
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 21USC1033]

 
                        TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
 
                   CHAPTER 15--EGG PRODUCTS INSPECTION
 
Sec. 1033. Definitions

    For purposes of this chapter--
    (a) The term ``adulterated'' applies to any egg or egg product under 
one or more of the following circumstances--
        (1) if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious 
    substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the 
    substance is not an added substance, such article shall not be 
    considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such 
    substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it 
    injurious to health;
        (2)(A) if it bears or contains any added poisonous or added 
    deleterious substance (other than one which is (i) a pesticide 
    chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food 
    additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of 
    the Secretary, make such article unfit for human food;
        (B) if it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity 
    and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical which is 
    unsafe within the meaning of section 346a of this title;
        (C) if it bears or contains any food additive which is unsafe 
    within the meaning of section 348 of this title;
        (D) if it bears or contains any color additive which is unsafe 
    within the meaning of section 379e of this title: Provided, That an 
    article which is not otherwise deemed adulterated under clause (B), 
    (C), or (D) shall nevertheless be deemed adulterated if use of the 
    pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive, in or on such 
    article, is prohibited by regulations of the Secretary in official 
    plants;
        (3) if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or 
    decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for human food;
        (4) if it has been prepared, packaged, or held under insanitary 
    conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or 
    whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health;
        (5) if it is an egg which has been subjected to incubation or 
    the product of any egg which has been subjected to incubation;
        (6) if its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any 
    poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents 
    injurious to health;
        (7) if it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless 
    the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or 
    exemption in effect pursuant to section 348 of this title; or
        (8) if any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part 
    omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been 
    substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or inferiority 
    has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added 
    thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or 
    weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better 
    or of greater value than it is.

    (b) The term ``capable of use as human food'' shall apply to any egg 
or egg product, unless it is denatured, or otherwise identified, as 
required by regulations prescribed by the Secretary to deter its use as 
human food.
    (c) The term ``commerce'' means interstate, foreign, or intrastate 
commerce.
    (d) The term ``container'' or ``package'' includes any box, can, 
tin, plastic, or other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.
    (1) The term ``immediate container'' means any consumer package; or 
any other container in which egg products, not consumer packaged, are 
packed.
    (2) The term ``shipping container'' means any container used in 
packaging a product packed in an immediate container.
    (e) The term ``egg handler'' means any person who engages in any 
business in commerce which involves buying or selling any eggs (as a 
poultry producer or otherwise), or processing any egg products, or 
otherwise using any eggs in the preparation of human food.
    (f) The term ``egg product'' means any dried, frozen, or liquid 
eggs, with or without added ingredients, excepting products which 
contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion or historically have 
not been, in the judgment of the Secretary, considered by consumers as 
products of the egg food industry, and which may be exempted by the 
Secretary under such conditions as he may prescribe to assure that the 
egg ingredients are not adulterated and such products are not 
represented as egg products.
    (g) The term ``egg'' means the shell egg of the domesticated 
chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea.
    (1) The term ``check'' means an egg that has a broken shell or crack 
in the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not 
leaking.
    (2) The term ``clean and sound shell egg'' means any egg whose shell 
is free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked or 
broken.
    (3) The term ``dirty egg'' means an egg that has a shell that is 
unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material.
    (4) The term ``incubator reject'' means an egg that has been 
subjected to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the 
hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable.
    (5) The term ``inedible'' means eggs of the following descriptions: 
black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs), sour 
eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy eggs, musty 
eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing embryo chicks (at or 
beyond the blood ring stage.)
    (6) The term ``leaker'' means an egg that has a crack or break in 
the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are 
exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell.
    (7) The term ``loss'' means an egg that is unfit for human food 
because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking; or 
overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject; or because 
it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large quantity of blood, 
or other foreign material.
    (8) The term ``restricted egg'' means any check, dirty egg, 
incubator reject, inedible, leaker, or loss.
    (h) The term ``Fair Packaging and Labeling Act'' [15 U.S.C. 1451 et 
seq.] means the Act so entitled, approved November 3, 1966, (80 Stat. 
1296), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
    (i) The term ``Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act'' [21 U.S.C. 301 
et seq.] means the Act so entitled, approved June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 
1040), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
    (j) The term ``inspection'' means the application of such inspection 
methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the responsible 
Secretary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
    (k) The term ``inspector'' means:
        (1) any employee or official of the United States Government 
    authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the authority of 
    this chapter; or
        (2) any employee or official of the government of any State or 
    local jurisdiction authorized by the Secretary to inspect eggs or 
    egg products under the authority of this chapter, under an agreement 
    entered into between the Secretary and the appropriate State or 
    other agency.

