---
kind: "section"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 641"
title: "21"
title_heading: "Food and Drugs"
number: "641"
heading: "Prohibition of subchapter I inspection of articles not intended for use as human food; de­naturation or other identification prior to distribution in commerce; inedible articles"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/641"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Meat Inspection"
  - "Subchapter II — Meat Processors and Related Industries"
---

# §641. Prohibition of subchapter I inspection of articles not intended for use as human food; de­naturation or other identification prior to distribution in commerce; inedible articles


Inspection shall not be provided under subchapter I of this chapter at any establishment for the slaughter of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines, or the preparation of any carcasses or parts or products of such animals, which are not intended for use as human food, but such articles shall, prior to their offer for sale or transportation in [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), unless naturally inedible by humans, be denatured or otherwise identified as prescribed by regulations of the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) to deter their use for human food. No person, [firm](/usc/21/601.md?p=b), or corporation shall buy, sell, transport, or offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in [commerce](/usc/21/601.md?p=h), or import, any carcasses, parts thereof, meat or [meat food products](/usc/21/601.md?p=j) of any such animals, which are not intended for use as human food unless they are denatured or otherwise identified as required by the regulations of the [Secretary](/usc/21/601.md?p=a) or are naturally inedible by humans.


## Source credit

(Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, title II, § 201, as added Pub. L. 90–201, § 14, Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 593.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Subchapter effective Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20 of Pub. L. 90–201, set out as a note under section 601 of this title.