Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 29 > Chapter 20 > Part 1 - General Provisions

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Animal: means any member of the animal kingdom whether domesticated or wild, but not including humans. See Tennessee Code 53-7-302
• Animal product: means any product derived from any animal or animals that is or could be suitable for human consumption. See Tennessee Code 53-7-302
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Biological residue: means any substance, including metabolites, remaining in or on any animal prior to or at the time of slaughter, in or on any of its tissues after slaughter, or in or on any animal product as the result of treatment with or exposure of the animal or animal product to any pesticide, organic or inorganic compound, hormone-like substance, growth promoter, antibiotic, anthelmintic, tranquilizer, or other therapeutic or prophylactic agent. See Tennessee Code 53-7-302
• Brand name: means the registered trademark name of a drug or drug product given by its manufacturer, labeler or distributor. See Tennessee Code 53-10-203
• Bulk milk: means milk in bulk form that is furnished to a processor for the purpose of processing and manufacturing into milk products. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Carcass: means all parts, including viscera of a slaughtered animal, that are capable of being used for human food. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Claim: means any claim brought against a governmental entity or its employee as permitted by this chapter. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture or the person authorized to enforce this chapter. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture, or any person authorized to act in the commissioner's stead. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture, the commissioner's duly authorized representative, and in the event of the commissioner's absence or vacancy in the office of commissioner, the deputy commissioner. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designated representative. See Tennessee Code 53-7-302
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cost to the processor or distributor: means the actual cost of bulk milk and other ingredients, plus the cost of doing business properly allocable to each item covered by the term "milk products" which cost of doing business includes, but is not limited to, labor, employee salaries, rent, maintenance and depreciation on real and personal property, shrinkage, interest, power, supplies, advertising, transportation and delivery costs, credit losses, all permits and license fees, all taxes, insurance and any and all other overhead expenses. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Cost to the retailer: means the invoice price paid by the retailer for milk products, plus that portion of the retailer's overhead or cost of doing business properly allocable to the milk products, which cost of doing business shall include the same items of expense as are enumerated in the definition of cost to the processor or distributor in subdivision (3). See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Custom slaughterer: means a person engaged for profit in this state in the business of slaughtering or dressing animals for human consumption that are not to be sold or offered for sale through a commercial outlet, and may include the boning or cutting up of carcasses of such animals and the grinding, chopping and mixing of the carcasses of animals. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Dairy products: means pure, clean and wholesome milk, cream, pure milk fat, butter, buttermilk, cheese, ice cream, ice cream mix, ice milk, ice milk mix, ice or ice sherbet, evaporated milk, skimmed milk, condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk, condensed skimmed milk, sweetened condensed skimmed milk, dried milk, dried skimmed milk, any derivatives of milk or combination of products made from milk. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Tennessee department of agriculture. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Department: means the department of agriculture. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Distributor: means any person engaged in the business of selling or offering for sale within the state milk products for consideration, where the property is sold for the purpose of resale or further processing, or is to be used or consumed by the purchaser and not resold or used for the purpose of further processing. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Employee: means and includes any official (whether elected or appointed), officer, employee or servant, or any member of any board, agency, or commission (whether compensated or not), or any officer, employee or servant thereof, of a governmental entity, including the sheriff and the sheriff's employees and, further including regular members of voluntary or auxiliary firefighting, police, or emergency assistance organizations. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• Employee: means a person:
  (A) In charge of a food establishment. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• 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.
• Farm to consumer distribution point: means a temporary or permanent location, that is not open to the general public, where a farmer or the farmer's agent delivers food, produced by the farmer and previously sold under an agreement entered into between the farmer and the consumer, directly to the consumer or the consumer's agent. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Finished dosage form: means that form of a drug that is, or is intended to be, dispensed or administered to a patient and requires no further manufacturing or processing other than packaging, reconstitution or labeling. See Tennessee Code 53-10-203
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Food Code: means the 2009 Food Code as published by the United States department of health and human services, public health service, food and drug administration. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Food establishments: means retail food stores, and food service establishments located within retail food stores. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Food service establishment: includes places identified in subdivision (10)(A), regardless of whether there is a charge for the food. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Generic equivalent: means a drug product that has the same established name, active ingredients, strength or concentration, dosage form, and route of administration and that is formulated to contain the same amount of active ingredients, in the same dosage form, and to meet the same compendial or other applicable standards, i. See Tennessee Code 53-10-203
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governmental entity: means any political subdivision of the state of Tennessee including, but not limited to, any municipality, metropolitan government, county, utility district, school district, nonprofit volunteer fire department receiving funds appropriated by a county legislative body or a legislative body of a municipality, human resource agency, community action agency or nonprofit corporation that administers the Head Start or Community Service Block Grant programs, public building authority, and development district created and existing pursuant to the constitution and laws of Tennessee, or any instrumentality of government created by any one (1) or more of the named local governmental entities or by an act of the general assembly. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Immediate container: means any consumer package, or any other container in which an article, not consumer packaged, is packed. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Imminent health hazard: means any condition, deficiency, or practice that, if not corrected, is very likely to result in illness, injury, or loss of life to any person. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• In forma pauperis: In the manner of a pauper. Permission given to a person to sue without payment of court fees on claim of indigence or poverty.
