§ 3:4201 — Definitions

§4201. Definitions
As used in this Chapter, except as otherwise specified, the following terms shall have
the meanings stated below:
(1) The term "commissioner" means the "Commissioner, Louisiana Department of
Agriculture."
(2) The term "firm" means any partnership, association, or other unincorporated
business organization.
(3) The term "meat broker" means any person, firm or corporation engaged in the
business of buying or selling carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat, or meat food products of
cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, goats, horses, mules or other equines on commission, or
otherwise negotiating purchases, sales, or transactions of such articles other than for his own
account or as an employee of another person, firm or corporation.
(4) The term "intrastate commerce" means commerce within the state.
(5) The term "meat food product" means any product capable of use as human food
which is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portion of the carcass of any cattle,
sheep, swine, poultry or goats, excepting products which contain meat or other portions of
such carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered
by consumers as products of the meat food industry, and which are exempted from definition
as a meat food product by the commissioner under such conditions as he may prescribe to
assure that the meat or other portions of such carcasses contained in such product are not
adulterated and that such products are not represented as meat food products. The term as
applied to food products of equines shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this
paragraph with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and goats.
(6) The term "capable of use as human food" shall apply to any carcass, or part of
a carcass, of any animal, unless it is denatured or otherwise identified as required by
regulations prescribed by the commissioner to deter its use as human food, or it is naturally
inedible by humans.
(7) The term "prepared" means slaughtered, canned, salted, rendered, boned, cut up,
or otherwise manufactured or processed.
(8) The term "adulterated" shall apply to any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food
product under one or more of the following circumstances:
a. If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious matter which may render it
injurious to health;
b. If it bears or contains (by reason of administration of any substance to the live
animal or otherwise) any added poisonous or added deleterious substance (other than one
which is--(a) a pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity, (b) a food additive,
or (c) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of the commissioner make such article
unfit for human food;
c. If it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity which bears or contains
a pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive which is unsafe or prohibited as
determined by regulations of the commissioner under this Chapter;
d. If it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or
is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human
food;
e. If it has been prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions whereby it
may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious
to health;
f. If it is, in whole or in part, the product of an animal which has died otherwise than
by slaughter;
g. If its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious
substance which may render the contents injurious to health;
h. If it has been subjected to radiation at levels that exceed the tolerances established
by the commissioner in regulations under this Act;
i. If any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted
therefrom; or if any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage
or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added thereto
or mixed or packaged therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or
strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is; or
j. If it is margarine containing animal fat and any of the raw material used therein
consisted in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid or decomposed substance.
(9) The term "misbranded" shall apply to any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food
product under one or more of the following circumstances:
a. If its labeling is false or misleading in any particular;
b. If it is offered for sale under the name of another food;
c. If it is an imitation of another food, unless its label bears, in type of uniform, size,
and prominence, the word "imitation" and immediately thereafter, the name of the food
imitated;
d. If its container is so made, formed, or filled as to be misleading;
e. If in a package or other container unless it bears a label showing (a) the name and
place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and (b) an accurate statement
of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count; provided,
that under Clause (b) of this Subparagraph (e), reasonable variations may be permitted, and
exemptions as to small packages may be established by regulations prescribed by the
commissioner;
f. If any work, statement, or other information required by or under authority of this
Chapter to appear on the label or other labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such
conspicuousness (as compared with other words, statements, designs, or devices, in the
labeling) and in such terms as to render it unlikely to be read and understood by the ordinary
individual under customary conditions of purchase and use;
g. If it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a definition and standard
