U.S.D. A. EXAMINED AS CERTIFIED XE

Figure

USDA

UF

Figure 3

Figure 5

The letters "AC,” “XE," and "UF" shown in figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are examples, respectively, of the code identification letters of the official grader performing the service.

[34 F.R. 19338, Dec. 6, 1969]

§ 53.20 Custody of identification devices.

All identification devices used in marking products or the containers thereof under the regulations, including those indicating compliance with specifications approved by the Chief, shall be kept in the custody of the Branch, and accurate records shall be kept by the Branch of all such devices. Each office of grading shall keep a record of the devices assigned to it. Such devices shall be distributed only to persons authorized by the Department, who shall keep the devices in their possession or control at all times and maintain complete records of such devices.

[34 F.R. 19339, Dec. 6, 1969]

§ 53.21

APPEAL SERVICE

What is appeal service; marking products on appeal; requirements for appeal; certain determinations not appealable.

(a) Appeal service is a redetermination of the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of product when the applicant for the appeal service formally challenges the correctness of the original determination. Only a person who has title to, or is a party to a contract for the sale of, a product may request appeal service with respect to such product and if the original determination of class, grade, other quality or compliance is found on appeal to have been in error all incorrect marks of class, grade, other quality and compliance will be removed from the product, and if the person having title to the product so requests, correct marks as determined on the appeal will be applied to the product. Examination requested to determine the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of a product which has been altered or has undergone a material change since the original service, or examination of product requested for the purpose of obtaining an up-to-date certificate and not involving any question as to the correctness of the original service for the product involved, shall be considered equivalent to original service and not appeal service.

(b) Grade determinations for the following cannot be appealed: any lot of a product consisting of less than ten similar units; wholesale cuts, or other subdivisions of meat originally graded as larger units; and veal and calf carcasses originally graded with hides on. Moreover, appeal service will not be furnished with respect to product that has been altered or has undergone any material change since the original service. § 53.22 Request for appeal service.

Except as otherwise provided in § 53.21, a request for appeal service with respect to any product under the regulations may be made by any person who is financially interested in the product when he disagrees with the determination as to class, grade, other quality, or compliance of the product as shown by the markings on the product or its containers, or as stated in the applicable certificate. A request for appeal service shall be filed with the Chief, directly

or through the official grader who performed the original service or the official in charge of the office, of grading to which such grader was assigned at the time of the service, or through the nearest office of grading. The request shall state the reasons therefor and may be accompanied by a copy of any previous certificate or report, or any other information which the applicant may have received regarding the product at the time of the original service. Such request may be made orally (including by telephone) or in writing (including by telegram). If made orally, the person receiving the request may require that it be confirmed in writing. Requests for appeal service received through an offcial grader or an office of grading shall be transmitted promptly to the Chief for instructions.

§ 53.23

When request for appeal service may be withdrawn.

A request for appeal service may be withdrawn by the applicant at any time before the appeal service has been performed, upon payment of any expenses already incurred under the regulations by the Branch in connection therewith. § 53.24 Denial or withdrawal of appeal service.

A request for appeal service may be rejected or such service may be otherwise denied to or withdrawn from any person, without a hearing, in accordance with the procedure set forth in § 53.13(b), if it shall appear that the person or product involved is not eligible for appeal service under § 53.21, or that the identity of the product has been lost; or for any of the causes set forth in § 53.13(b). Appeal service may also be denied to, or withdrawn from, any person in any case under § 53.13 (a), in accordance with the procedure set forth in said section.

product for which he previously performed the service.

§ 53.26 Appeal certificates.

Immediately after appeal service has been performed for any products, a certificate designated as an "appeal certificate" shall be prepared, signed, and issued referring specifically to the original certificate and stating the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of the products as shown by the appeal service.

§ 53.27 Susperseded certificates.

The appeal certificate shall supersede the original certificate which, thereupon, shall become null and void and shall not thereafter be deemed to show the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of the products described therein. However, the fees charged for the original service shall not be remitted. If the original and all copies of the superseded certificate are not delivered to the official with whom the request for appeal service is filed, the official graders issuing the appeal certificate shall forward notice of such issuance and of the cancellation of the original certificate to such persons as they may deem necessary to prevent fraudulent use of the superseded certificate.

§ 53.28 Application of other regulations to appeal service.

The regulations in §§ 53.1 through 53.20 and §§ 53.29 through 53.32 shall apply to appeal service except insofar as they are manifestly inapplicable. CHARGES FOR SERVICE

§ 53.29

Fees and other charges for service.

