---
kind: "section"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 604"
title: "21"
title_heading: "Food and Drugs"
number: "604"
heading: "Post mortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling; destruction of carcasses condemned; reinspection"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/604"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Meat Inspection"
  - "Subchapter I — Inspection Requirements; Adulteration and Misbranding"
---

# §604. Post mortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling; destruction of carcasses condemned; reinspection


For the purposes hereinbefore set forth the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) shall cause to be made by inspectors appointed for that purpose a post mortem examination and inspection of the carcasses and parts thereof of all [amenable species](/usc/21/601.md?p=w) to be [prepared](/usc/21/601.md?p=l) at any slaughtering, meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment in any [State](/usc/21/601.md?p=f), [Territory](/usc/21/601.md?p=g), or the District of Columbia as articles of [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h) which are [capable of use as human food](/usc/21/601.md?p=k); and the carcasses and parts thereof of all such animals found to be not [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m) shall be marked, stamped, tagged, or labeled as “Inspected and passed”; and said inspectors shall [label](/usc/21/601.md?p=o), mark, stamp, or tag as “Inspected and condemned” all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m); and all carcasses and parts thereof thus inspected and condemned shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) may remove inspectors from any such establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof, and said inspectors, after said first inspection, shall, when they deem it necessary, reinspect said carcasses or parts thereof to determine whether since the first inspection the same have become [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), and if any carcass or any part thereof shall, upon examination and inspection subsequent to the first examination and inspection, be found to be [adulterated](/usc/21/601.md?p=m), it shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) may remove inspectors from any establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof.


## Source credit

(Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, title I, § 4, formerly 2nd par., 34 Stat. 1260; renumbered § 4 and amended Pub. L. 90–201, §§ 1, 3, 4, 12(a)–(d), Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 584, 588, 592; Pub. L. 109–97, title VII, § 798[(a)](1.md), Nov. 10, 2005, 119 Stat. 2166.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 72 of this title.

### Amendments

2005—Pub. L. 109–97 substituted “amenable species” for “cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, and other equines”.

1967—Pub. L. 90–201, §§ 3, 4, 12(a)–(d), struck out “interstate or foreign” before “commerce” and “of Agriculture” after “Secretary” in three places; struck out “for human consumption” before “at any slaughtering” and “for transportation or sale” after “District of Columbia” and inserted “which are capable of use as human food” after “commerce”; included horses, mules, and other equines in the list of animals; substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food” after “ ‘Inspected and condemned,’ all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be” and before “, it shall be destroyed”; substituted “not adulterated” for “sound, healthful, wholesome, and fit for human food”; and substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or in any way unfit for human food” before “and if any carcass”, respectively.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2005 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 109–97 effective the day after 120 days after Nov. 10, 2005, see section 798(b) of Pub. L. 109–97, set out as a note under section 601 of this title.

### Effective Date of 1967 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 90–201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that with respect to equines (other than horses) and their carcasses and parts thereof, meat, and meat food products thereof, amendment effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(b) of Pub. L. 90–201, set out as an Effective Date note under section 601 of this title.