lations (7 CFR Part 54) governing the inspection of domestic rabbits and edible products thereof for inspection for condition and wholesomeness of domestic rabbits canned or otherwise processed at the following designated plant: Name of plant Street address City and State In making this application the applicant agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of the aforesaid regulations (including but not being limited to such instructions governing inspection of products as may be issued, from time to time, by the Administrator). This application is made for inspection service to be performed on a resident inspection basis in accordance with § 54.107, and such other provisions of the aforesaid regulations as are applicable. By (Applicant)1 (Street) 55.24 55.25 (Date) Application granted: 55.27 (Date) (Title) Suspension of plant approval. VIOLATIONS NOTE: The reporting requirements contained herein have been approved by the Bureau of the Budget in accordance with the Federal Reports Act of 1942. Approval of official identification. Form of official identification symbol and inspection mark. Products that may bear the inspec tion mark. Form of other identification. Products which may bear other official identification. Processing turkey, guinea, duck, and goose eggs. Products not eligible for official identification. Unauthorized use or disposition of approved labels. Supervision of marking and packag Accessibility of product. Grading certificates and sampling report forms. Grading certificate issuance. Disposition of grading certificates. Advance information. Sec. 55.52 55.53 55.54 55.55 55.56 55.57 55.58 55.59 55.60 55.61 55.62 55.63 55.64 55.65 55.66 55.68 55.69 55.70 55.75 55.76 55.77 55.78 55.79 55.80 55.81 55.82 55.83 Record of filing time. When an application for an appeal Who shall make appeal gradings. FEES AND CHARGES Payment of fees and charges. Fees for appeal grading. Fees for additional copies of grading certificates. Travel expenses and other charges. Egg products grading and inspection fees. Egg products laboratory analyses fees. On a resident inspection basis. Fees for grading service performed under cooperative agreement. Charges and other provisions where application is in effect during season of no operation. SANITARY REQUIREMENTS Plant requirements. Candling and transfer-room operations. Egg washing area. Egg cleaning operations. Breaking room facilities. Breaking room operations. 55.84 Liquid egg cooling facilities. 55.85 Liquid cooling operations. 55.86 Liquid egg holding. Freezing facilities. 55.87 Sec. 55.122 Subpart B-Forms and Instructions APPLICATION FOR GRADING SERVICE Application for grading inspection service with respect to egg products. Subpart C-Official United States Standards for Palatability Scores for Dried Whole Eggs 55.125 Preparation of samples for palatability test. 55.126 Palatability scores for dried whole eggs. CROSS REFERENCE: For regulations governing the grading and inspection of shell eggs and United States standards, grades, and weight classes for shell eggs, see Part 56 of this chapter. AUTHORITY: The provisions of this Part 55 issued under sec. 205, 60 Stat. 1090, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 1624. Subpart A-Grading and Inspection of Egg Products DEFINITIONS § 55.1 Meaning of words. Under the regulations in this part, words in the singular shall be deemed to import the plural and vice versa, as the case may demand. [20 F.R. 1865, Mar. 29, 1955] § 55.2 Terms defined. For the purpose of the regulations in this part, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, as follows: (a) "Act" means the applicable provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087; 7 U. S. C. 1621 et seq.), or any other act of Congress conferring like authority. (b) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Consumer and Marketing Service of the Department or any other officer or employee of the Department to whom there has heretofore been delegated, or to whom there may hereafter be delegated the authority to act in his stead. (c) "Applicant” means any interested party who requests any grading or inspection service, or appeal grading or appeal inspection, with respect to any product. (d) "Area Supervisor" means any employee of the Department in charge of poultry grading service in a designated geographical area. (e) "Class" means any subdivision of a product based on essential physical characteristics that differentiate between major groups of the same kind, species, or method of processing. (f) "Condition" means any condition (including, but not being limited to, the state of preservation, cleanliness, soundness, wholesomeness, or fitness for human food) of any product which affects its merchantability; or any condition, including but not being limited to, the processing, handling, or packaging which affects such product. (g) "Department" means the United States Department of Agriculture. (h) "Eggs of current production" means shell eggs which have moved through usual marketing channels since the time they were laid, and have not been held in refrigerated storage in excess of 60 days, except that segregated checks and dirty eggs which have been held in excess of 7 days shall not be considered as "eggs of current production". (i) "Grader" means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary, or any other person to whom a license has been issued by the Secretary, to investigate and certify, in accordance with the act and this part, to shippers of products and other interested parties the class, quality, quantity, and condition of such products. (j) "Grading" means (1) the act of determining, according to the