MCA Chapter 51

MCA Chapter 51
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-3 Declaration of public policy.

It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the State of Mississippi, acting through its legislature, to control and regulate the transportation over the highways of this state and the disposal of poultry by-products, slaughter house offal and wastes, and meat processing plant bones, meat scraps, fats, and all otherwise inedible meats and meat products, and the carcasses of dead animals, not slaughtered and intended for human food, to the end that the spread of poultry and animal diseases in this state shall be controlled and also that the public health and welfare of the citizens of this state shall be conserved and protected against dangers, annoyances and nuisances that might arise from such poultry by-products and carcasses or from such transportation and disposal thereof, if the same be not regulated by law. This chapter is designed to effectuate such purposes and public policy, through the exercise of the police powers of the state. This chapter shall be liberally construed to effect such policy and to promote such objects.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-5 Definitions.

For purposes of this chapter, the words and terms used herein shall have ascribed to them the following meanings: The term “disposal plant,” or “rendering plant,” or “plant” shall apply to and include any plant and all equipment thereof described or referred to in any section of this chapter that is constructed and intended to be operated for the disposal of poultry by-products, slaughter house offal and wastes, and meat processing plant bones, meat scraps, fats, and all otherwise inedible meats and meat products, the bodies of dead animals or parts thereof or excrements therefrom, by means of burying or burning or cooking or otherwise processing, whether for the purpose of producing or manufacturing by-products or otherwise. Such a term shall also include all substations of any such plant that are used in connection with such business solely for the temporary disposal or storage of such poultry by-products, dead bodies or parts thereof or excrements therefrom pending final delivery thereof to any such disposal plant or rendering plant, and shall also include all vehicles and equipment thereof used in Mississippi for the transportation of such bodies or parts thereof or excrements therefrom, bones, meat scraps, fats, and otherwise inedible meats and meat products to such plant for their disposal therein in the manner herein prescribed. The term “dead animals” shall mean the carcasses of dead animals, parts thereof or excrements therefrom. The word “person” shall include individuals, partnerships, corporations, associations and any other legal entities recognized by law. The term “poultry by-products” shall mean heads, feet, viscera, blood and feathers. The term “slaughter house offal and wastes” shall mean heads, feet, viscera, blood and any associated material therewith. The word “commissioner” shall mean the commissioner of agriculture and commerce, or his duly authorized deputies.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-7 Persons, matters or vocations not affected by chapter.

Nothing contained in this chapter shall apply to or affect any of the following persons, matters, or vocations, to wit: Any persons legally engaged in the course of slaughtering, butchering, manufacturing, or selling, in any manner, any animal flesh and products, where such animals are killed for the purpose of being used solely for human consumption, or any persons engaged in transporting and disposing of the dead bodies of any such animals so killed or of any parts or products thereof to any persons solely for such purpose and use. Any person transporting, disposing of, or selling the hides or skins of animals, or tanning such hides or skins for himself or other persons. Any bodies of dead game, birds, fish, reptiles, or small animals of any kind, such as dogs, cats and small game. Slaughter houses and poultry processing plants which are engaged in the processing of animals or poultry for human consumption and which are operating a rendering plant under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce or the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of disposing of the waste and by-products from such plants only. Any governmental agency, collecting, transporting, or disposing of the bodies of any dead animals in any manner. Any person slaughtering animals on his own premises for the manufacture of pet foods, provided the products of same are not transported from his own premises until canned or packaged and properly labeled. No provisions of any other laws or ordinances regulating any of the persons, matters or vocations aforesaid shall be affected or repealed by this chapter.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-9 Powers and duties of the commissioner.

The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations for the orderly administration and enforcement of this chapter, not inconsistent with the provisions thereof, and shall spread same upon the minutes to be kept in his office. The commissioner shall prescribe and supply the necessary and proper forms to be used in carrying out the provisions of this chapter. The commissioner shall also obtain and keep in his office a minute book which shall be plainly identified as a record of the things had and done in carrying out the administration of this chapter, and for the proper recordation of the rules and regulations promulgated hereunder. Every licensee shall be furnished a copy of such rules and regulations when a license is issued. No amendment to a rule or regulation containing a penalty for the violation thereof shall become effective in less than thirty (30) days from the date of such amendment, and the date of such amendment must be spread upon the minutes of the commission.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-11 Regulation of transportation and storage.

