2014 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 3 - Agriculture and Forestry
RS 3:4203 - Antemortem inspection and humane methods of slaughter

§4203. Antemortem inspection and humane methods of slaughter

A. For the purpose of preventing the use in intrastate commerce, as hereinafter provided, of meat and meat food products which are adulterated, the commissioner shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an antemortem inspection of all cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, goats, horses, mules and other equines before they shall be allowed to enter into any slaughtering, packing, meat-canning, rendering or similar establishment, in this state in which slaughtering and preparation of meat and meat food products of such animals are conducted solely for intrastate commerce, and all cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, goats, horses, mules and other equines found on such inspection to show symptoms of disease shall be condemned if the diseased condition warrants such action, or shall be set apart and slaughtered separately from all other cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, horses, mules or other equines, and when so slaughtered, the carcasses of said cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, goats, horses, mules or other equines shall be subject to a careful examination, all as provided by the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the commissioner as herein provided for.

B. For the purpose of preventing the inhumane slaughtering of livestock, the commissioner shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of the method by which cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines are slaughtered and handled in connection with slaughter in the slaughtering establishments inspected in this state. The commissioner may refuse to provide inspection to a new slaughtering establishment or may temporarily suspend inspection at a slaughtering establishment if the commissioner finds that any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines have been slaughtered or handled in connection with slaughter by any method not in accordance with the Federal Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act (7 U.S.C. §1901 et seq.). The refusal to inspect or suspension shall continue until the establishment furnishes assurances satisfactory to the commissioner that all slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughter of livestock is in accordance with such method.

Acts 1968, No. 376, §2. Amended by Acts 1970, No. 615, §1; Acts 1985, No. 73, §1; Acts 2010, No. 496, §1, eff. June 24, 2010.