regulations, the class, quality, quantity, or condition of any product by examining each unit thereof or a representative sample drawn by a grader or sampler; (2) the act of issuing a grading certificate; or (3) the act of identifying, when requested by the applicant, any product by means of official identification pursuant to the act and this part. (k) "Grading certificate" or "processing and packaging certificate" means a statement, either written or printed, issued by a grader, pursuant to the act and this part, relative to the class, quality, quantity, and condition of products. (1) "Grading service" or "continuous inspection" means (1) any grading or inspection, in accordance with the act and the regulations, of any product, (2) continuous supervision, in any official plant, of the preparation or packaging of any product, or (3) any appeal grading or appeal inspection of any previously graded or inspected product. (m) "Inspector” means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary, or any other person to whom a license has been issued by the Secretary, to inspect and certify the quality, quantity, and condition of products. (n) "Interested party" means any person financially interested in a transaction involving any grading or appeal grading of any product. (o) "National Supervisor" means (1) the officer in charge of the poultry grading service of the Service, and (2) such other employee of the Service as may be designated by him. (p) "Office of grading" means the office of any grader, sampler, or inspector. (q) [Reserved] (r) "Official plant" means any plant in which the facilities and methods of operation therein have been found by the Administrator to be suitable and adequate for grading service or continuous inspection in accordance with this part and in which grading service is carried on. (s) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, or any organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not. (t) "Product" or "products" means eggs (whether shell, liquid, frozen, or dried) and egg products. Such term shall also include any food product which is prepared or manufactured from any product if such product constitutes a substantial portion, by weight, of all the ingredients used in the preparation or manufacture of such food product. (u) "Quality" means the inherent properties of any product which determine its relative degree of excellence. (v) "Regulations" means the provisions in this part. (w) "Sampler" means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary, or any other person to whom a license has been issued by the Secretary, to draw samples of products for grading by a grader or for lot analysis under the act and this part. (x) "Sampling" means the act of taking samples of any product for grading. (y) “Sampling report” means a statement, either written or printed, issued by a sampler, identifying samples taken by him for grading. (z) "Sanitize" means to subject to an acceptable germicidal agent. (aa) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department or any other officer or employee of the Department to whom there has heretofore been delegated, or to whom there may hereafter be delegated, the authority to act in his stead. (bb) "Service" means the Consumer and Marketing Service of the Department. (cc) "Shell eggs" means shell eggs of domesticated chickens. (dd) "Stabilization" means the subjection of any egg product to a desugaring process. [20 FR. 1865, Mar. 29, 1955, as amended at 20 F. R. 9893, Dec. 23, 1955; 21 F. R. 2028, Mar. 31, 1956, 24 F.R. 6413, Aug. 11, 1959] § 55.2a Designation of official certificates, memoranda, marks, other identifications, and devices for purposes of the Agricultural Marketing Act. Subsection 203 (h) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by Public Law 272, 84th Congress, provides criminal penalties for various specified offenses relating to official certificates, memoranda, marks or other identifications, and devices for making such marks or identifications, issued or authorized under section 203 of said act, and certain misrepresentations concerning the inspection or grading of agricultural products under said section. For the purposes of said subsection and the provisions in this part, the terms listed below shall have the respective meanings specified: (a) "Official certificate" means any form of certification, either written or printed, used under this part to certify with respect to the sampling, inspection, class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition of products (including the compliance of products with applicable specifications). (b) "Official memorandum" means any initial record of findings made by an authorized person in the process of grading, inspecting, or sampling pursuant to this part, any processing or plantoperation report made by an authorized person in connection with grading, inspecting or sampling under this part, and any report made by an authorized person of services performed pursuant to this part. (c) "Official mark" means the grade mark, inspection mark, combined form of inspection and grade mark, and any other mark, or any variations in such marks, approved by the Administrator and authorized to be affixed to any product, or affixed to or printed on the packaging material of any product, stating that the product was graded or inspected or both, or indicating the appropriate U. S. grade or condition of the product, or for the purpose of maintaining the identity of products graded or inspected or both under this part, including but not limited to those set forth in §§ 55.36 through 55.38. (d) "Official identification" means any United States (U. S.) standard