    (l) The term ``misbranded'' shall apply to egg products which are 
not labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements prescribed 
by regulations of the Secretary under section 1036 of this title.
    (m) The term ``official certificate'' means any certificate 
prescribed by regulations of the Secretary for issuance by an inspector 
or other person performing official functions under this chapter.
    (n) The term ``official device'' means any device prescribed or 
authorized by the Secretary for use in applying any official mark.
    (o) The term ``official inspection legend'' means any symbol 
prescribed by regulations of the Secretary showing that egg products 
were inspected in accordance with this chapter.
    (p) The term ``official mark'' means the official inspection legend 
or any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the Secretary to 
identify the status of any article under this chapter.
    (q) The term ``official plant'' means any plant, as determined by 
the Secretary, at which inspection of the processing of egg products is 
maintained by the Department of Agriculture under the authority of this 
chapter.
    (r) The term ``official standards'' means the standards of quality, 
grades, and weight classes for eggs, in effect upon the effective date 
of this chapter, or as thereafter amended, under the Agricultural 
Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 1621 et 
seq.).
    (s) The term ``pasteurize'' means the subjecting of each particle of 
egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful viable 
micro-organisms by such processes as may be prescribed by regulations of 
the Secretary.
    (t) The term ``person'' means any individual, partnership, 
corporation, association, or other business unit.
    (u) The terms ``pesticide chemical,'' ``food additive,'' ``color 
additive,'' and ``raw agricultural commodity'' shall have the same 
meaning for purposes of this chapter as under the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.].
    (v) The term ``plant'' means any place of business where egg 
products are processed.
    (w) The term ``processing'' means manufacturing egg products, 
including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, 
stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or packaging egg products.
    (x) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Agriculture or his 
delegate.
    (y) The term ``State'' means any State of the United States, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, 
and the District of Columbia.
    (z) The term ``United States'' means the States.

(Pub. L. 91-597, Sec. 4, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1621; Pub. L. 102-571, 
title I, Sec. 107(15), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4499.)

                       References in Text

    The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, referred to in subsec. (h), is 
Pub. L. 89-755, Nov. 3, 1966, 80 Stat. 1296, as amended, which is 
classified generally to chapter 39 (Sec. 1451 et seq.) of Title 15, 
Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, 
see Short Title note set out under section 1451 of Title 15 and Tables.
    The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, referred to in subsecs. 
(i) and (u), is act June 25, 1938, ch. 675, 52 Stat. 1040, as amended, 
which is classified generally to chapter 9 (Sec. 301 et seq.) of this 
title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 
301 of this title and Tables.
    The effective date of this chapter, referred to in subsec. (r), 
means the effective date of Pub. L. 91-597. For such effective date, see 
Effective Date note set out under section 1031 of this title.
    The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, referred to in subsec. (r), 
is title II of act Aug. 14, 1946, ch. 966, 60 Stat. 1087, as amended, 
which is classified generally to chapter 38 (Sec. 1621 et seq.) of Title 
7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see 
Short Title note set out under section 1621 of Title 7 and Tables.


                               Amendments

    1992--Subsec. (a)(2)(D). Pub. L. 102-571 substituted ``379e'' for 
``376''.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 1041 of this title; title 15 
sections 2052, 2602.