Fees and other charges equal as nearly as may be to the cost of the services rendered shall be assessed and collected from applicants in accordance with the following provisions unless otherwise provided in the cooperative agreement under which the services are furnished, or as provided in § 53.8.

(a) Fees based on hourly rates. Except as otherwise provided in this section, fees for service shall be based on the time required to render the service, calculated to the nearest 15-minute period, including the time required for the preparation of certificates and travel of the official grader in connection with the performance of the service. A minimum charge for one-half hour shall be made

for service pursuant to each request notwithstanding that the time required to perform the service may be less than 30 minutes. The base hourly rate shall be $10.80 per hour for work performed between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on legal holidays; $13 per hour for work performed before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and anytime Saturday or Sunday except on legal holidays; and $21.60 per hour for all work performed on legal holidays.

(b) Fees for service on commitment basis. Minimum fees for service performed under a commitment agreement shall be on the basis of 8 hours per day, Monday through Friday, calculated at the hourly rates in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section. Hours worked on Saturdays, Sundays, legal holidays, and in excess of 8 hours per day will be charged at the appropriate hourly rate in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section. The Consumer and Marketing Service reserves the right under such a commitment to use any grader assigned to the plant on a commitment basis to perform service for other applicants as provided in § 53.8 (c), crediting the commitment applicant with the number of hours charged to the other applicants, provided the allowable credit hours, plus hours actually worked for the applicants, do not exceed 8 hours on any day, Monday through Friday.

(c) Travel charges. (1) When service is requested at a place so distant from an official grader's headquarters or place of prior assignment on a circuit routing, that a total of one-half hour or more is required for the grader to travel to such place and back to the headquarters or to the next place of assignment on a circuitous routing, the charge for such service shall include a mileage charge at 9 cents per mile, and travel tolls if applicable, for such travel prorated against all the applicants furnished the service involved on an equitable basis, or, where the travel is made by public transportation (including hired vehicle), a fee equal to the actual cost thereof.

(d) Per diem charges. When service is requested at a place so distant from an official grader's headquarters that the work and travel required for such service cannot be performed within a calendar day, the fee for such services shall include a per diem charge to be determined administratively by the Chief.

However, the applicant will not be charged per diem cost without notification before the service is rendered under a new rate.

(e) Charges to applicants for recognition of nonfederally inspected establishments. (1) The initial survey conducted to determine the eligibility of a nonfederally inspected establishment for service under § 53.7 shall be without cost to the applicant when the survey is made at the convenience of the Chief. Fees shall be charged, as provided in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, (1) when the applicant requests in writing that a special trip be made to conduct the initial survey, and such survey is conducted within 30 days from receipt of such request; (ii) when any survey subsequent to the initial one is required by the Chief to determine whether the establishment meets the specific requirements for recognition of which it has been previously notified as a result of the initial survey, such survey is made within 2 years after the initial survey, and there has been no change in ownership of the establishment since the initial survey; or (iii) when a survey is conducted to determine the eligibility for recognition of an establishment the recognition of which has been withdrawn under § 53.6 or § 53.7 or at which service has been denied or withdrawn under § 53.13(a).

(2) A fee at the applicable hourly rate calculated in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section shall be charged for time spent by an authorized official in making any survey for which fees are required to be charged under subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, including time spent in traveling to the establishment from his normal route of assignment and return. In addition, there shall be a travel charge for such travel and a per diem charge for each day, or quarter portion thereof, spent by such official away from his headquarters in the performance of such survey, including travel, at the rates provided for in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section.

(3) In no case shall the total fees chargeable under subparagraph (2) of this paragraph for any such survey be less than $15.00.

(f) Fees for appeal service. Fees for appeal service shall be determined on the basis of the time, of two official graders, required to render the service, calculated to the nearest fifteen minute period, including the time required for the prepa

ration of certificates and travel of such graders in connection with the performance of the service, at the applicable hourly rate prescribed in paragraph (a) of this section, plus any travel charges and per diem for such graders ordinarily chargeable under paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section: Provided, That when on appeal it is found that there was error in the original determination equal to or exceeding ten percent of the total number of similar units of the products involved, no charge will be made for the appeal service unless a special agreement therefor was made with the applicant in advance.

(g) Fees for extra copies of certificates. In addition to copies of certificates furnished under § 53.16, any financially interested person may obtain not to exceed three copies of any such certificate within one year from its date of issuance upon payment of a fee of $1.00, and not to exceed three copies of any such certificate at any time thereafter, while a copy of such certificate is on file in the Department, upon payment of a fee of $5.00.

