APPEAL OF A GRADING OR DECISION

56.60 Who may request an appeal grading or review of a grader's decision. 56.61 Where to file an appeal. 56.62 How to file an appeal.

56.63 When an application for an appeal grading may be refused.

56.64 Who shall perform the appeal. 56.65 Procedures for appeal gradings. 56.66 Appeal grading certificates.

FACILITY REQUIREMENTS

56.75 Applicability of facility and operating requirements.

56.76 Minimum facility and operating requirements for shell egg grading and packing plants.

56.77 Health and hygiene of personnel.

AUTHORITY: 7 U.S.C. 1621–1627.

Subpart A-Grading of Shell Eggs

DEFINITIONS

$56.1 Meaning of words and terms defined.

For the purpose of the regulations in this part, words in the singular shall be deemed to import the plural and vice versa, as the case may demand, and unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, as follows:

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.

Administrator means the Administrator of the Agricultural 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.

Ambient temperature means the air temperature maintained in an egg storage facility or transport vehicle.

Applicant means an interested party who requests any grading service, appeal grading, or regrading with respect to any product.

Cage mark means any stain-type mark caused by an egg coming in contact with a material that imparts a rusty or blackish appearance to the shell.

Case means, when referring to containers, an egg case, as used in com

mercial practice in the United States, holding 30 dozens of shell eggs.

Chief of the Grading Branch means the Chief of the Poultry Grading Branch of the Poultry Division, Agricultural Marketing Service.

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.

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.

Department means the United States Department of Agriculture.

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 30 days. "Refrigerator or storage eggs" means shell eggs which have been held under refrigeration for a period of more than 30 days.

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.

Grading or grading service means: (1) The act whereby a grader determines, according to the regulations in this part, the class, quality, quantity, or condition of any product by examining each unit thereof or each unit of the representative sample thereof drawn by a grader and issues a grading certificate with respect thereto, except that with respect to grading service performed on a resident basis the issuance of a grading certificate shall be pursuant to a request therefor by the applicant or the Service; (2) the act whereby the grader identifies, according to the regulations in this part, the graded product; (3) continuous supervision, in an official plant, of the handling or packaging of any product; and (4) any regrading or any appeal grading of a previously graded product.

Grading certificate means a statement, either written or printed, issued by a grader pursuant to the act and this part, relative to the class, quantity, quality, or condition of products.

Holiday or legal holiday shall mean the legal public holidays specified by the Congress in paragraph (a) of section 6103, title 5, of the United States Code.

Interested party means any person financially interested in a transaction involving any grading, appeal grading, or regrading of any product.

National supervisor means (1) the officer in charge of the shell egg grading service of the Agricultural Marketing Service, and (2) such other employees of the Service as may be designated by him.

Nest run eggs means eggs which are packed as they come from the production facilities without having been washed, sized and/or candled for quality, with the exception that some Checks, Dirties, or other obvious undergrades may have been removed. Office of grading means the office of any grader.

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 in accordance with this part and in which grading service is carried on.

Origin grading is a grading made on a lot of eggs at a plant where the eggs are graded and packed.

Person means any individual, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, or any organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not.

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

Product or products means shell eggs of the domesticated chicken.

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

Quality assurance inspector means any designated company employee other than the plant owner, manager, foreman, or supervisor, authorized by the Secretary to examine product and to

supervise the labeling, dating, and lotting of officially graded shell eggs and to assure that such product is packaged under sanitary conditions, graded by authorized personnel, and maintained under proper inventory control until released by an employee of the Department.

Regional director means any employee of the Department in charge of the shell egg grading service in a designated geographical area.

Regulations means the provisions in this part.

Sampling means the act of taking samples of any product for grading.

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. Service means the Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department.

Shell eggs means shell eggs of domesticated chickens.

Shell protected means eggs which have had a protective covering such as oil applied to the shell surface. The product used shall be acceptable to the Food and Drug Administration.

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

[20 FR 669, Feb. 1, 1955]

EDITORIAL NOTE: For FEDERAL REGISTER citations affecting §56.1, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and on GPO Access.

§ 56.2 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 Pub. L. 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 grading of agricultural products under said section. For the purposes of said subsection and the

provisions in this part, the terms listed in this section 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, 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 or sampling pursuant to this part, any processing or plant-operation report made by an authorized person in connection with grading 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 grademark 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 indicating the appropriate U.S. grade or condition of the product, or for the purpose of maintaining the identity of products graded under this part, including but not limited to, those set forth in § 56.36.

(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 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 or other identification to any product or the packaging material thereof.

