§318.2. Reinspection, retention, and disposal of meat and poultry products at official establishments. — Inbound Citations

(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (g) and (h) of this section or § 318.12, no product shall be brought into an official establishment unless it has been prepared only in an official establishment and previously inspected and passed by a Program employee, and is identified by an official inspection legend as so inspected and passed. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subparagraph, product imported in accordance with part 327 of this subchapter and not prepared in the United States outside an official establishment, may enter any official establishment subject in other respects to the same restrictions as apply to domestic product. Products received in an official establishment during the Program employees absence shall be identified and maintained in a manner acceptable to such employee. Product entering any official establishment shall not be used or prepared thereat until it has been reinspected in accordance with § 318.2. Any product originally prepared at any official establishment may not be returned into any part of such establishment, except the receiving area approved under § 318.3, until it has been reinspected by the inspector.

Every official establishment shall designate, with the approval of the circuit supervisor, a dock or place at which products and other articles subject to reinspection under § 318.2 shall be received, and such products and articles shall be received only at such dock or place.

This shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions contained in 9 CFR 318.1, 318.2, and 318.3.

(c) No person, engaged in the business of buying, selling, freezing, storing, or transporting, in or for commerce, meat or meat food products capable of use as human food, or importing such articles, shall transport, offer for transportation, or receive for transportation in commerce or in any State designated under section 301(c) of the Act, any such meat or meat food product which is capable of use as human food and is not wrapped, packaged, or otherwise enclosed to prevent adulteration by airborne contaminants, unless the railroad car, truck, or other means of conveyance in which the product is contained or transported is completely enclosed with tight fitting doors or other covers for all openings. In all cases, the means of conveyance shall be reasonably free of foreign matter (such as dust, dirt, rust, or other articles or residues), and free of chemical residues, so that product placed therein will not become adulterated. Any cleaning compound, lye, soda solution, or other chemical used in cleaning the means of conveyance must be thoroughly removed from the means of conveyance prior to its use. Such means of conveyance onto which product is loaded, being loaded, or intended to be loaded, shall be subject to inspection by an inspector at any official establishment. The decision whether or not to inspect a means of conveyance in a specific case, and the type and extent of such inspection shall be at the Program's discretion and shall be adequate to determine if product in such conveyance is, or when moved could become, adulterated. Circumstances of transport that can be reasonably anticipated shall be considered in making said determination. These include, but are not limited to, weather conditions, duration and distance of trip, nature of product covering, and effect of restowage at stops en route. Any means of conveyance found upon such inspection to be in such condition that product placed therein could become adulterated shall not be used until such condition which could cause adulteration is corrected. Product placed in any means of conveyance that is found by the inspector to be in such condition that the product may have become adulterated shall be removed from the means of conveyance and handled in accordance with § 318.2(d) of this subchapter.

(b) Upon the arrival of the shipment at the official establishment, a careful inspection shall be made of the product by a Program inspector, and if it is found that the article is not adulterated, the same may be received into the establishment; but if the article is found to be adulterated, it shall at once be stamped “U.S. inspected and condemned” and disposed of in accordance with part 314 of this subchapter, and if it is found to be misbranded, it shall be handled in accordance with § 318.2(d) of this subchapter: Provided, That when a product is found to be affected with one of the correctable conditions specified in § 318.2(d) of this subchapter, in respect to which rehandling is permitted, it may be transported from the official establishment to another official establishment for such rehandling as is necessary to assure that the product is not adulterated or misbranded when finally released. The transportation of such a product from an official establishment shall be done in a manner prescribed in each specific case by the Administrator.