Official inspection mark means any symbol prescribed by the regulations of the Administrator showing that egg products were inspected in accordance with this part.

Official standards means the standards of quality, grades, and weight classes for eggs, as described under part 56 of this chapter under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.), or as hereafter amended.

Office of inspection means the office of any inspector.

Pasteurize means the subjecting of each particle of egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful viable microorganisms by such processes as may be prescribed by these regulations.

Person means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other business unit.

Pesticide chemical, Food additive, Color additive, and Raw agricultural commodity shall have the same meaning for purposes of this part as under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Plant means any place of business where egg products are processed:

(a) Exempted plant means any plant where the Administrator has determined the facilities and operating procedures meet such standards as may be prescribed by this part, and where the eggs received or used in the manufacture of egg products contain no more restricted eggs than are allowed by the official standards of U.S. Consumer Grade B for shell eggs, and where an exemption has been granted.

(b) Official plant means any plant in which the plant facilities, methods of operation and sanitary procedures have been found suitable and adequate by the Administrator for the continuous inspection of egg products in accordance with this part and in which inspection service is carried on.

Potable water means water that has been approved by a State health authority or other agency or laboratory acceptable to the Administrator as safe for drinking and suitable for food processing.

Processing means manufacturing of egg products, including breaking eggs

or filtering, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing or drying, or packaging egg products at official plants.

Producer-packer means any producer who sorts eggs only from his own production and packs them into their various qualities.

Quality means the inherent properties of any product which determine its relative degree of excellence.

Regional Director means any employee of the Department in charge of inspection service in a designated geographical region.

Regulations means the provisions in this part.

Regulatory inspector means any employee of the U.S. Government, or State or local jurisdiction, who is authorized by the Secretary to make such inspections as required in §59.28 of these regulations.

Sampling means the act of taking samples of any product for inspection or analyses.

Sanitize means the application of a bactericidal treatment which is approved as being effective in destroying microorganisms, including pathogens.

Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture or his delegate.

Service means the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department.

Shell egg packer (grading station) means any person engaged in the sorting of eggs from sources other than or in addition to his own production into their various qualities, either mechanically or by other means.

Stabilization means the subjection of any egg product to a desugaring proc

ess.

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.

United States means the States.

Washed ungraded eggs means eggs which have been washed but not sized or segregated for quality.

White or albumen means, for the purpose of this part, the product obtained

from the egg as broken from the shell and separated from the yolk.

[36 FR 9814, May 28, 1971, as amended at 37 FR 6657, Apr. 4, 1972; 40 FR 20057, May 8, 1975. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and amended at 43 FR 60138, Dec. 26, 1978. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981, and amended at 47 FR 46070, Oct. 15, 1982; 47 FR 54421, Dec. 3, 1982; 54 FR 37289, Sept. 8, 1989; 60 FR 49168, Sept. 21, 1995; 60 FR 58199, Nov. 27, 1995]

ADMINISTRATION

§ 59.10 Authority.

The Administrator shall perform, for and under the supervision of the Secretary, such duties as the Secretary may require in the enforcement or administration of the provisions of the Act, and this part. The Administrator may waive for a limited period any particular provisions of the regulations to permit experimentation so that new procedures, equipment, and processing techniques may be tested to facilitate definite improvements and at the same time to maintain full compliance with the spirit and intent of the regulations. The Agricultural Marketing Service and its officers and employees shall not be liable in damages through acts of commission or omission in the administration of this part.

[42 FR 2971, Jan. 14, 1977. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 59.13 Federal and State cooperation. The Secretary shall, whenever he determines that it would effectuate the purposes of the Act, authorize the Administrator to cooperate with appropriate State and other governmental agencies in carrying out any provisions of the Egg Products Inspection Act and these regulations. In carrying out the provisions of the Act and the regulations, the Secretary may conduct such examinations, investigations, and inspections as he determines practicable through any officer or employee of any such agency commissioned by him for such purpose. The Secretary shall reimburse the States and other agencies for the services rendered by them in such cooperative programs as agreed to in the cooperative agreements as signed by the Administrator and the

RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITIES

§ 59.30 At official plants.

(a) Requirements within the scope of the Act with respect to premises, facilities, and operations of any official plant which are in addition to or different than those made under this part may not be imposed by any State or local jurisdiction except that any such jurisdiction may impose recordkeeping and other requirements within the scope of §59.200, if consistent therewith, with respect to any such plant.

(b) Labeling, packaging, or ingredient requirements in addition to or different than those made under this part, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act may not be imposed by any State or local jurisdiction with respect to egg products processed at any official plant in accordance with the requirements under this part and such Acts.

§ 59.35 Eggs and egg products outside official plants.