All poultry and meats and their component parts or products having physical characteristics of an edible product or capable of being used for or diverted to human food, and all poultry and meats and their products which have become unsound, unwholesome, or any other way unfit for human food including any rendered or unrendered grease, tallow or other fats, or the carcass or parts of carcass of any other animal or poultry which is unfit for human consumption shall not be transported or stored within the State of Mississippi until and unless the same shall have been decharacterized, denatured or otherwise destroyed for human food purposes. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary for the safe and proper handling of these poultry and animal parts or products in the interest of public health. The commissioner shall exercise the police powers of the state in the search, seizure, confiscation and destruction in the investigation and prosecution of violations of this section.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-13 Application for license to operate plant; fees.

It shall be the duty of every person operating a disposal plant or rendering plant to apply to the commissioner for a license to operate such establishment, and no person shall engage in this state in the business of operating such a disposal plant or rendering plant without first having obtained for each such disposal plant so operated by him, or in his behalf, a license pursuant to this chapter. Said commissioner shall keep a record of all applications for licenses, showing all issued, denied or revoked by him and such other facts as he may prescribe. The application for a license shall be made on a form to be supplied by the commissioner, and shall show the location of each establishment and the name and address of the owner and the name and address of the lessor or lessee. Such application shall also set forth the particular method or methods which the applicant intends to employ, or is employing, in the transportation and in the disposal or processing of poultry by-products or the bodies of such dead animals; the number and location of all substations he desires to operate, if any; the number and kind of vehicles he will use; and such other essential information thereto as the commissioner, by his rules and regulations, may require. The application shall have attached thereto the affidavit of the person applying for the licensing that the facts set forth therein are true and correct. Such application shall be accompanied by an initial fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for each disposal plant or rendering plant, Five Dollars ($5.00) for each substation operated in conjunction therewith, and Five Dollars ($5.00) for each vehicle unit used in transportation of the poultry by-products, bodies of dead animals and products of said rendering operation. Like fees shall be paid to the commissioner annually for each renewal thereof. All fees collected under the provisions of this chapter shall be deposited in the general fund in the state treasury.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-15 Inspection of plant; issuance and term of licenses.

Upon receipt of such application, the commissioner, or some person appointed and designated by him, shall, within thirty (30) days, inspect the plant, and the locality where such applicant is conducting or proposes to conduct such business, and shall ascertain whether such applicant is a responsible and suitable person, financially and otherwise, to be entrusted with a license to conduct such business and that such applicant has fulfilled and complied with the requirements of all the sections of this chapter and of the rules and regulations authorized in this chapter relating to such business. If such commissioner shall find that such applicant is such a responsible and suitable person to conduct such business, and that the plant of such applicant, and the methods of operation thereof comply with all the provisions of this chapter and with the rules and regulations authorized in this chapter, and that such business is located in a place permitted by this chapter, he shall thereupon issue to such applicant a certificate to that effect. All licenses and certificates issued under this chapter shall remain effective until and unless voluntarily surrendered, or suspended or revoked, as provided in this chapter, conditioned, however, upon payment to the commissioner on or before July 15th subsequent to the year of issuance, of the required total annual license fee, which payment shall operate, without further application, to continue such licenses and certificates in full effect during each year for which such license fee shall be paid, unless sooner surrendered or suspended or revoked.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-17 Additional inspections of non-complying applicants; fees therefor.

Whenever the commissioner, by his first inspection of the applicant’s plant, shall find that the applicant has not complied with all the requirements of this chapter and of such rules and regulations, he shall at once notify the applicant in writing, delivered in person or by registered mail, with return receipt, specifying the particulars of such failure to comply therewith and of any further objections he may have. Upon being notified in like manner by the applicant in writing of such compliance and that such plant conforms to the requirements of this chapter and of such rules and regulations, the commissioner shall, within ten (10) days, make a similar second inspection thereof. The commissioner shall not be required to make more than two (2) of the aforesaid initial inspections of the same plant, substation and vehicles under one (1) application and the original payment of fees unless he so desires. If one (1) or two (2) inspections additional to the second inspection are desired by the applicant in effecting a compliance by him with the requirements of this chapter, such applicant shall request the same in writing and pay in advance additional inspection fees of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each such inspection so requested by him; for any further such inspections, he shall pay a fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) each. In the event such applicant shall be refused a license and such refusal be finally sustained upon any appeal, no part of the fees paid by him shall be refunded, but all such fees shall belong to the State of Mississippi, as a part of its general fund.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-19 Location of plants.

