21 U.S.C. § 610
Section 610 · Prohibited acts
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 30 court decisions — leading case West v. Bergland (1979)
Most recently applied in United Source One, Inc. v. United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety & Inspection Service (August 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
No person, firm, or corporation shall, with respect to any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines, or any carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or meat food products of any such animals—
(a) Slaughtering animals or preparation of articles capable of use as human food
slaughter any such animals or prepare any such articles which are capable of use as human food at any establishment preparing any such articles for commerce, except in compliance with the requirements of this chapter;
(b) Humane methods of slaughter
slaughter or handle in connection with slaughter any such animals in any manner not in accordance with the Act of August 27, 1958 (72 Stat. 862; 7 U.S.C. 1901–1906);
(c) Sales, transportation, and other transactions
sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in commerce, (1) any such articles which (A) are capable of use as human food and (B) are adulterated or misbranded at the time of such sale, transportation, offer for sale or transportation, or receipt for transportation; or (2) any articles required to be inspected under this subchapter unless they have been so inspected and passed;
(d) Adulteration or misbranding
do, with respect to any such articles which are capable of use as human food, any act while they are being transported in commerce or held for sale after such transportation, which is intended to cause or has the effect of causing such articles to be adulterated or misbranded.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Act of August 27, 1958, referred to in subsec. (b), is Pub. L. 85–765, Aug. 27, 1958, 72 Stat. 862, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 48 (§1901 et seq.) of Title 7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.
Sections 1903 and 1905 of Title 7, included within reference to Act of August 27, 1958, were repealed by Pub. L. 95–445, §5(b), Oct. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 1069, effective as set forth in section 7 of Pub. L. 95–445, set out as an Effective Date of 1978 Amendment note under section 603 of this title.
Codification
Section was formerly classified to section 78 of this title.
Amendments
1978—Subsecs. (b) to (d). Pub. L. 95–445 added subsec. (b) and redesignated former subsecs. (b) and (c) as (c) and (d), respectively.
1967—Pub. L. 90–201, §7, included the list of animals and prohibited, except in compliance with requirements of this chapter, slaughtering animals or preparation of articles capable of use as human food, sales, transportation, and other transactions, and acts of adulteration or misbranding, incorporating in subsec. (b)(2) existing prohibition on distributions in interstate or foreign commerce of noninspected articles.
Effective Date of 1978 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–445 effective one year after Oct. 10, 1978, and an additional eighteen month period thereafter in hardship cases, see section 7 of Pub. L. 95–445, set out as an Effective Date of 1978 Amendment note under section 603 of this title.
Effective Date of 1967 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 90–201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that subsecs. (b)(1) and (c) of this section effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(a) of Pub. L. 90–201, set out as an Effective Date note under section 601 of this title.