Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024
(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.