No new plant shall be located or constructed, or any discontinued plant reconstructed or reopened, at any place in this state inside of, or within two (2) miles of the nearest point of, the existing corporate limits of any municipality with a population in excess of five hundred (500) according to the latest federal census, or within one (1) mile of the nearest boundary of the lands owned or controlled in connection either with any state, county, township, city or town park, or boulevard, or of any public school or hospital, or of any charitable, religious or educational institution. Any existing plant which shall, on March 26, 1964, be in operation upon a site located in, or within the distance aforesaid from, any of the places or objects designated in this section shall not be denied a license solely by reason of its location.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-21 When plant may be deemed suitable or sanitary.

No disposal plant or rendering plant shall be deemed a suitable or sanitary place for disposing of poultry by-products or the bodies of dead animals by any process of cooking or burning, unless it conforms to the following minimum specifications: The building must have four (4) walls complete and be provided with concrete or cement floors and with good drainage and be thoroughly sanitary in construction and maintenance. Any sewage, drainage, or waste water of any kind, if of an offensive or obnoxious character or odor, detrimental to human, animal, agricultural or aquatic life, shall not be permitted to escape therefrom until first treated as herein specified. All sewage and plant wastes shall be disposed of according to recognized and accepted sanitary engineering methods which will not create a public health hazard or unsanitary situation so as to be a nuisance. All such plants must be properly equipped and operated with steel tanks, enclosed dryers and cold water condensers. All tanks shall be airtight except proper escapes for live steam, passing through the tanks during cooking, which steam shall be condensed by use of cold water condensers. All such equipment and any other equipment which may be invented, manufactured and installed for use in disposal or rendering plants shall be so constructed and maintained as to prevent any avoidable escape of odors into the air. All skinning and dismembering of bodies shall be done within such building and in such manner and shall be so kept therein that no unnecessary annoyance shall be caused other persons by the conditions or unsightly appearance of such bodies or any parts and contents thereof, and all such bodies and all parts and contents thereof shall be disposed of within twenty-four (24) hours after delivery to such plant, by some method herein specified, except where rendered impossible by accident or other casualty preventing the operation of the plant, or except where some epidemic or act of God has caused more bodies to be accumulated than can be reasonably disposed of within such period of time by the continuous operation of the plant. In such events the plant shall be placed in operation as soon as possible and shall be operated continuously until all bodies are disposed of. Such disposal plant shall be so situated, constructed and maintained and all operations therein so conducted at all times as not to create and continue unnecessarily a public nuisance.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-23 Annual inspection of plant.

The commissioner, in person or by anyone authorized by him, shall inspect each plant and place licensed under this chapter, at least once each year, and as often as he may deem necessary, and shall see that the licensees and all other persons comply with this chapter and conduct such business in conformity to this chapter and to the rules and regulations made and published by him pursuant thereto.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-25 Proceedings to suspend or revoke license.

The commissioner shall have power to suspend for any fixed period, or to revoke, the license held by any licensee under this chapter in the event that such licensee shall violate and fail or refuse to obey any of the provisions of this chapter, or of the rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner, or in the event the state board of health shall certify in writing to the commissioner that any particular disposal plant or rendering plant is a menace to the public health, stating the charges specifically and definitely, in which case the hearing hereinafter provided for shall be held within thirty (30) days after such charges of said board are so filed. Before any license shall be suspended or revoked, the licensee shall be furnished with a written copy of the charges made against him and a hearing shall be had before the commissioner, or his authorized representative, at such time and place as he may fix, upon at least ten (10) days’ notice in writing to the licensee, to determine whether such license shall be suspended or revoked. Such notice may be served either by registered mail, with return receipt, addressed to such licensee at the address shown in his application, or in the manner provided by law for the service of a summons. At the time and place fixed for the hearing, the licensee may appear in person and by counsel and such charges shall be deemed denied, without any answer thereto. The licensee may, however, file an answer if he so desires. Any other person whose interest would be adversely affected either by the suspension or revocation of such license or by its continuing in effect may intervene and offer evidence at such hearings. The hearing shall be conducted in a summary manner, under such procedure as the rules and regulations may prescribe, and the commissioner, or his representative, shall receive and hear all the evidence and arguments offered by both parties and shall afford the licensee full opportunity to present all defenses available to him. When a hearing under this section is conducted before a representative of the commissioner, a written report and summary of the evidence at such hearing shall be made by him to the commissioner, with recommendation for action thereon. The commissioner, after such hearing before him, or after considering such report and summary of the evidence by his representative, shall render such decision and make such order as he may deem just, either dismissing the proceedings, or suspending the license for any fixed period, or revoking the license. Such order shall be entered on his records and written notice thereof shall be forthwith mailed by registered mail, with return receipt, to or served personally upon such licensee.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-27 Recorded hearing.

