PART IV. INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS

 

§159-21  Ante-mortem inspection.  (a) For the purpose of preventing the use in intrastate commerce of meat or meatproducts which are adulterated, the board shall cause to be made, by aveterinarian or inspector appointed for that purpose, an examination andinspection of all animals before they shall be allowed to enter into anyslaughtering, packing, meat-canning, rendering, or similar establishment in theState in which slaughtering and preparation of meat or meat products of theanimals are conducted solely for intrastate commerce; and all animals found onthe inspection to show symptoms of disease shall be set apart from all otheranimals and slaughtered or otherwise disposed of as provided in the rules andregulations, and when slaughtered, the carcasses of the animals shall besubject to a careful examination and inspection, all as prescribed by theboard.

(b)  For the purpose of preventing the inhumaneslaughtering of animals, the board shall cause to be made, by inspectorsappointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of the method bywhich the animals are slaughtered and handled in connection with slaughter inthe slaughtering establishments inspected under this chapter.  The board mayrefuse to provide inspection to a new slaughtering establishment or may causeinspection to be temporarily suspended at a slaughtering establishment, if theboard finds that any animal has been slaughtered or handled in connection withslaughter at such establishment by any method not in accordance with subsection(c), until the establishment furnishes assurances satisfactory to the boardthat all slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughter of animals isin accordance with a method specified in subsection (c).

(c)  Either of the following two methods ofslaughtering of animals and handling in connection with slaughter are found tobe humane:

(1)  By rendering the animal insensible to pain by asingle blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical, or other means that is rapidand effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut; or

(2)  By slaughtering or handling in connection withslaughtering in accordance with the ritual requirements of the Jewish faith orany other religious faith that prescribes a method of slaughter whereby theanimal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by thesimultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharpinstrument.

(d)  For the purposes of this section"animals" means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or otherequines. [L 1969, c 214, pt of §1; am L 1980, c 178, §1]