[28 FR 6341, June 20, 1963. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

ADMINISTRATION

§ 56.3 Administration.

(a) 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 limited periods any particular provisions of the regulations in this part 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 in this part. 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.

(b) The conduct of all services and the licensing of graders under these regulations shall be accomplished

without discrimination as to race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, or disability.

[20 FR 670, Feb. 1, 1955, as amended at 38 FR 26798, Sept. 26, 1973; 42 FR 2970, Jan. 14, 1977. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981, as amended at 60 FR 12402, Mar. 7, 1995]

GENERAL

§ 56.4 Basis of grading service.

(a) Any grading service in accordance with the regulations in this part shall be for class, quality, quantity, or condition or any combination thereof. Grading service with respect to the determination of the quality of products shall be on the basis of the "United States Standards, Grades, and Weight Classes" as contained in subpart C of this part. However, grading service may be rendered with respect to products which are bought and sold on the basis of institutional contract specifications or specifications of the applicant and such service, when approved by the Administrator, shall be rendered on the basis of such specifications. The supervision of packaging shall be in accordance with such instructions as may be approved or issued by the Administrator.

For each additional 50 cases, or fraction thereof, in excess of 600 cases, one additional case shall be included in the sample.

[20 FR 670, Feb. 1, 1955, as amended at 22 FR 8167, Oct. 16, 1957; 28 FR 6342, June 20, 1963; 42 FR 2970, Jan. 14, 1977. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 56.5 Accessibility and condition of product.

Each product for which grading service is requested shall be so conditioned and placed as to permit a proper determination of the class, quality, quantity, or condition of such product.

[20 FR 670, Feb. 1, 1955, as amended at 27 FR 10317, Oct. 23, 1962. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 56.6 Supervision.

All grading service shall be subject to supervision at all times by the applicable State supervisor, regional director and national supervisor. Such service shall be rendered where the facilities and conditions are satisfactory for the conduct of the service and the requisite graders are available. Whenever the supervisor of a grader has evidence that such grader incorrectly graded a product, such supervisor shall take such ac

$56.10 Who may be licensed.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c) of this section, any person who is a Federal or State employee, the employee of a local jurisdiction, or the employee of a cooperating agency possessing proper qualifications as determined by an examination for competency and who is to perform grading service under this part, may be licensed by the Secretary as a grader.

(b) All licenses issued by the Secretary shall be countersigned by the officer in charge of the poultry grading service of the Agricultural Marketing Service or any other designated officer of such Service.

(c) No person may be licensed to grade or sample any product in which he is financially interested.

[20 FR 670, Feb. 1, 1955, as amended at 28 FR 6342, June 20, 1963; 37 FR 12918, June 30, 1972. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

$56.11 Authorization to perform limited grading services.

Any person who is employed by any official plant and possesses proper qualifications, as determined by the Administrator, may be authorized to candle and grade eggs on the basis of the "U.S. Standards for Quality of Individual Shell Eggs," with respect to eggs purchased from producers or eggs to be packaged with official identification. In addition, such authorization may be granted to any qualified person to act as a "quality assurance inspector" in the packaging and grade labeling of products. No person to whom such authorization is granted shall have authority to issue any grading certificates, grading memoranda, or other official documents; and all eggs which are graded by any such person

shall thereafter be check graded by a grader.

[42 FR 2970, Jan. 14, 1977. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 56.12 Suspension of license; revocation.

Pending final action by the Secretary, any person authorized to countersign a license to perform grading service may, whenever he deems such action necessary to assure that any grading service is properly performed, suspend any license to perform grading service issued pursuant to this part, by giving notice of such suspension to the respective licensee, accompanied by a statement of the reasons therefor. Within 7 days after the receipt of the aforesaid notice and statement of reasons, the licensee may file an appeal in writing, with the Secretary, supported by any argument or evidence that he may wish to offer as to why his license should not be further suspended or revoked. After the expiration of the aforesaid 7-day period and consideration of such argument and evidence, the Secretary will take such action as he deems appropriate with respect to such suspension or revocation. When no appeal is filed within the prescribed 7 days, the license to perform grading service is revoked.

[35 FR 19327, Dec. 22, 1970. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 56.13 Cancellation of license.

Upon termination of his services as a grader, each licensee shall surrender his license immediately for cancellation.

[42 FR 2970, Jan. 14, 1977. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

$56.14 Surrender of license.

Each license which is canceled, suspended, or has expired shall immediately be surrendered by the licensee to the office of grading serving the area in which he is located.

[31 FR 2773, Feb. 16, 1966. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]