designation of class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition specified in this part or any symbol, stamp, label, or seal indicating that the product has been officially graded or inspected and/or indicating the class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition of the product approved by the Administrator and authorized to be affixed to any product, or affixed to or printed on the packaging material of any product. (e) "Official device" means a stamping appliance, branding device, stencil, printed label, or any other mechanically or manually operated tool that is approved by the Administrator for the purpose of applying any official mark of other identification to any product or the packaging material thereof. [20 F. R. 9893, Dec. 23, 1955] ADMINISTRATION § 55.3 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 is authorized to 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 determine full compliance with the spirit and intent of the regulations. [20 F.R. 1865, Mar. 29, 1955] GENERAL § 55.4 Kinds of service available. The regulations in this part provide for the following kinds of service: (a) Continuous inspection of processing liquid and frozen egg products in official plants. (b) Continuous inspection of processing dried egg products in official plants. (c) Sampling and laboratory analysis of liquid, frozen, and dried egg products prepared in official plants. (d) Condition inspection of egg products which were prepared in official plants. (e) Condition inspection and laboratory analysis of frozen whole eggs which were prepared in nonofficial plants. (f) Laboratory analysis of samples (with or without added ingredients) of dried and frozen egg products which were prepared in nonofficial plants and which are submitted to the laboratory by the applicant. [20 F.R. 1865, Mar. 29, 1955, as amended at 27 F.R. 8580, Aug. 28, 1962] § 55.5 Where grading service is offered. Any product may be graded, inspected, and sampled wherever a grader, sampler, or inspector is available and the facilities and the conditions are satisfactory for the conduct of the grading service. [20 F.R. 1866, Mar. 29, 1955] § 55.6 Basis of service. (a) Products shall be graded or inspected in accordance with such standards, methods, and instructions as may be issued or approved by the Administrator. All grading service shall be subject to supervision at all times by the applicable State supervisor, circuit supervisor, area supervisor, and national supervisor. Whenever the supervisor of a grader or inspector has evidence that such grader or inspector incorrectly graded or inspected a product such supervisor shall take such action as is necessary to correct the grading or inspection and to cause any improper official identification which appears on the product or containers thereof to be corrected prior to shipment of the product from the place of the initial grading or inspection. (b) Whenever grading or inspection service is performed on a sample basis, such sample shall be drawn as follows: (1) When frozen eggs are packed in 30pound or larger containers, a sufficient number of randomly selected containers equivalent to not less than the square root of the total number in the lot shall be selected. When frozen eggs are packed in smaller containers, the number of containers to be selected shall be not less than the figure obtained by dividing the total net weight of the lot by 30 and extracting the square root thereof; (2) samples of dried egg solids of appropriate size shall be drawn in approximately equal portions from four randomly selected containers in each lot. For sampling purposes a lot shall consist of not more than 15,000 pounds. If the lot consists of less than four containers, the sample shall be drawn in approximately equal portions from each container in the lot. [20 F.R. 1866, Mar. 29, 1955, as amended at 26 F.R. 3952, May 6, 1961, 27 F.R. 8580, Aug. 28, 1962] PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES § 55.10 Licensed graders, inspectors, and samplers. (a) Any person who is a Federal or State employee, possessing proper qualifications as determined by an examination for competency and who is to perform services pursuant to this part may be licensed by the Secretary as a grader, inspector, or sampler. (b) All licenses issued by the Secretary are to be countersigned by the offcer in charge of the poultry grading service of the Consumer and Marketing Service or by any other official of such Service designated by such officer. (c) No person may be licensed to grade, inspect, or sample any product in which he is financially interested. [20 F.R. 1866, Mar. 29, 1955, as amended at 22 F. R. 9339, Nov. 22, 1957] § 55.11 Limited license may be issued. To any person possessing proper qualifications, as determined by the Administrator, there may be issued a limited license by the Secretary to inspect liquid and frozen eggs that are produced under the supervision of an inspector. No person to whom a limited license is issued by the Secretary shall have the authority to issue any grading certificate; and all eggs (whether shell, liquid, or frozen) which are graded or inspected by any such person shall thereafter be checkgraded or check-inspected by a grader or inspector. All limited licenses, issued by the Secretary, are to be countersigned by the officer in charge of the poultry grading service of the Consumer and Marketing Service or by any other official of such service designated by such officer. [20 F.R. 1866, Mar. 29, 1955] § 55.12 Suspension of license. Pending final action by the Secretary the aforesaid officer in charge of the poultry grading service may, whenever he |