• infrequent casual sales: means sales not in excess of one hundred fifty dollars ($150) per day on any particular day. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Injury: means death, injury to a person, damage to or loss of property or any other injury that one may suffer to one's person, or estate, that would be actionable if inflicted by a private person or such person's agent. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• Inspector: means an employee or official of this state authorized by the commissioner to inspect the operation and facilities of any custom slaughterhouse or meat or poultry processing establishment. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Interchangeable biological product: means :
  (A) A biological product licensed by the federal food and drug administration and determined to meet the safety standards for determining interchangeability pursuant to 42 U. See Tennessee Code 53-10-203
• Intrastate commerce: means commerce within this state. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• 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.
• Label: means any written, printed, or graphic material upon the shipping container, if any, or upon the immediate container, including, but not limited to, an individual consumer package, of an article, or accompanying the article. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Livestock: means cattle, sheep, swine, goats or rabbits. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Meat: means the edible part of the muscle of cattle, deer, sheep, swine or goats that is skeletal or that is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in the 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 and that are not separated from it in the process of dressing. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Meat food product: means any article of food, or any article intended for or capable of use as human food, that is derived or prepared, in whole or in part, from any portion of any livestock or deer, unless exempted by the commissioner upon the commissioner's determination that the article:
  (A) Contains only a minimal amount of meat and is not represented as a meat food product. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Milk products: means all or any one (1) of the following: market milk, pasteurized milk, vitamin-D milk, homogenized milk, flavored milk or flavored milk drinks, sweet cream, whipping cream, homogenized cream, skim milk, cottage cheese, buttermilk, and cultured buttermilk, as those products are defined by the commissioner under §. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Official establishment: means any establishment in this state, as determined by the commissioner, at which inspection of the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the processing of livestock, deer, or poultry carcasses or parts of livestock, deer, or poultry carcasses, meat food products, or poultry products, is maintained under the authority of this part. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Official inspection mark: means any symbol, formulated pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, stating that an article was inspected and passed. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• package: include any box, can, tin, cloth, plastic, or any other receptacle, wrapper or cover. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes an individual, firm, corporation, company or association. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Person: means and includes one (1) or more individuals, partnerships, associations, incorporated, unincorporated or cooperative, corporations, legal representatives, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, or any other business unit, or any combination of these, except where the context otherwise requires. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or any other business entity. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, agency, municipality, state or political subdivision, or the federal government and its agencies and departments. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other business unit. See Tennessee Code 53-7-302
• Person in charge: means an individual present at a food establishment who is responsible for the operation at the time of inspection. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Poultry: means any live or slaughtered domesticated bird. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Poultry product: means any poultry that has been slaughtered for human food from which the blood, feathers, feet, head and viscera have been removed in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner, any edible part of poultry, or any human food product consisting of any edible part of poultry separately or in combination with other ingredients. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Prescriber: means an individual authorized by law to prescribe drugs. See Tennessee Code 53-10-203
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Processor: means any person engaged in the business of processing or packaging bulk milk and other materials into milk products. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Processor: means a person who engages for profit in this state in the business of packing or packaging carcasses, meat, meat food products or meat by-products, or poultry or poultry products, for human consumption, or a person engaged for profit in the business of curing, salting, processing or other preparing of carcasses, meat, meat food products or meat by-products for human consumption. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Receiving plant: means all places where dairy products or milk products not in consumer packages are received on consignment or otherwise, stored or transported, but where packaging, processing or manufacturing does not occur. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Retail food store: means any establishment or a section of an establishment where food and food products are offered to the consumer and intended for off-premise consumption. See Tennessee Code 53-8-103
• Retailer: means any person, whether or not a processor or distributor, engaged in the business of selling or offering for sale within the state milk products for a consideration, where the milk products are to be used or consumed by the purchaser and are not to be resold or used for the purpose of manufacture or further processing. See Tennessee Code 53-3-201
• Sell: includes "offer for sale" "expose for sale" "have in possession for sale" "exchange" "barter" or "trade". See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Shipping container: means any container used or intended for use in packaging the article packed in an immediate container. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trade products: means any products made in semblance of dairy products that may be used as a substitute for dairy products. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Trade products plants: means all places where trade products are packaged, processed or manufactured. See Tennessee Code 53-3-103
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Unwholesome: means :
  (A) Unsound, injurious to health, containing any biological residue not permitted by rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, or otherwise rendered unfit for human food. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• Wholesome: means sound, healthful, clean and otherwise fit for human food. See Tennessee Code 53-7-202
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105