Any licensee or other interested person, aggrieved by a decision or order of the commissioner made under the provisions of this chapter but entered without a recorded hearing, may make written request to the commissioner for a recorded hearing thereon. The commissioner shall hear such party or parties within thirty (30) days after receipt of such request and shall give not less than fifteen (15) days’ written notice of the time and place of the hearing. Within thirty (30) days after such hearing the commissioner shall affirm, reverse or modify his previous action, specifying his reason therefor. Pending such hearing, and decision thereon, the commissioner shall suspend or postpone the effective date of his previous order. The proceedings, evidence and decision or order of the commissioner in any hearing requested pursuant to the preceding paragraph shall be recorded, and any hearing ordered by the commissioner under the provisions of this chapter may, at his direction or upon the request of a party thereto, be so recorded. Nothing herein shall require the observance at any hearing of formal rules of pleading or evidence.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-29 Appeals.

Any licensee or other person, aggrieved by any final decision or order of the commissioner made or entered in or on such decision or order may appeal to the circuit court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, by filing with the commissioner a petition for review within thirty (30) days from the date of such decision or order, specifying the grounds upon which he relies, and by filing with the clerk of said court a bond with such surety or sureties and in such penalty as shall be approved by the commissioner or the clerk or judge of said court, conditioned that such appellant will pay all costs of the appeal in event such appeal is unsuccessful. The state may appeal from such decision or order in like time and manner without giving bond. Such appeal, and appeal bond, shall not operate as a supersedeas, but the commissioner, or the judge of said circuit court (or any judge of the supreme court in event of appeals thereto) may grant a supersedeas upon such terms and conditions and upon such bond as may be deemed proper. All appeal and supersedeas bonds shall be payable to the state and may from time to time and upon cause shown be ordered increased or ordered replaced by other bonds with approved sureties, and may be enforced in the manner provided by law for the enforcement of other similar bonds. In perfecting such an appeal, the provisions of law respecting notice to the reporter and the allowance of bills of exception, now or hereafter in force respecting appeals from circuit courts to the supreme court, shall be applicable. The cause shall be triable as a preference cause either in term time or vacation, and at such time and place as may be fixed by the circuit judge. The appeal shall be upon the record, which shall contain the petition for review and the proceedings, evidence, and decision or order appealed from, and the same shall be signed by the commissioner or the person acting as his representative and by him transmitted forthwith to said circuit court. Such court shall hear and determine the case presented by such record, and may affirm or set aside the decision or order from which the appeal was taken and shall thereupon certify its judgment to the commissioner. In case the decision or order of the commissioner be set aside by the circuit court, such court shall enter and render such judgment, decision or order as the commissioner should have rendered, unless it be necessary, in consequence of its decision, that some decision or ruling entirely administrative or legislative in nature be made, or that some fact or question of fact not appearing in or not settled by the record be ascertained or determined, in which cases the matter shall be remanded to the commissioner for further proceedings and action or decision in accord with the judgment and direction of such circuit court from which further proceedings, action, or decision of the commissioner further appeals may be taken to the circuit court in the manner provided in this section. Costs on an appeal shall be awarded as in other cases. Any party, including the state and the commissioner, aggrieved by a final decision of said circuit court, may appeal to the supreme court in the manner provided by law.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-31 Penalties.

Violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, or the rules and regulations made in pursuance thereof, is hereby made a misdemeanor, and any person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-51-33 Injunctive relief.

The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi may bring an action in the name of the people of the State of Mississippi to enjoin the continued operation of any disposal or rendering plant found to be operating within this state for which no license has been obtained under this chapter or for which such license has been suspended or revoked.