(a) For eggs which have moved or are moving in interstate or foreign commerce, no State or local jurisdiction (1) may require the use of standards of quality, condition, grade, or weight classes which are in addition to or different than the official standards or (2) other than those in noncontiguous

areas of the United States may require labeling to show the State or other geographical area of production or origin. This shall not preclude a State from requiring the name, address, and license number of the person processing or packaging eggs to be shown on each container.

(b) Any State or local jurisdiction may exercise jurisdiction with respect to eggs and egg products for the purpose of preventing the distribution for human food purposes of any such articles which are outside of the official plant and are in violation of this part or any of said Federal Acts or any State or local law consistent therewith.

EGGS AND EGG PRODUCTS NOT INTENDED FOR HUMAN FOOD

§ 59.40 Continuous inspection not provided.

Continuous inspection shall not be provided under this part at any plant for the processing of any egg products which are not intended for use as human food, but such articles prior to their offer for sale or transportation in commerce shall be denatured or decharacterized unless shipped under seal as authorized in §§ 59.504(c) and 59.720(a), and identified as prescribed by the regulations in this part to prevent their use for human food. Periodic inspections shall be made of such operations and records to assure compliance with the Act and the regulations in this part.

[37 FR 6657, Apr. 1, 1972. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 59.45 Prohibition on eggs and egg products not intended for use as human food.

(a) No person shall buy, sell, or transport or offer to buy or sell, or offer or receive for transportation in commerce, any eggs or egg products which are not intended for use as human food, unless they are denatured or decharacterized, unless shipped under seal as authorized in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section or in §§ 59.504(c) and 59.720(a) and identified as required by the regulations in this part.

(b) No person shall import or export shell eggs classified as loss, inedible, or incubator rejects or any egg products which are unwholesome, adulterated, or are otherwise unfit for human food purposes, except as provided in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, unless they are denatured or decharacterized and identified as required by the regulations in this part.

(c) Egg products which are unwholesome, adulterated, or are otherwise unfit for human food purposes that are not denatured or decharacterized may be exported to foreign countries for industrial use or animal food under the following provisions:

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(1) Authorized government official of the foreign country shall approve the importation of such products into that country.

(2) The egg products shall be shipped under U.S. Government seal and identified as required in §59.840.

(3) Provisions for the control of such inedible product in the foreign country to preclude its use as human food must be established and approved by the Administrator. Such control may consist of, but not be limited to, receipt and inspection by an appropriate U.S. Government official, an official of an approved meat, poultry, or egg products inspection system of the foreign government, or, when acceptable to the Administrator, a foreign government official including other foreign health authorities.

The following are exempt to the extent prescribed as to the provisions for control of restricted eggs in section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act and the provision for continuous inspection of processing operations in section 5(a) of the Act: Provided, That as to paragraphs (c) through (f) of this section, the exemptions do not apply to restricted eggs when prohibited by State or local law: And provided further, That the sale of "hard-cooked shell eggs" or "peeled hard-cooked shell eggs" prepared from checks is subject to the conditions for exemption in paragraphs (c), (d), and (f) of this section: And provided further, That the conditions for exemption and provisions of these regulations are met: (a) The sale, transportation, possession, or use of eggs which contain no more restricted eggs than are allowed

by the tolerances in the official standards for U.S. Consumer Grade B shell eggs;

(b) Subject to the approval of the Administrator as provided in §§ 59.600 through 59.670, the processing of egg products without continuous inspection at any plant where the facilities, sanitation, and operating procedures are the same as are required in this part for official plants and where the eggs received or used in the manufacture of egg products contain no more restricted eggs than are allowed by the official standards for U.S. Consumer Grade B shell eggs, and the egg products processed at such plant;

(c) The sale at the site of production, on a door-to-door retail route, or at an established place of business away from the site of production, by a poultry producer of eggs from his own flock's production directly to a household consumer exclusively for use by such consumer and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees, and the transportation, possession, and use of such eggs: Provided, That each such sale of restricted eggs shall be limited to no more than 30 dozen eggs; And provided further, (1) That eggs sold directly to consumers at an established place of business away from the site of production be moved directly from the producer to such place of business; (2) that such business away from the site of production be owned and managed by the producer; and (3) that such eggs which are sold on a door-to-door route or at an established place of business away from the site of production shall contain no more loss and/or leakers than allowed in the official standards for U.S. Consumer Grade B shell eggs.

(d) The sale of eggs by any producer with an annual egg production from a flock of 3,000 hens or less and the record requirements of § 59.200;

(e) The processing and sale of egg products by any poultry producer from eggs of his own flock's production when sold directly to a household consumer exclusively for use by such consumer and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees;

(f) The sale of eggs by shell egg packers on the premises where the grading