AB 644

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) administers a licensing and inspection program for meat and

poultry slaughtering and processing. Current law generally requires, with some

exceptions, certain establishments that slaughter animals or poultry, or that process

meat products or poultry products, to be licensed and pay an annual license fee; and

for inspectors who are supervised by DATCP to inspect animals and poultry before

they are slaughtered, and to inspect and label their carcasses after slaughter. This

bill makes the following changes to the program.

Terminology

This bill combines the definitions of "carcass," "meat food products," "meat

products," and "poultry products" into a single defined term, "meat or poultry

products." The bill replaces the term "animal" with "livestock," and eliminates the

term "unwholesome" in favor of the term "adulterated" as that term is defined in the

federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The bill also combines the definitions of

"mobile processor" and "mobile slaughterer" into a single definition for "mobile

processor."

License fees

Current law requires certain establishments that slaughter livestock or

poultry, or that process meat or poultry products, to pay an annual license fee of $200.

Establishments that only slaughter uninspected livestock or poultry or process

uninspected meat or poultry products as a custom service pay a reduced annual

license fee of $80.

This bill requires DATCP to set, by rule, the annual license fees for

establishments based on the type of inspection required, which are not to exceed

$200, and to establish a reduced annual license fee for establishments that only

slaughter livestock or poultry or process meat or poultry products as a custom

service.

Exemptions

Current law also creates an exemption to the licensing and fee requirements for

establishments that only process meat or poultry products for retail sale directly to

customers on the premises, if only inspected meat or poultry products are allowed on

the premises, and if sales to restaurants and institutions do not exceed either 25

percent of the establishment's sales or $28,800 annually, whichever amount is less.

This bill changes the third requirement to this exemption so that sales to hotels,

restaurants, and institutions must not exceed either 25 percent of the

establishment's gross annual value of sales of meat or poultry products or the

adjusted dollar limitation that is published by the federal Department of

Agriculture, whichever is less.

This bill creates additional exemptions to the licensing and fee requirements

for establishments that meet certain federal Department of Agriculture