Wisconsin Legislature: ATCP 55.02(9)(c)

Note: Chapter Ag 47 as it existed on September 30, 1971 was repealed and a new ch. Ag 47 was created, Register, September, 1971, No. 189, effective October 1, 1971; chapter Ag 47 was renumbered ch. ATCP 55 under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 1., Stats., Register, March, 1993, No. 447.

ATCP 55.01 Scope.

(1) General. Except as provided in sub. (2), this chapter applies to persons who slaughter livestock, poultry, captive game animals, captive game birds, or other food animals for human consumption, who submit livestock, poultry, captive game animals, captive game birds, or other food animals for slaughter for human consumption, or who process, store, transport, sell, or distribute meat or poultry products or edible food made from captive game animals, captive game birds, or other food animals for human consumption. This chapter applies to slaughter and other processing establishments, mobile processors, food warehouses and locker plants, meat distributors and transporters, meat brokers, food retailers, and central restaurant commissaries that engage in activities covered by this chapter.

(2) Exemptions. This chapter does not apply to any of the following:

(a) A restaurant, vending machine commissary, or catering establishment licensed and inspected by the department or its agent, provided that all the following apply:

1. The establishment processes no meat or poultry products other than meat or poultry products previously subjected to state or federal inspection.

2. The establishment sells meat or poultry products only as part of a meal.

3. Any processing of meat or poultry products is confined to the premises where the meat or poultry product is served as part of a meal or, in the case of a vending machine commissary or catering establishment, to the premises where ready-to-eat meals are prepared for catered service or vending machine service to individual consumers.

(b) Establishments inspected by the United States department of agriculture under 21 USC 451 to 695.

(c) An individual slaughtering or transporting his or her own animals, or processing or transporting his or her own meat, for the owner’s consumption or consumption by members of the owner’s household and the owner’s nonpaying guests and employees.

(d) An individual processing poultry products who is exempted under 21 USC 464 (c) (1) (A) to (D) and 21 USC 464 (c) (4), which exempts certain personal and custom poultry slaughter and processing from federal regulations.

History: CR 01-042: cr. Register March 2002 No. 555, eff. 4-1-02; correction in (2) (a) (intro.) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 6., Stats., Register April 2009 No. 640; CR 17-072: am. (1), (2) (a), (c), cr. (2) (d) Register July 2018 No. 751, eff. 8-1-18.

ATCP 55.02 Definitions. In this chapter:

(1) “Adulterated” has the meaning given in 9 CFR 301.2.

(1g) “Amenable to inspection” means subject to mandatory inspection under 21 USC 451 to 695 or this chapter.

(1m) “Ante mortem inspection” means a pre-slaughter inspection of live food animals.

(2) “Captive game animals” means white-tailed deer and other animals of a normally wild type that are produced in captivity for slaughter and consumption. “Captive game animals” does not include farm-raised deer, ratites, captive game birds, fish, or animals kept solely for hunting purposes at a hunting preserve.

(3) “Captive game birds” means birds of a normally wild type, including pheasant, quail, wild turkey, or migratory wildfowl that are produced in captivity for slaughter and consumption. “Captive game birds” does not include poultry, ratites, or birds kept solely for hunting purposes in a hunting preserve.

(4) “Carcass” means all edible parts of a slaughtered animal, including edible viscera.

(4g) “Community supported agriculture business” means a farm with which individuals contract to regularly receive two or more different agricultural products, which may include uncooked poultry products, originating from the farm.

(4m) “Cooperative interstate shipment program” means the program under which an establishment licensed and inspected under this chapter and complying with applicable requirements in 9 CFR 321 and 332, or applicable requirements of 9 CFR 381, Subparts R and Z, is allowed to distribute and sell in interstate commerce meat or poultry products manufactured bearing the mark of inspection authorized under s. ATCP 55.06 (5) (j).

(5) “Custom processing” means slaughtering a food animal or processing meat products as a custom service for an individual who owns the animal or those meat products, and who uses all the resulting meat products for his or her own consumption. An individual’s own consumption may include consumption by the owner, members of the owner’s household, and the owner’s nonpaying guests and employees. “Custom processing” includes mobile custom processing.

