53.202 53.203 Cattle. CATTLE Slaughter and feeder cattle classes. Application of standards for grades of slaughter cattle. 53.204 Specifications for official United States standards for grades of slaughter steers, heifers, and cows (quality). 53.205 Specifications for official United States standards for grades of slaughter cattle (yield). 53.206 Specifications for official United States standards for grades of slaughter bulls. 53.207 Specifications for official United States standards for grades of slaughter stags. 53.208 Feeder cattle grades. 53.209 Specifications for official United States standards for grades of feeder cattle (steers, heifers, and cows). AUTHORITY: The provisions of this Part 53 issued under sec. 203, 60 Stat. 1087, as amended; sec. 205, 60 Stat. 1090, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 1624; 19 F.R. 74, as amended. Subpart A-Regulations SOURCE: The provisions of this Subpart A appear at 24 F.R. 5280, June 30, 1959, unless otherwise noted. DEFINITIONS § 53.1 Meaning of words. Words used in this subpart in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. For the purposes of such regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean: (a) The Act. The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (Title II of the act of Congress approved August 14, 1946, 60 Stat. 1087, as amended by Pub. Law 272, 84th Cong., 69 Stat. 553, 7 U.S.C. 16211627). (b) The regulations. The regulations in this subpart. (c) Department. The United States Department of Agriculture. (d) Consumer and Marketing Service. The Consumer and Marketing Service of the Department. (e) Administrator. The Administrator of the Consumer and Marketing Service, or any officer or employee of the Consumer and Marketing Service to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead. (f) Division. The Livestock Division of the Consumer and Marketing Service. (g) Director. The Director of the Division, or any officer or employee of of the Division to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead. (h) Branch. The Meat Grading Branch of the Division. (i) Chief. The Chief of the Branch, or any officer or employee of the Branch to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead. (j) Official grader. An employee of the Department authorized to determine and certify or otherwise identify the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of livestock or products under the regulations. (k) Supervisor of grading. An official grader or other person designated by the Director or Chief to supervise and main tain uniformity and accuracy of service under the regulations. (1) Office of grading. The office of an official grader. (m) Person. Any individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity, or Government agency. (n) Financially interested person. Any person having a financial interest in the livestock or products involved, including but not limited to the shipper, receiver, producer, seller, buyer, or carrier of the livestock or products. (0) Applicant. Any person who has applied for service under the regulations. (p) Grading service. The service established and conducted under the regulations for the determination and certification or other identification of the class, grade, or other quality of livestock or products under standards. (q) Acceptance service. The service established and conducted under the regulations for the determination and certification or other identification of the compliance of livestock or products with specifications. (r) Service. Grading service or acceptance service. (s) Class. A subdivision of livestock or a product based on essential physical characteristics that differentiate between major groups of the same kind of species. (t) Grade. (1) As a noun, this term means an important commercial subdivision of livestock or a product based on certain definite and preference determining factors, such as, but not limited to, conformation, finish, and quality in meats and livestock. (2) As a verb, this term means to determine the class, grade, or other quality of livestock or a product according to applicable standards for such livestock or product in Subpart B of this part. (u) Quality. A combination of the inherent properties of livestock or a product which determines its relative degree of excellence. (v) Compliance. Conformity of livestock or a product to the specifications under which the livestock or product was purchased or sold, with particular reference to the weight, quality or other characteristics of livestock, and to the quality, cleanliness, state of refrigeration, method of processing, and trim of products. (w) Standards. The standards of the Department contained in Subpart B of this part. (x) Specifications. Descriptions with respect to the class, grade, other quality, quantity or condition of livestock or products, approved by the Administrator, and available for use by the industry regardless of the origin of the descriptions. (y) Products. Meats, prepared meats, meat by-products, or meat food products. (z) Animals. Cattle, sheep, swine, or goats. (aa) Carcass. The commercially prepared or dressed body of any animal intended for human food. (bb) Meat. The edible part of the muscle of an animal, which is skeletal, or which is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in the esophagus, and which is intended for human food, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of bone, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany the muscle tissue and which are not separated from it in the process of dressing. This term does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout, or ears. (cc) Prepared meats. The products intended for human food which are obtained by subjecting meat to drying, curing, smoking, cooking, grinding, seasoning, or flavoring, or to any combination of such procedures, and to which no considerable quantity of any substance other than meat or meat by-products has been added. (dd) Meat by-products. All edible parts (other than meat and prepared meats) intended for human food, derived from one or more animals, and including but not limited to such organs and parts as livers, kidneys, sweetbreads, brains, lungs, spleens, stomachs, tripe, lips, snouts, and ears. (ee) Meat food products. Any articles intended for human food (other than meat, prepared meats, and meat byproducts) which are derived or prepared, in whole or in substantial and definite part, from any portion of any animal, except such articles as organotherapeutic substances, meat juice, meat extract, and the like, which are only for medicinal purposes and are advertised only to the medical profession. (ff) Processing. Drying, curing, smoking, cooking, seasoning, or flavoring or any combination of such processes, with or without fabricating. (gg) Fabricating. Cutting into wholesale or retail cuts, or dicing or grinding. (hh) Immediate container. The carton, can, pot, tin, casing, wrapper, or other receptacle or covering constituting the basic unit in which products are directly contained or wrapped when packed in the customary manner for delivery to the meat trade or to con sumers. (ii) Shipping container. The receptacle or covering in which one or more immediate containers of products are packed for transportation. (jj) Cooperative agreement. A cooperative agreement between the Consumer and Marketing Service and another Federal agency or a State agency, or