2013 Maryland Code
AGRICULTURE
§ 4-201 - Definitions

§4-201.

(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) Any poultry product is “adulterated” if:

(1) It bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health. However, if the substance is not an added substance, the article shall not be considered adulterated if the quantity of the substance in or on the article ordinarily does not render it injurious to health;

(2) Any substance is added to any poultry or poultry product so that the poultry product bears or contains any added poisonous or deleterious substance which, in the Department’s judgment, makes the article unfit for human food, unless the added substance is (i) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity, (ii) a food additive, or (iii) a color additive;

(3) It is wholly or partially a raw agricultural commodity and the commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical which is unsafe within the meaning of § 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 346a), unless the substance is prohibited in official establishments by the departmental rules and regulations;

(4) It bears or contains any food additive which is unsafe within the meaning of § 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 348), unless the substance is prohibited in official establishments by departmental rules and regulations;

(5) It bears or contains any color additive which is unsafe within the meaning of § 706 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 348), unless the substance is prohibited in official establishments by departmental rules and regulations;

(6) It wholly or partially consists of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food;

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

(8) It is wholly or partially the product of any poultry which has died other than by slaughter;

(9) Its container is composed, wholly or partially, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health;

(10) It intentionally has been subjected to radiation, unless the use of radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption in effect pursuant to § 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 348); or

(11) Any valuable constituent has been omitted or abstracted wholly or partially from it; or if any substance has been substituted wholly or partially for it; or if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added to it or mixed or packed with it so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is.

(c) “Animal food manufacturer” means any person engaged in the business of manufacturing or processing animal food derived wholly or partially from any poultry carcass or part or product of it.

(d) “Capable of use as human food” means any poultry carcass, or part or product of it, that is not denatured, not naturally inedible by humans, or not otherwise identified, as required by rule or regulation adopted by the Secretary, to deter its use as human food.

(e) “Color additive” has the same meaning as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(f) “Container” or “package” includes any box, can, tin, cloth, plastic, other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.

(g) “Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act” means the act so entitled approved June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 1040).

(h) “Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act” means the act so entitled approved August 28, 1957 (71 Stat. 441), as amended by the Wholesome Poultry Products Act (82 Stat. 791).

(i) “Food additive” has the same meaning as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(j) “Immediate container” includes any consumer package or any other container in which any poultry product, not consumer packaged, is packed.

(k) “Inspection service” means the official government service to which the Secretary designates the responsibility for carrying out the provisions of this subtitle.

(l) “Inspector” means a State employee or government employee authorized by the Secretary to inspect poultry and poultry products under the authority of this subtitle.

(m) “Label” means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon any article or the immediate container, not including the package liner, of any article.

(n) “Labeling” means every label and other written, printed, or graphic matter (1) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or (2) accompanying any article.

(o) Any poultry product is “misbranded” 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” and immediately after it, the name of the food imitated;

(4) Its container is made, formed, or filled so that it is 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 product in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count. Under clause (ii) of this paragraph, reasonable variations may be permitted, and exemptions for small packages or articles not in packages or other containers, may be established by departmental rules and regulations;

(6) Any word, statement, or other information required by, or under authority of, this subtitle to appear on the label or other labeling is not placed prominently and conspicuously on it, as compared with other words, statements, designs, or devices in the labeling, and in terms that do not render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual 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 has been prescribed by departmental rules and regulations under § 4-209 of this subtitle, unless (i) it conforms to the definition and standard, (ii) its label bears the name of the food specified in the definition and standard and as may be required by the rules and regulations, and (iii) its label bears the common names of optional ingredients, other than spices, flavoring, and coloring, present in the food as required by rules and regulations;

(8) It purports to be or is represented as a food for which a standard of fill of container is prescribed by departmental rules and regulations under § 4-209 of this subtitle, and it falls below the standard of fill of container applicable to it, unless its label bears a statement that it falls below the standard, in the manner and form the rules and regulations specify;

(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) the common or usual name of each ingredient. If it is fabricated from more than one ingredient, the Secretary may permit spices, flavorings, and colorings to be designated as spices, flavorings, and colorings without requiring the naming of each. In addition, the Secretary may establish exemptions by rules and regulations under this subtitle to the extent that compliance with the requirements of clause (ii) of this paragraph is not feasible or results in deception or unfair competition;

(10) It purports to be for special dietary uses, unless its label bears information concerning its vitamin, mineral, and other dietary properties which the Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, determines to be necessary by rule or regulation to inform purchasers of its value for these uses;

(11) It bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical preservative, unless it bears labeling stating that fact. However, the Secretary may establish exemptions by rules and regulations under this subtitle to the extent that compliance with the requirements of this paragraph is not feasible; or

(12) It fails to bear on its container, and, in the case of any nonconsumer packaged carcass directly on it, as the Secretary adopts by rule or regulation, the official inspection legend, number of the official establishment where the article was processed, and any other information the Secretary requires in the rule or regulation, to assure that it does not bear false or misleading labeling and that the public is informed of the manner of handling required to maintain the article in a wholesome condition.

(p) “Official certificate” means any certificate the departmental rules and regulations prescribe for issuance by an inspector.

(q) “Official device” means any device prescribed by the Secretary for use in applying any official mark.

(r) “Official establishment” means any establishment engaged in slaughtering or processing solely for intrastate commerce poultry and poultry products capable of use as human food and inspected under this subtitle.

(s) “Official inspection legend” means any symbol, prescribed by departmental rules and regulations, that shows an article was inspected for wholesomeness in accordance with this subtitle.

(t) “Official mark” means the official inspection legend or any other symbol, prescribed by departmental rules and regulations, to identify the status of any article or poultry under this subtitle.

(u) “Pesticide chemical” has the same meaning as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(v) “Poultry product” means any poultry carcass, or part of it; or any product which is made wholly or partially from any poultry carcass or part of it. This term does not apply to any product (1) containing poultry ingredients in only a relatively small proportion, or (2) which historically has not been considered by consumers as a product of the poultry food industry, and (3) which is exempted as a poultry product, by departmental rule or regulation, under conditions assuring that the poultry ingredients in the product are not adulterated and the product is not represented as a poultry product.

(w) “Poultry products broker” means any person engaged in the business of buying or selling any poultry product on commission or otherwise negotiating a purchase or sale of the article, other than for his own account or as an employee of another person.

(x) “Processed” means slaughtered, canned, salted, stuffed, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed.

(y) “Raw agricultural commodity” has the same meaning as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(z) “Renderer” means any person engaged in the business of rendering any poultry carcass, or part or product of it, except rendering conducted under inspection or exempt under this subtitle.

(aa) “Shipping container” means any container used or intended for use in packaging the product packed in an immediate container.