(h) Other charges. When costs, other than costs specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) of this section, are involved in providing the services, the applicant will be charged for these costs. The amount of these charges will be determined administratively by the Chief. However, the applicant will not be charged for such cost without notification before the service is rendered of the charge for such item of expense.

[24 F.R. 5280, June 30, 1959, as amended at 27 F.R. 1963, Mar. 1, 1962; 34 F.R. 19339, Dec. 6, 1969; 35 F.R. 353, Jan. 9, 1970; 35 F.R. 14497, Sept. 16, 1970]

§ 53.30 Payment of fees and other charges.

Fees and other charges for service shall be paid in accordance with the following provisions unless otherwise provided in the cooperative agreement under which the service is furnished. Upon receipt of billing for fees and other charges for service the applicant shall remit by check, draft, or money order, made payable to the Consumer and Marketing Service, U.S.D.A., payment for the service in accordance with directions on the billing, and such fees and charges shall be paid in advance if required by the official grader or other authorized official.

All official graders and supervisors of grading shall have their Consumer and Marketing Service identification cards in their possession at all times while they are performing any function under the regulations and shall identify themselves by such cards upon request.

§ 53.32 Errors in service.

When an official grader, supervisor of grading, or other responsible employee of the Branch has evidence of misgrading, or of incorrect certification or other incorrect determination or identification as to the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of a product, he shall report the matter to his immediate supervisor. The supervisor of grading will investigate the matter and, if he deems advisable, will report it to the owner or his agent. The supervisor of grading shall take appropriate action to correct errors found in the determination or identification of class, grade or other quality or compliance of products if the products are still owned by the person who owned them when, and are still located at the establishment where, the incorrect service was rendered and if such service was rendered by a grader under the jurisdiction of such supervisor, and the supervisor of grading shall take adequate measures to prevent the recurrence of such errors. Subpart B-Standards CARCASS BEEF

§ 53.102 Application of standards for grades of carcass beef.

(a) The grade of a beef carcass is based on separate evaluations of two general considerations: (1) Palatability-indicating characteristics of the lean and conformation, herein referred to as "quality" and (2) the indicated percent of trimmed, boneless, major retail cuts to be derived from the carcass, herein referred to as "cutability." However, the grade of a beef carcass when applied by Federal meat graders may consist of an evaluation for the quality designation, the cutability designation, or a combination of both the quality and cutability designations. In previous grade standards for beef and in the standards for grades of other kinds of meat, the Department uses the term "quality" to refer only to the palatability-indicating characteristics of the lean without reference to conformation. Its use herein to

include consideration of conformation is not intended to imply that variations in conformation are either directly or indirectly related to differences in palatability.

(b) The grade standards are written so that the quality and cutability standards are contained in separate sections. The quality section is divided further into three separate sections applicable to carcasses from (1) steers, heifers, and cows, (2) bulls, and (3) stags. There are five cutability groups applicable to all classes of beef, denoted by numbers 1 through 5, with cutability group 1 representing the highest degree of cutability. Eight quality designations-Prime, Choice, Good, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner-are applicable to steer, heifer and cow carcasses, except that cow carcasses are not eligible for Prime. The quality designations for bull and stag beef are Choice, Good, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner.

(c) The standards provide for the grading and stamping of beef from steers, heifers, and cows according to its characteristics as beef without sex identification. Such beef placed within each respective grade, therefore, shall possess the characteristics specified for that grade, irrespective of the sex of the animal from which it was derived. Beef produced from bulls and stags shall be graded according to its characteristics as bull beef or as stag beef in accordance with the standards. When graded and identified according to grade, such beef shall be identified also for class as “Bull” beef or "Stag" beef, as the case may be. The designated grades of bull beef or stag beef herein are not necessarily comparable in quality or cutability with a similarly designated grade of beef derived from steers, heifers, or cows. Neither is the quality or cutability in a designated grade of bull beef necessarily comparable with a similarly designated grade of stag beef.

(d) The Department uses photographs and other objective aids in the correct interpretation and application of the standards.

(e) To determine the quality or cutability of a carcass, it must be split down the back into two sides and one side must be partially separated into a hindquarter and forequarter by sawing and cutting it, insofar as practicable, as follows: A saw cut perpendicular to both the long axis and split surface of the vertebral column is made across the 12th thoracic