§381.80. General; biological residues. — Inbound Citations

(a) Birds plainly showing on ante mortem inspection any disease or condition, that under §§ 381.80 to 381.93, inclusive, would cause condemnation of their carcasses on post mortem inspection, shall be condemned. Birds which on ante mortem inspection are condemned shall not be dressed, nor shall they be conveyed into any department of the official establishment where poultry products are prepared or held. Poultry which has been condemned on ante mortem inspection and has been killed or died otherwise shall under the supervision of an inspector of the Inspection Service, be disposed of as provided in § 381.95.

(a) All birds, except ratites, that on ante mortem inspection do not plainly show, but are suspected of being affected with, any disease or condition that under §§ 381.80 to 381.93 of this Part may cause condemnation in whole or in part on post mortem inspection, shall be segregated from the other poultry and held for separate slaughter, evisceration, and post mortem inspection. The inspector shall be notified when such segregated lots are presented for post mortem inspection, and inspection of such birds shall be conducted separately. Such procedure for the correlation of ante mortem and post mortem findings by the inspector, as may be prescribed or approved by the Administrator, shall be carried out.

When any poultry at an official establishment is suspected of having been treated with or exposed to any substance that may impart a biological residue that would make their edible tissues adulterated, they shall, at the option of the operator of the establishment, be processed at the establishment and the carcasses and all parts thereof retained under U.S. Retained tags, pending final disposition in accordance with § 381.80, of this part, and other provisions in subpart K; or they shall be slaughtered at the establishment and buried or incinerated in a manner satisfactory to the inspector. Alternatively, such poultry may be returned to the grower, if further holding is likely to result in their not being adulterated by reason of any residue. The Inspection Service will notify the other Federal and State agencies concerned of such action. To aid in determining the amount of residue present in the poultry, officials of the Inspection Service may permit the slaughter of any such poultry for the purpose of collecting tissues for analysis of the residue. Such analysis may include the use of inplant screening procedures designed to detect the presence of antimicrobial residues in any species of poultry.