[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 9, Volume 2, Parts 200 to end]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 9CFR310.2]

[Page 115]
 
                  TITLE 9--ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS
 
     CHAPTER III--FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 310--POST-MORTEM INSPECTION--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 310.2  Identification of carcass with certain severed parts thereof and with animal from which derived.

    (a) The head, tail, tongue, thymus gland, and all viscera of each 
slaughtered animal, and all blood and other parts of such animal to be 
used in the preparation of meat food products or medical products, shall 
be handled in such a manner as to identify them with the rest of the 
carcass and as being derived from the particular animal involved, until 
the post-mortem examination of the carcass and parts thereof has been 
completed. Such handling shall include the retention of ear tags, 
backtags, implants, and other identifying devices affixed to the animal, 
in such a way to relate them to the carcass until the post-mortem 
examination has been completed.
    (b) The official State-Federal Department backtag on any carcass 
shall:
    (1)(i) Be removed from the hide of the animal by an establishment 
employee and placed in a clear plastic bag. The bag containing the tag 
shall be affixed to the corresponding carcass.
    (ii) The bag containing the tag shall be removed from the carcass by 
an establishment employee and presented with the viscera to the Program 
inspector at the point where such inspector conducts the viscera 
inspection.
    (2)(i) Brucellosis and tuberculosis ear tags, herd identification 
ear tags, sales tags, ear bangles, and similar identification devices 
shall be removed from the animal's hide or ear by an establishment 
employee and shall be placed in a clear plastic bag and affixed to the 
corresponding carcass.
    (ii) The bag containing the tag shall be removed from the carcass by 
an establishment employee and presented with the viscera to the Program 
inspector at the point where such inspector conducts the viscera 
inspection.
    (3) In cases where both types of devices described in paragraphs 
(b)(1) and (2) of this section are present on the same animal, both 
types may be placed in the same plastic bag or in two separate bags.
    (4) The circuit supervisor may allow the use of any alternate method 
proposed by the operator of an official establishment for handling the 
type of devices described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section if such 
alternate method would provide a ready means of identifying a specific 
carcass with the corresponding devices by a Program inspector during the 
post-mortem inspection.
    (5) Disposition and use of identifying devices.
    (i) The official State-Federal Department backtags will be collected 
by a Program inspector and used to obtain traceback information 
necessary for proper disposition of the animal or carcass and otherwise 
handled according to instructions issued to the inspectors.
    (ii) The devices described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section shall 
be collected by the Program inspector when required to obtain traceback 
information necessary for proper disposition of the animal or carcass 
and for controlling the slaughter of reactor animals. Devices not 
collected for these purposes shall be discarded after the post-mortem 
examination is complete.
    (6) Plastic bags used by the establishment for collecting 
identifying devices will be furnished by the Department.

[35 FR 15567, Oct. 3, 1970; 36 FR 12004, June 24, 1971]