21 U.S.C. § 603 : US Code - Section 603: Inspection of meat and meat food products

Search 21 U.S.C. § 603 : US Code - Section 603: Inspection of meat and meat food products

(a) Examination of animals before slaughtering; diseased animals
slaughtered separately and carcasses examined
For the purpose of preventing the use in commerce of meat and
meat food products which are adulterated, the Secretary shall cause
to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an
examination and inspection of all amenable species before they
shall be allowed to enter into any slaughtering, packing, meat-
canning, rendering, or similar establishment, in which they are to
be slaughtered and the meat and meat food products thereof are to
be used in commerce; and all amenable species found on such
inspection to show symptoms of disease shall be set apart and
slaughtered separately from all other cattle, sheep, swine, goats,
horses, mules, or other equines, and when so slaughtered the
carcasses of said cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or
other equines shall be subject to a careful examination and
inspection, all as provided by the rules and regulations to be
prescribed by the Secretary, as provided for in this subchapter.
(b) Humane methods of slaughter
For the purpose of preventing the inhumane slaughtering of
livestock, the Secretary shall cause to be made, by inspectors
appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of the
method by which amenable species are slaughtered and handled in
connection with slaughter in the slaughtering establishments
inspected under this chapter. The Secretary may refuse to provide
inspection to a new slaughtering establishment or may cause
inspection to be temporarily suspended at a slaughtering
establishment if the Secretary finds that any cattle, sheep, swine,
goats, horses, mules, or other equines have been slaughtered or
handled in connection with slaughter at such establishment by any
method not in accordance with the Act of August 27, 1958 (72 Stat.
862; 7 U.S.C. 1901-1906) until the establishment furnishes
assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that all slaughtering and
handling in connection with slaughter of livestock shall be in
accordance with such a method.