Violations of the Poultry Products Inspection Act

The Poultry Products Inspection Act was enacted to protect the health and welfare of consumers. The Act ensures that poultry products that are distributed in interstate commerce are of good quality and comply with the requirements set forth under the Act. The Act provides prohibitions against numerous types of conduct. Some of the prohibited types of conduct include:

• Slaughter of any poultry or poultry process that is not in compliance with the Act.
• Sale or transportation of poultry which have been altered in violation of the Act or mislabeled.
• Sale or transportation of any poultry from which the head, feet, feathers, and blood have not been removed as required under the Act.
• Improper use of a trade secret without proper permission.

Penalties

If the defendant is convicted of violating the Act, the defendant may be fined not more than $1000 and may not be sentenced to prison for more than one year. However, the defendant may be both fined and sentenced.

If the defendant is convicted for violating the Act by attempting to defraud or distributing an article that was adulterated, the defendant may not be fined not more than $ 10,000 and may not be sentenced to prison for more than three years. However, the defendant may be both fined and sentenced.

If the defendant is an individual acting or employed by an individual, partnership, corporation, or association, any violation of the Act would be deemed to be one of the individual, partnership, corporation, or association, as well as one of the individual.

Carriers of poultry are not subject to penalties of violations of the Act except for the receipt, holding, or delivery of products owned by another person. However, the carrier would be liable under the Act if the carrier knew that the poultry products were not eligible for transportation.

Copyright 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.