of identity or composition has been prescribed by regulations of the commissioner, unless,
(a) it conforms to such definition and standard, and (b) its label bears the name of the food
specified in the definition and standard and, insofar as may be required by such regulations,
the common names of optional ingredients (other than spices, flavoring, and coloring)
present in such foods;
h. If it purports to be or is represented as a food for which a standard or standards of
fill of the container have been prescribed by regulations of the commissioner, and it falls
below the standard of fill of container applicable thereto, unless its label bears, in such
manner and form as such regulations specify, a statement that it falls below such standard;
i. If it is not subject to the provisions of Subparagraph "g", unless its label bears (a)
the common or usual name of the food, if any there be, and (b) in case it is fabricated from
two or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each such ingredient; except that
spices, flavorings, and colorings may, when authorized by the commissioner, be designated
as spices, flavorings, and colorings without naming each; provided that, to the extent that
compliance with the requirements of Clause (b) of this Subparagraph "i" is impracticable,
or results in deception or unfair competition, exemptions shall be established by regulations
promulgated by the commissioner;
j. If it purports to be or is represented for special delivery uses, unless its label bears
such information concerning its vitamin, mineral and other dietary properties as the
commissioner, after consultation with the secretary of agriculture of the United States,
determines to be, and by regulations prescribed as, necessary in order to fully inform
purchasers as to its value for such uses;
k. If it bears or contains any artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, or chemical
preservative, unless it bears labeling stating the fact, provided, that to the extent that
compliance with the requirements of this Subparagraph "k" is impracticable, exemptions
shall be established by regulations promulgated by the commissioner, or;
l. If it fails to bear, directly thereon or on its container, as the commissioner may by
regulations prescribe, the inspection legend and, unrestricted by any of the foregoing, such
other information as the commissioner may require in such regulations to assure that it will
not have false or misleading labeling and that the public will be informed of the manner of
handling required to maintain the article in a wholesome condition.
(10) The term "label" means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the
immediate container (not including package liners) of any article.
(11) The term "labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic
matter (1) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or (2) accompanying such
article.
(12) The term "Federal Meat Inspection Act" means the act so entitled approved
March 4, 1907, as amended by the Wholesome Meat Act (21 U.S.C. 71 et seq.), and acts
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
(13) The term "Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act" means the act so entitled,
approved June 25, 1938 (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.)**, and acts amendatory thereof or
supplementary thereto.
(14) The term "pesticide chemical," "food additive," "color additive," and "raw
agricultural commodity" shall have the same meanings for purposes of this Chapter as under
the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
(15) The term "official mark" means the official inspection legend or any other
symbol prescribed by regulations of the commissioner to identify the status of any article or
animal under this Act.
(16) The term "official inspection legend" means any symbol prescribed by
regulations of the commissioner showing that the article was inspected and passed in
accordance with this Chapter.
(17) The term "official certificate" means any certificate prescribed by regulations
of the commissioner for issuance by an inspector or other person performing official
functions under this Chapter.
(18) The term "official device" means any device prescribed or authorized by the
commissioner for use in applying any official mark.
(19) The term "renderer" means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the
business of rendering carcasses, or parts or products of the carcasses, of cattle, sheep, poultry,
swine, goats, horses, mules or other equines.
(20) The term "animal food manufacturer" means any person, firm, or corporation
engaged in the business of manufacturing or processing animal food derived wholly or in part
from carcasses, or parts or products of the carcasses, of cattle, sheep, poultry, swine, goats,
horses, mules or other equines.
(21) The term "Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act" means the act so entitled,
approved August 28, 1957 (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.)*** and acts amendatory thereof or
supplementary thereto.
(22) The term "Federal Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act of 1978" means
the act so entitled, approved October 10, 1978 (7 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.), and acts amendatory
thereof or supplementary thereto.
(23) The term "intervening transfer or storage" means no longer in possession of
meat products.
*21 U.S.C.A. 71 et seq. (Transferred; See Now, 21 U.S.C.A. §601 et seq.).
**21 U.S.C.A. 301 et seq.
***21 U.S.C.A. 451 et seq.

Legislative History

Acts 1968, No. 376, §1. Amended by Acts 1970, No. 615, §§1, 2; Acts 1985, No. 73, §1; Acts 2010, No. 496, §1, eff. June 24, 2010; Acts 2015, No. 267, §1, eff. June 29, 2015.