other agency, organization or person as specified in the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended, for conducting the service. (kk) Federal meat inspection. The meat inspection system conducted under the Meat Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) and the import meat provisions of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1306 (b) and (c)), and the regulations thereunder (9 CFR Parts 1-28, as amended). (11) Livestock. Bovine, ovine, porcine. [24 F.R. 5280, June 30, 1959, as amended at 30 F.R. 4157, Mar. 31, 1965] § 53.2 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 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, including that prescribed in § 53.16, used under the regulations to certify with respect to the inspection, class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition of products (including the compliance of livestock or products with applicable specifications). (b) "Official memorandum" means any initial record of findings made by an authorized person in the process of grading, determining compliance, inspecting, or sampling pursuant to the regulations, any processing or plantoperation report made by an authorized person in connection with grading, determining compliance, inspecting, or sampling under the regulations, and any report made by an authorized person of services performed pursuant to the regulations. (c) "Official mark” or "other official identification” means any form of mark or other identification, including those prescribed in § 53.19, used under the regulations in marking any products, or the immediate or shipping containers thereof, to show inspection, class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition of the products (including the compliance of products with applicable specifications), or to maintain the identity of products for which service is provided under the regulations. (d) "Official device" means any roller, stamp, brand or other device used under the regulations to mark any products, or the immediate or shipping containers, thereof, with any official mark or other official identification. [24 F.R. 5280, June 30, 1959, as amended at 30 F.R. 4157, Mar. 31, 1965] Grading service under the regulations shall consist of the determination and certification and other identification, upon request by the applicant, of the class, grade, or other quality of livestock or products under applicable standards in Subpart B of this part. Class, grade, and other quality may be determined under said standards for livestock or meat of cattle, sheep, or swine in carcass form or for wholesale cuts of such meat, other than pork wholesale cuts. Acceptance service under the regulations shall consist of the determination of the conformity of livestock or products to specifications approved by the Director or Chief and the certification and other identification of such livestock or products in accordance with the specifications, upon request by the applicant. Determination as to compliance with specifications for ingredient content or method of preparation may be based upon information received from the inspection system having jurisdiction over the products involved. [30 F.R. 4157, Mar. 31, 1965] § 53.5 Availability of service. Service under the regulations may be made available under a cooperative agreement with respect to livestock or products shipped or received in interstate commerce, and with respect to livestock or products not so shipped or received if the Director or Chief determines that the furnishing of service for such livestock or products would facilitate the marketing, distribution, processing, or utilization of agricultural products through commercial channels. Subject to § 53.6(a) (1) (iv), service will be furnished for products only if they were derived from animals slaughtered in accordance with Federal meat inspection requirements, or at establishments recognized under § 53.7 and operated under some official meat inspection system recognized under § 53.6, and if any processing and fabricating of the products were done in accordance with such requirements or at such establishments. Service under the regulations will be furnished for imported meat only if it is marked in a manner approved by the Chief to show the name of the country of origin on each wholesale cut in such a way that the name of the country of origin appears on most of the major retail cuts. The mark of foreign origin shall be imprinted by roller brand or hand stamp and shall be applied so that the imprint is at least 2 inches from the backbone of lamb, 3 inches from the backbone of veal and calf, and 4 inches from the backbone of beef carcasses. The mark of foreign origin shall be repeated parallel to the backbone of the carcass so as to appear on each round, rump, full loin, rib, and chuck of each bovine and ovine carcass, in letters at least one-fourth of an inch high, but not more than one-half of an inch high, with no more than three-fourths of an inch space between each impression. Imprints of each such brand shall be submitted to the Chief for approval prior to use of the brand on meats offered for Federal grading. It shall be the re 66-009-67 sponsibility of the applicant to notify the meat grader performing the service whenever imported meat is offered for grading. [30 F.R. 4157, Mar. 31, 1965] § 53.6 Recognition of non-Federal meat inspection systems; withdrawal of recognition. (a) Conditions of recognition. NonFederal meat inspection systems will be recognized by the Chief for the purpose of § 53.5 only if they are established under the authority of laws, ordinances, or similar provisions of a State, county, city, or other political subdivision; if the inspection is conducted by qualified inspectors who are veterinarians (or who are supervised by qualified veterinarians), who are employed, assigned, and paid for their work as such inspectors, only by an agency of the State, county, city or other political subdivision conducting the meat inspection service, and who perform no work in or for an establishment operated under the meat inspection system other than in their official capacities; if such laws, ordinances or similar provisions are consistent with the following applicable requirements; if such meat inspection systems are willing to enforce such requirements with respect to the establishments under their jurisdiction applying for recognition under § 53.7; and if such requirements are enforced in a manner satisfactory to the Chief: (1) Requirements for slaughtering establishments. The following requirements shall be applicable to establishments where any animals are slaughtered for preparation as products for which grading or acceptance service is desired under the regulations: (i) Except as provided in (iv) and (v) the inspection of slaughtering operations shall include ante-mortem and postmortem inspections. (ii) Ante-mortem inspection of each animal shall be made immediately prior to slaughter for the purpose of eliminating all unfit animals and segregating, for more thorough examination, all animals suspected of being affected with a condition which might influence their disposition on post-mortem inspection. The unfit animals shall not be permitted to enter the slaughtering department of the establishment, and the suspected animals shall not be permitted to enter the slaughtering department until they have been found by veterinary inspec |