Note: A provider of custom slaughtering services does not “sell” the slaughtered food animal or the resulting meat, but merely provides a service to the meat owner. An owner’s nonpaying guests may include nonpaying immediate family members.

(6) “Denature” means to intentionally make an item unfit for human consumption by adding a substance to it to alter the item’s appearance or other natural characteristics.

(7) “Department” means the state of Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection.

(8) “Diseased animal” means an animal that has been diagnosed with a disease not known to be cured, or that has exhibited signs or symptoms of a disease not known to be cured. “Diseased animal” does not include an otherwise healthy animal that suffers only from injuries such as fractures, cuts, or bruises.

(9) “Domesticated food animal” means any of the following:

(a) Cattle.

(b) Swine.

(d) Sheep.

(e) Goats.

(f) Farm-raised deer.

(g) Horses, mules and other equines.

(10) “Edible” means edible by humans.

(11) “Farm-raised deer” has the meaning given in s. 95.001 (1) (ag), Stats. “Farm-raised deer” does not include captive white-tailed deer.

(12) “Food animals” means domesticated food animals, ratites, captive game animals, and captive game birds.

(13) “Individual” means a natural person.

(14) “Livestock” means domesticated food animals other than poultry. “Livestock” includes bison, alpacas, llamas, and rabbits.

(15) “Meat” means the edible muscle and other edible parts of a food animal, including edible skeletal muscle, edible organs, and edible muscle found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus. “Meat” includes edible fat, bone, skin, sinew, nerve, or blood vessel that normally accompanies meat and is not ordinarily removed in processing.

(16) “Meat broker” means a person who, without taking title to meat or poultry products, purchases, sells, or arranges the purchase or sale of meat or poultry products.

(17) “Meat distributor” means a person who distributes meat or poultry products at wholesale.

(18) “Meat establishment” means a permanent or mobile plant or premises where meat or poultry products for human consumption are processed for entering commerce or where meat or poultry processing services are provided.

(19) “Meat or poultry product” means any parts, including the viscera, of slaughtered livestock, poultry, or ratites that are capable of use for human food.

(19m) “Misbranded” has the meaning given in 9 CFR 301.2.

(20) “Mobile custom processing” means conducting slaughter or otherwise custom processing meat or poultry products for another person at that person’s premises.

(22) “Person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, cooperative association, limited liability company, trust, or other organization or entity.

(23) “Post mortem inspection” means the inspection of slaughtered food animal carcasses and parts thereof.

(24) “Poultry” means domesticated birds including domesticated chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and guineas. “Poultry” does not include captive game birds or ratites.

(25) “Process” means to slaughter an animal or bird, cut, grind, manufacture, compound, intermix, or otherwise prepare meat or poultry products.

(26) “Ratite” means a member of the group of flightless birds that includes the ostrich, emu, cassowary, kiwi, and rhea.

(26m) “Retail” means selling food or food products directly to any consumer only for consumption by the consumer or the consumer’s immediate family or non-paying guests.

(27) “Sanitize” means to destroy pathogens and other microorganisms, to the maximum practicable extent, by applying an approved sanitizer or sanitizing method to food contact surfaces of equipment, utensils, or food packages that are otherwise clean.

(28) “Sell” means to transfer ownership for a price, or to advertise, offer, hold, or distribute for sale.

(29) “Specified risk materials” means tonsils and the distal ileum of the small intestine from cattle of any age. For cattle 30 months of age or older, “specified risk materials” also means each of the following:

(a) Skull.

(b) Brain.

Note: Trigeminal ganglia are the nerves attached to the brain.

(d) Eyes.

(e) Spinal cord.

(f) Vertebral column, excluding the vertebrae of the tail, the transverse processes of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and the wings of the sacrum.

(g) Dorsal root ganglia.

Note: Dorsal root ganglia are the nerves attached to the spinal cord.

(30) “Veterinarian” has the meaning given in s. 97.42 (1) (n), Stats.

