--- kind: "section" citation: "21 U.S.C. § 458" title: "21" title_heading: "Food and Drugs" number: "458" heading: "Prohibited acts" release: "119-102" date: "2026-07-12" url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/458" units: - "Chapter 10 — Poultry and Poultry Products Inspection" --- # §458. Prohibited acts - (a) No [person](/usc/21/453.md?p=j) shall— - (1) slaughter any [poultry](/usc/21/453.md?p=e) or process any [poultry products](/usc/21/453.md?p=f) which are [capable of use as human food](/usc/21/453.md?p=v) at any establishment processing any such articles for [commerce](/usc/21/453.md?p=a), except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter; - (2) sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in [commerce](/usc/21/453.md?p=a), (A) any [poultry products](/usc/21/453.md?p=f) which are [capable of use as human food](/usc/21/453.md?p=v) and are [adulterated](/usc/21/453.md?p=g) or [misbranded](/usc/21/453.md?p=h) at the time of such sale, transportation, offer for sale or transportation, or receipt for transportation; or (B) any [poultry products](/usc/21/453.md?p=f) required to be inspected under this chapter unless they have been so inspected and passed; - (3) do, with respect to any [poultry products](/usc/21/453.md?p=f) which are [capable of use as human food](/usc/21/453.md?p=v), any act while they are being transported in [commerce](/usc/21/453.md?p=a) or held for sale after such transportation, which is intended to cause or has the effect of causing such products to be [adulterated](/usc/21/453.md?p=g) or [misbranded](/usc/21/453.md?p=h); - (4) sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in [commerce](/usc/21/453.md?p=a) or from an [official establishment](/usc/21/453.md?p=p), any slaughtered [poultry](/usc/21/453.md?p=e) from which the blood, feathers, feet, head, or viscera have not been removed in accordance with regulations promulgated by the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i), except as may be authorized by regulations of the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i); - (5) use to his own advantage, or reveal other than to the authorized representatives of the [United States](/usc/21/453.md?p=d) Government or any [State](/usc/21/453.md?p=b) or other government in their official capacity, or as ordered by a court in any judicial proceedings, any information acquired under the authority of this chapter concerning any matter which is entitled to protection as a trade secret. - (b) No brand manufacturer, printer, or other [person](/usc/21/453.md?p=j) shall cast, print, lithograph, or otherwise make any device containing any [official mark](/usc/21/453.md?p=l) or simulation thereof, or any [label](/usc/21/453.md?p=s) bearing any such mark or simulation, or any form of [official certificate](/usc/21/453.md?p=n) or simulation thereof, except as authorized by the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i). - (c) No [person](/usc/21/453.md?p=j) shall— - (1) forge any [official device](/usc/21/453.md?p=o), mark, or certificate; - (2) without authorization from the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i) use any [official device](/usc/21/453.md?p=o), mark, or certificate, or simulation thereof, or alter, detach, deface, or destroy any [official device](/usc/21/453.md?p=o), mark, or certificate; - (3) contrary to the regulations prescribed by the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i), fail to use, or to detach, deface, or destroy any [official device](/usc/21/453.md?p=o), mark, or certificate; - (4) knowingly possess, without promptly notifying the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i) or his representative, any [official device](/usc/21/453.md?p=o) or any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered [official certificate](/usc/21/453.md?p=n) or any device or [label](/usc/21/453.md?p=s) or any carcass of any [poultry](/usc/21/453.md?p=e), or part or product thereof, bearing any counterfeit, simulated, forged, or improperly altered [official mark](/usc/21/453.md?p=l); - (5) knowingly make any false statement in any shipper’s certificate or other nonofficial or [official certificate](/usc/21/453.md?p=n) provided for in the regulations prescribed by the [Secretary](/usc/21/453.md?p=i); or - (6) knowingly represent that any article has been inspected and passed, or exempted, under this chapter when, in fact, it has respectively, not been so inspected and passed, or exempted. ## Source credit (Pub. L. 85–172, § 9, Aug. 28, 1957, 71 Stat. 445; Pub. L. 90–492, § 9, Aug. 18, 1968, 82 Stat. 800.) ## Notes ### Editorial Notes ### Amendments 1968—Pub. L. 90–492 made revisions in form and phraseology, added to the enumerated prohibited acts slaughtering poultry or processing any poultry products capable of use as human food, except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, selling and transporting adulterated or misbranded poultry products or uninspected poultry products, adulterating or misbranding poultry products while they are being transported in commerce or held for sale after such transportation, treating carcasses not in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary, possessing, without notifying the Secretary, any official device or any counterfeit, simulated, etc., official certificate, or any device or label bearing any counterfeit, simulated, etc., official mark, and making false representations and statements, and clarified application to brand manufacturers and printers of existing provisions prohibiting the counterfeiting of official marks, labels, or certificates. ### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries ### Effective Date of 1968 Amendment Amendment by Pub. L. 90–492 effective Aug. 18, 1968, except that amendment of pars. (a)(2)(A) and (a)(3) effective upon the expiration of sixty days after Aug. 18, 1968, see section 20 of Pub. L. 90–492, set out as a note under section 451 of this title.