Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2523 – Prohibited acts
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
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1. Use as human food. A person may not, with respect to livestock, poultry or livestock products or poultry products:
A. Slaughter any livestock or poultry or prepare products that are useable as human food at a registered, licensed or official establishment preparing the products solely for intrastate commerce, except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter and the rules adopted pursuant to this chapter; [PL 2021, c. 64, §27 (AMD).]
B. In intrastate commerce, sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation or receive for transportation products that are useable as human food and:
(1) Are adulterated or misbranded at the time of the sale, transportation, offer for sale or transportation or receipt for transportation; or
(2) Have not been inspected and passed, unless the products are exempt from inspection pursuant to rules adopted by the commissioner; or [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
C. With respect to those products that are useable as human food, perform any act, while the products are being transported in intrastate commerce or held for sale after transportation, that is intended to cause or has the effect of causing the products to be adulterated or misbranded. [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
[PL 2021, c. 64, §27 (AMD).]
Attorney's Note
Under the Maine Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class D crime | up to 1 year | up to $2,000 |
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2523
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or the commissioner's designee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Livestock: means cattle, sheep, swine, goats or other designated animals, whether live or dead. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Meat: means muscle of livestock, an amenable species or an exotic animal as defined by the federal acts that is skeletal or that is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat, and the portions of bone, skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels that normally accompany the muscle tissue but does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout or ears. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Official establishment: means an establishment as determined by the commissioner at which inspection of the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the preparation of livestock products or poultry products is maintained under the authority of this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Person: includes an individual, partnership, corporation, association or other business unit and an officer, agent or employee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Poultry: means a domesticated bird, whether live or dead. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
- Useable as human food: refers to a livestock or poultry carcass or part or product of a livestock or poultry carcass, unless it is denatured or otherwise identified as required by rules prescribed by the commissioner to deter its use as human food or as naturally inedible by humans. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 2511
2. Slaughtered poultry. In intrastate commerce, a person may not sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation or receive for transportation or from an official establishment any slaughtered poultry from which the blood, feathers, feet, head or viscera have not been removed in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner except as authorized by those rules.
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
3. Carcasses of horses, mules or other equines or parts of these carcasses. In intrastate commerce, a person may not sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation or receive for transportation any carcasses of horses, mules or other equines or parts of these carcasses, or the meat or meat food products of these carcasses.
[PL 2021, c. 64, §28 (AMD).]
4. Denatured. In intrastate commerce, a person may not buy, sell, transport or offer for sale or transportation or receive for transportation livestock products or poultry products that are not intended for use as human food, unless they are denatured or otherwise identified as required by the rules of the commissioner or are naturally inedible by humans.
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
5. Animals not slaughtered. A person engaged in the business of buying, selling or transporting in intrastate commerce dead, dying, disabled or diseased animals or parts of the carcasses of any animals that died other than by slaughter may not buy, sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation or receive for transportation in intrastate commerce dead, dying, disabled or diseased livestock or poultry or the products of these animals that died other than by slaughter, unless the transaction or transportation is made in accordance with rules that the commissioner may prescribe to ensure that the animals or the unwholesome parts or products are prevented from being used for human food purposes.
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
6. False information or failure to cooperate. A person commits a Class D crime if the person intentionally or knowingly:
A. Makes or causes to be made, a false entry or statement of fact; [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
B. Fails to make correct entries in any report, account, record or memorandum kept by a person that is required by or subject to this chapter; [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
C. Removes out of the jurisdiction of this State or mutilates, alters or by any other means falsifies documentary evidence of a person subject to this chapter; or [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
D. Refuses to submit to the commissioner or to any of the commissioner’s authorized agents, for the purpose of inspection and taking copies, documentary evidence of a person, subject to this chapter, in that person’s possession or within that person’s control. [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
7. Report. If a person fails to file an annual or special report as required by this chapter, the commissioner shall notify that person of the failure to report and designate a day by which the report must be received. If the report is not received within 30 days of the designated day, the person shall forfeit $100 to the State for each day beyond the 30-day period. The forfeiture is payable into the State Treasury and is recoverable in a civil suit, in the name of the State, brought in the county where the person has that person’s principal office or in the Superior Court.
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW). PL 2021, c. 64, §§27, 28 (AMD).