.

EDITORIAL NOTES

REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1), (2), (e)(7), (8), and (f), 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.

AMENDMENTS1991-Subsecs. (c) to (f). Pub. L. 102-237 added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsecs. (c) to (e) as (d) to (f), respectively.

STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES

CHANGE OF NAME"Secretary of Health and Human Services" substituted for "Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare" in subsec. (e)(8) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96-88 which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1991 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 102-237 effective 12 months after promulgation of final implementing regulations, see section 1012(h) of Pub. L. 102-237 set out as a note under section 1034 of this title.

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.
United States: The term "United States" means the States.
commerce: The term "commerce" means interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce.
egg handler: The term "egg handler" means any person who engages in any business in commerce which involves buying or selling any eggs (as a poultry producer or otherwise), or processing any egg products, or otherwise using any eggs in the preparation of human food.
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.
inspection: The term "inspection" means the application of such inspection methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the responsible Secretary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
official certificate: The term "official certificate" means any certificate prescribed by regulations of the Secretary for issuance by an inspector or other person performing official functions under this chapter.
official device: The term "official device" means any device prescribed or authorized by the Secretary for use in applying any official mark.
official mark: The term "official mark" means the official inspection legend or any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the Secretary to identify the status of any article under this chapter.
official plant: The term "official plant" means any plant, as determined by the Secretary, at which inspection of the processing of egg products is maintained by the Department of Agriculture under the authority of this chapter.
person: The term "person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other business unit.
plant: The term "plant" means any place of business where egg products are processed.