(31) “Wholesale” means the transfer of any food to a person or commercial entity who will either re-sell it, distribute it, or use it as an ingredient in a product that will be then offered for sale or distribution. “Wholesale” also means the transfer of food from the point of production to another location for sale even if the other location is adjacent to the point of production.

(32) “Wild game” means edible wild animals other than fish. “Wild game” does not include any of the following:

(a) Captive game animals or captive game birds.

(b) Farm-raised deer.

History: CR 01-042: cr. Register March 2002 No. 555, eff. 4-1-02; correction in (11) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register October 2004 No. 586; EmR1213: emerg. cr. (4m), am. (24), eff. 9-13-12; CR 12-040: cr. (4m), am. (24) Register May 2013 No. 689, eff. 6-1-13; CR 14-024: renum. (1) to (1m), cr. (1) Register May 2015 No. 713, eff. 6-1-15; correction in (2) and (11) made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register May 2015 No. 713; CR 17-072: am. (1), cr. (1g), am. (1m), (2), (3), cr. (4g), am. (5), r. and recr. (6), am. (14), (16) to (19), cr. (19m), am. (20), r. (21), am. (23) to (25), cr. (26m), r. and recr. (29), (31) Register July 2018 No. 751, eff. 8-1-18 except (14), eff. 1-1-19.

ATCP 55.03 Meat establishment license.

(1) Annual license required. Except as provided in sub. (2), no person may operate a meat establishment without a current annual license from the department. A license expires on June 30 of each year. A person who operates more than one meat establishment shall hold a current annual license for each meat establishment. The license, for each licensed meat establishment conducting slaughter, shall bear a livestock premises code issued under s. ATCP 17.02 (7). A license may not be transferred between persons or meat establishments.

(2) License exemptions. The license requirement under sub. (1) does not apply to any of the following:

(a) Slaughter or processing operations inspected by the United States department of agriculture under 21 USC 451 to 695.

(b) Mobile custom processing operations.

Note: Under s. 97.42 (3), Stats., the department provides ante mortem and post mortem inspection services only to licensed meat establishments. According to federal law and s. ATCP 55.04, captive game animals and captive game birds must be slaughtered subject to ante mortem and post mortem inspection if they are slaughtered for sale for human consumption. This slaughter inspection requirement does not apply to the custom slaughter of captive game animals or captive game birds.

(d) A person slaughtering and otherwise processing poultry produced on that person’s premises, provided that all the following apply:

1. The person slaughters and otherwise processes no more than 1,000 poultry annually.

2. The person slaughters, otherwise processes, and sells the poultry at the premises where they are produced.

3. The person clearly and conspicuously labels each package or container of poultry meat with the processor’s name and address and the words “NOT INSPECTED.”

Note: See s. 97.42 (11), Stats.

(e) A retail food establishment licensed under s. 97.30 (2), Stats., that processes meat or poultry products primarily for sale to individual consumers at the retail food establishment, provided that all the following apply:

1. The retail food establishment is not engaged in slaughter operations that are amenable to inspection.

2. The retail food establishment sells the processed meat or poultry products only to individual consumers at the retail food establishment, or to hotels, restaurants, or institutions for use in meals served at those hotels, restaurants, or institutions.

3. The retail food establishment’s gross annual value of sales of its meat and poultry products to hotels, restaurants, or institutions does not exceed the adjusted dollar limits published by the United States department of agriculture in 9 CFR 303.1 (d) (2) (iii) (b) and 9 CFR 381.10 (d) (2) (iii) (b) or 25% by dollar volume of all meat sales from the retail establishment, whichever is less. No person exempt from licensure under this paragraph may sell any cured, smoked, canned, or cooked meat or poultry products produced by the person to hotels, restaurants, or institutions.

4. The retail food establishment receives meat only from meat establishments licensed under this section or inspected by the United States department of agriculture under 21 USC 451 to 695.

5. The operator of the retail food establishment does not sell, to any person other than an individual consumer, any meat or poultry product that is cured, smoked, canned, or cooked at the retail establishment.

6. The operator of the retail food establishment does not sell, to any person other than an individual consumer, any meat or poultry product made by combining meat from different animal species at the retail establishment.