216 R.I. Code R. 216-RICR-50-10-6.2

Current through December 3, 2024

Section 216-RICR-50-10-6.2 - Definitions

A. For the purpose of these Regulations, these terms shall have the following meaning:

1. "Approved" means approved by the Director.

2. "Buy boat" means a boat that is considered to be an extension of the shellfish business facility. Boats can only operate in open harvest areas.

3. "Certification" or "certify" means the issuance of a numbered certificate to a person for a particular activity or group of activities that indicates:

a. Permission from the Director to conduct the activity; and

b. Compliance with the requirements of this Part.

4. "Certification number" means the unique identification number issued by the Director to each dealer for each location. Each certification number shall consist of a one (1) to five (5) digit Arabic number preceded by the two (2) letter State abbreviation and followed by a two (2) letter abbreviation for the type of activity or activities the dealer is qualified to perform in accordance with this Part using the following terms: shell stock shipper (SS), shucker-packer (SP), repacker (RP), and reshipper (RS).

5. "Commingle or commingling" means the act of combining different lots of shellfish or shucked shellfish.

6. "Compliance schedule" means a written schedule that provides a correction time period to eliminate Key and Other deficiencies.

7. "Critical control point" means a point, step, or procedure in a food process at which control can be applied, and a food safety hazard can as a result be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable levels.

8. "Critical deficiency" means a condition or practice which:

a. Results in the production of a product that is unwholesome; or

b. Presents a threat to the health or safety of the consumer.

9. "Critical limit" means the maximum or minimum value to which a physical, biological, or chemical parameter must be controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level the occurrence of the identified food safety hazard.

10. "Dealer" means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies), or limited liability company engaged in shellfish business as defined in § 6.2 of this Part.

11. "Department" means the Rhode Island Department of Health.

12. "Director" means the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health or the Director's duly appointed agents.

13. "Dry storage" means the storage of shellstock out of water.

14. "Food contact surface" means an equipment surface or utensil which normally comes into direct or indirect contact with shucked shellfish.

15. "Food safety hazard" means any biological, chemical, or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption.

16. "HACCP" is an acronym that stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, a systematic, science-based approach used in food production as a means to assure food safety. The concept is built upon the seven (7) principles identified by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (1992).

17. "HACCP plan" means a written document that delineates the formal procedures that a dealer follows to implement the HACCP requirements set forth in 21 C.F.R. § 123.6 as adopted by the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference.

18. "Harvest area" means an area that contains commercial quantities of shellstock and may include aquaculture sites and facilities.

19. "Harvest time" means the time when the first shellstock in a lot is taken from the water or, in the case of intertidal harvest, the time of first exposure.

20. "Key deficiency" means a condition or practice which may result in adulterated, decomposed, misbranded or unwholesome product.

21. "License" means the document issued by the Director to a person to harvest or transport shellstock for commercial sale.

22. "Operational plan" means a written description of the design and activities of the facility specific to, but not limited to, the species of shellfish to be processed, the source of the shellfish to be processed, how the shellfish will be processed, and how the required records will be maintained.

23. "Other deficiency" means a condition or practice that is not defined as critical or key and is not in accordance with the requirements of this Part.

24. "Person" means any individual, firm, co-partnership, association, or private or municipal corporation.

25. "Preventive measure" means physical, chemical, or other factors that can be used to control an identified food safety hazard.

26. "Primary dealer" means a dealer who purchases shellfish directly from the harvester.

27. "Processing" means any activity associated with the handling, shucking, freezing, packing, labeling or storing of shellfish in preparation for distribution.

28. "Raw" means shellfish that have not been thermally processed:

a. To an internal temperature of one hundred forty-five degrees Fahrenheit (145° F) (sixty-two and eight tenths degrees Centigrade (62.8° C)) or greater for fifteen (15) seconds (or equivalent); or

b. Altering the organoleptic characteristics.

29. "Repacker" or "RP" means:

a. Any person who repacks shucked shellfish; and

b. Any person who repacks shellstock.

30. "Repacking shellfish" means the practice of removing shellfish from containers and placing it into other containers.

31. "Reshipper" or "RS" means any person who purchases shellfish or shucked shellfish from dealers and sells the product without repacking or relabeling to other dealers, wholesalers or retailers.

32. "Sanitize" means to adequately treat food contact surfaces by a process that is effective in:

a. Destroying vegetative cells of microorganisms of public health significance;

b. Substantially reducing the numbers of other undesirable microorganisms; and

c. Not adversely affecting the product or its safety for the consumer.

33. "Secondary dealer", as used in this Part, means a dealer who does not buy from harvesters.

34. "Shellfish" means and include oysters, mussels, and all varieties of clams and scallops except where the final product will be the adductor muscle only whether:

a. Shucked or in the shell;

b. Raw, including post-harvest processed;

c. Frozen or unfrozen; or

d. Whole or in part.

35. "Shellfish business" means and include one (1) of the following: processing, labeling, storing, or transporting except by common carrier, shellfish which are to be offered for sale or sold.

36. "Shellstock" means raw, in-shell molluscan shellfish.

37. "Shellstock shipper" or "SS" means any person who buys, repacks, sells, ships or receives shellstock.

38. "Shucked shellfish" means molluscan shellfish that have one (1) or both shells removed.

39. "Shucker-packer" or "SP" means any person who shucks shellfish. A shucker-packer may act as a shellstock shipper or reshipper or may repack shellfish originating from other certified dealers.

40. "Tag" means a record of harvesting information attached to a container of shellstock by the harvester, processor or dealer.

41. "Transaction record" means the form or forms used to document each purchase or sale of shellfish at the wholesale level, and includes shellfish harvest and sales records, ledgers, purchase records, invoices and bills of lading.

42. "Wet storage" means the storage, by a dealer, of shellstock from growing areas in the Approved classification or in the open status of the Conditionally Approved classification in containers or floats in natural bodies of water or in tanks containing natural or synthetic seawater at any permitted land-based activity or facility.

216 R.I. Code R. 216-RICR-50-10-6.2

Amended effective 3/1/2021