Chap. 50. _—An ACT providing for the sanitation of slaughter houses, abat-
toirs, packing houses, sausage factories, rendering plants and other
places where animals are slaughtered for sale for human food or where
animal carcasses, or parts thereof are prepared for human food; pro-
viding for the licensing of such establishments; defining violations of
the act and fixing penalties therefor. (H. B. 26.)

Approved February 17, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the following rules and regulations and standards are hereby es-
tablished for the sanitation of slaughter houses, abattoirs, pack-
ing houses, sausage factories, rendering plants or other places
where animals are slaughtered for sale for human food or wnere
animal carcasses, or parts thereof, are prepared for human food.

First. Every building or room used as a slaughter house,
abattoir, packing house, sausage factory, rendering plant, or .
similar establishment shall be properly lighted, drained, plumbed
and ventilated and conducted with due regard for the purity and
wholesomeness of the meat food products therein produced and
with strict regard to the influences of such conditions upon the
health of the operatives, employees and clerks.

Second. The floors, side walls, ceilings, receptacles, imple-
ments, machinery, and the clothing of the operatives, shall at all
times be kept in a clean, healthful and sanitary condition. The
doors, windows and other openings, during the fly season, shall
be fitted with self-closing screen doors and wire window screens
of not coarser than fourteen mesh wire gauze, and the meat food
products in the process of preparation, packing, storing or dis-
tribution, shall be securely protected from flies, dust, dirt and
from all other foreign or injurious contamination.
Third. The sleeping places for persons employed in such es-
tablishments shall be separate and apart from the room in which
meat food products are manufactured, packed, stored or distrib-
uted. No person shall be permitted to work in any such estab-
lishment who is known to be afflicted with any contagious or in-
fectious disease, or any skin disease. Every such establishment
shall be provided with a convenient wash room and toilet of sani-
tary construction, but such toilet shall be entirely separate and
apart from any room used for the preparation, manufacture or
storage of meat food products. Every room or compartment in
which meat or meat tood products are prepared, cured, rendered,
stored, packed, or otherwise handled, shall be free from odors
from toilets, catch-basins, tank rooms, casing departments, or
from hides, or other injurious contamination. All water and ice
used in the preparation of carcasses, meats or meat food pro-
ducts shall be pure, clean and wholesome.

Fourth. INo swine shall be maintained at or near any slaugh-
ter house, and the offal from the slaughter of animals shall not
be fed, unless it be first subjected to proper tankage; and every
slaughter house or abattoir shall be equipped with adequate
facilities for the tankage of the offal incident to the slaughter of
animals, and all the gross offal except the casings resulting from
the slaughter of animals shall be tanked.

2. The dairy and food commissioner, by and with the ap-
proval of the board of agriculture and immigration of Virginia
is hereby empowered to fix and establish such rules and regula-
tions in accordance with the provisions of this act as may be
necessary for its enforcement.

3. No person, firm or corporation shall operate or conduct
any slaughter house, abattoir, packing house, sausage factory,
rendering plant or place where animals are slaughtered for sale
for human food or where animal carcasses or parts thereof are
prepared for human food, unless a license, for which no charge
shall be made, has first been issued by the dairy and food com-
missioner to the owner, operator or manager of such establish-
ment, authorizing said person, firm or corporation to operate
and conduct a slaughter house, abattoir, packing house, sausage
factory, rendering plant or other similar business, and no per-
son shall conduct or operate any such establishment or business
after the revocation of such license, and the said dairy and food
commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to cause in-
spections to be made of every building, premises, or place in or
upon which animals are slaughtered for human food, or animal
carcasses, or parts thereof, are prepared for human food, and to
grant licenses for the operation of the same whenever, in the
judgment of the said commissioner, the business conducted in or
upon said building, premises or place, is managed in a sanitary
manner and in accordance with the requirements of the law
and of the rules and regulations provided in section one of this
act, and of such rules and regulations as may be adopted as
provided in section two of this act, and whenever, in his judg-
ment, such building, premises or place, and the surroundings, are
suitable for the proper sanitary operation of a slaughter house,
abattoir, or other similar business; provided that nothing in this
act shall apply to established slaughter houses, abattoirs, pack-
ing houses, sausage factories, rendering plants or other similar
establishments when such establishments are licensed and con-
ducted under the rules and regulations of the United States de-
partment of agriculture; and provided, further, that the pro-
visions of this act shall not apply to the preparation or occa-
sional sale of meat or meat food products from animals raised
by the farmer offering said products for sale, provided the said
products are sound and wholesome. |

4. Every license issued under the provisions of this act
may be revoked by the dairy and food commissioner if the pro-
visions of this act have been violated and the holder of such
license has been convicted thereof, and every person, firm or
corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this act,
or who shall conduct or operate a slaughter house, abattoir,
packing house, sausage factory, rendering plant or other place
where animals are slaughtered for sale for human food, or
where animal carcasses or parts thereof, are prepared for
human food in violation of the provisions of this act; or who
shall conduct or operate any such establishment without hold-
ing a license as herein specified; or who shall slaughter animals
for sale for human food without holding a license, as herein
specified, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars
nor more than three hundred dollars and costs of prosecution.